Detailed development of Adidas' 20 years in China

Since 1980, adidas began to pay attention to the Chinese sporting goods market and set up brand promotion agencies in China. However, in the promotion of the market for several decades, the performance was rather restrained and the market share remained unsatisfactory.

In fact, even Li Ning, a Chinese domestic brand, is more willing to declare that its main competitor is Nike instead of Adidas. The study of its roots mainly depends on Adidas' 20-year development mentality in China. It also maintains a development attitude of watching and exploring the Chinese market, and has always taken a strategic defense in the Nike brand's constant initiative. This may be related to the events of Adidas' defeat of Nike in the 1980s, but it eventually reduced Adidas's ability to reflect on the Chinese market and its brand interaction and communication capabilities, so that it could not serve the market more deeply.

Adidas basketball shoes reputation worldwide

Create the first sports brand in the sports industry

Adidas, as a sportswear brand, entered the Chinese market in the early stage, its brand positioning and network construction ideas did not conflict with its long-term planning and development in China, but he could not win the market initiative like Nike. The right to achieve a rapid increase in market share and high profits growth. There is no doubt that China’s rapidly developing economic environment will welcome Nike’s market challengers who are good at “manufacturing business opportunities”. In particular, as Adidas brand, Nike entered the Chinese market in the same period, the market share is not only far inferior to Nike, its too calm and calm "nobility" style, but consumers always feel that "high is because of" and "can not be reached ", lacking a necessary consumer affinity.

At the same time, Nike relied on the constantly updated theme of treason products and the cowboy brand image to deeply influence and inspire young Chinese consumers. For example, Nike’s “digital man” has become the most favorite symbol of China’s consumers. one. However, many Xinsheng local brands have followed the Nike model. In front of the cowboys, they have increased the sense of loneliness of Adidas and reduced Adidas’s market competitiveness. At the same time, Adidas's terminal network is dominated by premium cities and first-tier cities. In the premium market and primary market, Adidas's product sales space is very limited. This is in addition to and has not been able to afford or believe that there is no need to purchase such products. Apart from that, the urban population's spending power is also an important reason.

Post-defense strategy opens up new markets in China

The Chinese sports industry economy entering the 21st century has been developing rapidly. China has become the fastest growing market area in many international brand markets. This very realistic and highly developed market environment has not allowed Adidas to continue to lose. Shen Yan, Adidas only take the initiative to accept the challenge before they can win brand vitality.

In this regard, in 2003, Adidas established on the basis of the existing market and formally established a new company to manage the entire Chinese-language regional market. At that time, Adidas merged the three major branches in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan with the promotion organizations in Greater China and viewed it as one of the strategic ways for adidas to develop globally. It was also an important signal for Adidas to start storm strategy development.

Adidas's overall thinking is: to take full advantage of the development opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, promote the complementary advantages of the Chinese-speaking regional market, and accelerate the development of this global brand in the Asia-Pacific region. Incorporating China into an important core of global strategy, changing the previously too conservative approach from strategic defense to strategic initiative, and expanding market share and brand penetration in the sports industry economic environment brought about by the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Change the frontal attack on the online brand Nike and the side effects of the offline brand, so that the Chinese Language Zone in China will be used as the core area for future development to drive the Asia Pacific region and even the global development.

Adidas's storm attack strategy is as follows:

Adidas is optimistic about basketball goodwill tactics

The "street basketball game" was held mainly to promote general sports enthusiasts and improve the reputation and popularity of Adidas. It is also a kind of "goodwill" tactics for achieving emotional interaction with Chinese young people. It is also a basketball for Adidas's aggression against Nike. A strategy in the field.

In order to promote this activity well, based on this, the Asia Pacific Regional Basketball Training Camp for the Future is held. All players received coaches from the United States for centralized training, which not only attracted the interest of young Chinese basketball enthusiasts, but also received The intense attention and reporting by sports agencies and media have laid a good foundation for the sponsorship of volleyball and the 2008 Olympic Games.

2. Sponsor China's soccer team and volleyball team

Adidas's advantage has been in football products. His sponsored football team has achieved good results in the Olympic Games and has made great contributions to the establishment of Adidas's leading position in the early stage. After analyzing and predicting the development trend of the Chinese football market in the coming years, Adidas will provide Chinese football teams with sponsorship for up to six years. Although the current situation of Chinese football is not very gratifying, after a year's time, the market confirms that the country The team’s genuine jerseys, including jackets and shoes, have become new hot spots for Adi’s product sales. If Chinese football wins, then Adidas’ status as a dominant player in China will be just around the corner. The sponsorship of the Chinese women's volleyball team is mainly due to the success of the women's volleyball team and a good image. Adi hopes to use this kind of sponsorship to change the previous high-level impression on the Chinese people, and to achieve localized operation. Loved it and touched and influenced Chinese consumers.

3. adidas wins sponsorship rights for 2008 Olympic Games

Adidas has a long history of ties with the Olympic Games. The 2008 Olympic Games was held in China and became a must-win place for many businesses to increase awareness and achieve brand expansion. Adidas spent 1.3 billion to win the sponsorship of the Olympic Games. Without a doubt, this will mean All staff members, volunteers, and technical officials of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Beijing Paralympic Games and members of the Chinese Olympic delegation to the Winter Olympics and the 2008 Olympic Games will wear sportswear bearing the “ADIDAS” logo. This will surely provide Adidas with a unique platform to establish Adidas' brand image and business in China and throughout Asia.

On the other hand, Adidas’ ability to obtain the sponsorship rights for the 2008 Olympic Games is inseparably linked with the sponsorship of football and the philanthropic tactics in the early stages. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is a big event in China and affects everyone's heart. Adidas has made it. The sponsorship rights of the Olympic Games undoubtedly caught a ride. During this period, all Adidas publicity and promotion will attract the attention of consumers. This flourishing age is a difficult one for a century. The ad hoc promotion of Adi’s “Pyramid” model has an inestimable effect. Adidas wants to increase the market share through the 2008 Olympics, and thus takes China as a starting point, driving brand development in the entire Asia Pacific region, and even establishing a good brand image in the world.

Adidas' local marketing strategy in China:

1 China Localization Sponsorship Campaign

According to Adidas's business strategy, if it is said that the integration of branches in the same language region is a symbol of its storm strategy, then the huge amount of funding for Chinese football is the first bomb after the establishment of Adidas China.

As Adidas signed a five-year contract with the Chinese Football Association in 1999 and will expire in 2004, Adidas will advance with the Chinese Football Association at the time of the establishment of the China Regional Institution in order to allow the development of the market in Zhonghua District. contact. Although the Nike brand is also actively involved in this, and opened up high prices to attract the attention of the Chinese Football Association, but Adidas after a comprehensive analysis and prediction of the development trend of the Chinese football market in the next few years, eventually opened a code of 500 million yuan Up to 6 years of sponsorship contract. At the same time, the rewards that Adi can obtain are also much greater than before, including venue advertisements, jersey rights, etc. in the China Team.

After the signing of this new agreement, and through nearly a year's time, the market has proven that the national team's genuine jerseys, including jackets, have become new hot spots for Adi product sales, and in particular, new adidas "Falcon series" football shoes have also received the most Good localization. In addition, during the period from 2004 to 2009, the Chinese team's mission not only included the 2006 World Cup, but more importantly the 2008 Olympic Games. Both events will be a strong resource for the Adidas brand in China's local region.

What is even more surprising is that less than a year later, Adidas made a record investment, with 200 million yuan in funds and in kind to sponsor the Chinese national volleyball team for five years. This figure is several dozen times that the national volleyball teams have received in the past. This is also the largest scale for Adidas' volleyball project ever. Although Adidas also sponsored the Cuban women's volleyball team, the sponsorship of the Chinese volleyball team exceeded the sponsorship of the Cuban team.

Adidas is heavily involved in sponsoring Chinese volleyball. This has something to do with the long-term success of the Chinese women's volleyball team. The results of the Chinese women's volleyball team have always been the best in China's large-scale ball games. The image is also very good, but "worth" has always been Not high, long-term "Phoenix sold a chicken price." In particular, with the Chinese women's volleyball team regaining the world championship in the 2003 World Championships and regaining the Olympic championship in 2004, the Chinese volleyball team's worth has skyrocketed. Adidas is willing to throw hundreds of millions of funds to sponsor the Chinese sports organizations. It is also a miraculous promotion campaign in the history of the development of China. I also believe that this is a wise move because Chinese people, especially young people, are interested in and buying Adidas. For products, Adidas must allow its pyramid promotion model to operate locally. Only in this way can it affect and benefit Chinese consumers. Otherwise, it will set up a “topped” or “unreachable” brand consumption between itself and consumers. barrier.

Adidas stores and flagship stores have spread all over the world

2. Take a production localization strategy

Adidas is known for its professionalism. It reportedly sold more than 8 billion U.S. dollars in adidas, with its headquarters in Suzhou Industrial Park in China and the establishment of a wholly-owned Adidas (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. Adidas (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Shanghai and has branch offices in Beijing and Guangzhou. At present, there are 53 factories in China, more than 200,000 employees, and 3,000 sales points in more than 200 cities.

In addition, according to Bo Wenkang, Managing Director of Adidas Greater China, in the year 2008, adidas will expand the market from the first-line to the sixth-line market, in addition to the first-tier and second-tier cities. By the end of the year, the brand stores will reach 4,000, and it is estimated that by 2010, The company's store in China will increase to 5,000, and its sales in the Chinese market will reach 1 billion euros. The above figures do not include the share of its Reebok brand. Herbert also disclosed that Reebok currently has about 550 franchised stores in China and plans to add 200 to 250 each year in the future, and it will reach 2,000 during the five to six years.[4] Adidas entered China in 1980 and began to build factories to invest in local employees. 65% of adidas products are manufactured in China.

3. Sports Brand Localization Strategy

Adidas has been advancing the development of technology with technological innovation and has won praise from customers for its outstanding product features. Product innovation, a total of more than 700 patents. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Adi has also made great efforts in product innovation. This time, we have made major breakthroughs in terms of concept innovation, value innovation and category innovation. However, in terms of technological innovation, there was no such thing as a new football "+star of the team" that was unprecedented in the previous World Cup.

Conceptual innovation, integrated into Chinese elements. Adidas (China) established the "Asian Design Center" with the aim of tapping Chinese elements into product design and innovation. One is to provide equipment for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Chinese athletes to provide prizes, and the other is to develop sportswear souvenirs with the Beijing Olympics and Adidas double logo. "The design of these Olympic-licensed products has injected a lot of Chinese elements." "Integrated with the unique elements of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, such as the symbol of Fuwa and 28 matches." "Some have Chinese characters such as calligraphy, dragons, bamboo, etc." Flavored patterns and words." The first batch of adidas Olympic commemorative costumes went on sale in April and May. "Adidas Magnus Moenia" was specially designed by Adidas Magnus Moenia for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Nowadays, in the Adi store, the "Feng Lin" series of T-shirts with rich Chinese culture has been established. Put on the counter.

Second, value innovation, new features to meet consumer segmentation needs. The main performance in the spring and summer of 07 shoes launched a unique "drive shoes." Its characteristic is that the leather surface is filled with special ventilation holes. The asymmetrical design of the outsole improves wearability and can be laterally shifted to protect the feet. The slim design of the sole ensures a more flexible feel. A special heel construction keeps the heel supported in the driving position and remains stable.

Third, category innovations occupy new market segments. The main performance Adidas and Porsche cooperation, launched in the spring and summer of 2007, "Porsche Design Sports Series", especially for men launched the design-oriented, and has innovative technology high-end sports performance products. And in the spring and summer of 2008, we launched four series of professional training products (balanced, aerobic, gym classic three stripes, beautiful dance) and four series of women's leisure products (stars, smart, pure, retro colors). Specially designed for Asian women, advocating a new campaign of “fitness storm”.

Adidas can profoundly understand the “Chinese elements” and regard Chinese elements as product strategies and actively integrate into product development and design. At the same time, Adi's further exploration of Chinese consumer values ​​and demand preferences, combined with the Olympic strategy, continued development of products suitable for Greater China, etc., is still commendable. Prof. Chen Chunhua said: “Only companies that continue to focus on products are the ones that can get customers' hearts. It is also in the heart of customers that companies can maintain their leading position.” Believe that Adidas will have more product value to create customer value. .

4. Store localization strategy

The expansion of channels and terminals is at the core of Adidas 08 China strategy. It is also the fundamental support point for achieving the 08 China strategy. Without the success of channel and terminal expansion, it will take time for Adidas to become the first in the Chinese market. Therefore, the expansion of channels and terminals is the highlight of Adidas (China). The goal is to achieve 5,500 Ardi stores and 2,500 Reebok stores. In 2008, Adidas will expand its market from the first-line to the sixth-line market, in addition to first-tier and second-tier cities, and conduct in-depth distribution. At the same time, the terminal form of launching the flagship store occupies the market commanding height. Promoting the flagship is an important move in the adidas 08 Olympic strategy.

First, develop key customers to expand the sales network. Since 2003, Adidas has developed key customers as a channel strategy and has actively called partners to join the franchise chain. At present, some of their key customers in China have basically owned an average of 50 to 300 retail shops. These partners have their own management, resources, and finances, and they use Adidas's support to create a brand with Adidas. Retailer's own brand. In 2004, Adidas and its Chinese domestic retailers were expanding at a rate of 40 new stores per month, speeding up to 2 homes per day in 2007, and rushing to the speed of 3-4 homes/day. This model of expanding the sales network has been effective.

Second, the launch of flagship stores, gravity attack key markets. On February 7, 2007, it opened its first flagship store in South China and settled in Guangzhou. The world's largest adidas flagship store settled in Sanlitun, Beijing in June 2008.

Thirdly, the licensed retailers of the Olympic Games have gradually opened in major cities, causing great concern in the society. So far it has settled in Wuhan and Nanjing. The Olympic Games licensed merchandise retail store promotes communication with the Chinese public to implement the actual level of communication, and good community marketing, so that Adi further settled in the minds of the Chinese public.

From the above analysis, we concluded that Adidas would like to use the development of the Asia-Pacific region to promote the complementary advantages of the Chinese-speaking market and accelerate the development of Adidas, a global brand in the Asia-Pacific region. Incorporating China into an important core of global strategy, changing past conservative practices, and expanding the market share and brand penetration rate in the sports industry economic environment brought about by the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, completely changing Nike’s positive attacks and other With the side effects of the brand, the Chinese Mandarin Region will be used as the core area for future development and will drive the development of Asia Pacific and even the world. Although Nike currently leads the Chinese market, the brand battle is a marathon-style war, and the final victory is the real victory. Adidas has been observing calmly from the beginning, analyzing the current full-scale attack, counterattack, and future development. All strategies are interlocking and pressing harder and harder. He is like a lion who wakes up and follows a long-term strategy. Goal progresses gradually.

Today, it seems that as soon as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was successfully held, as long as Adidas took hold of China’s opportunities, it is believed that inciting Nike’s dominance is by no means a fantasy, but it is still necessary to pay close attention to Nike’s trends because he is not in accordance with conventional strategies and is already strong. The good brand image, cultivated loyal consumers, etc., are all very solid and will not easily fall from the leader's throne.