Adidas UK’s new experiential marketing campaign
By
Vergil DAI
It is widely
acknowledged that Adidas used to be a company mainly focus on traditional
marketing. Schmitt (1999) state that traditional marketing regard consumers as
rational decision makers who care about the quality and benefits of products.
Therefore Adidas tried their best to produce comfortable, fashion and high
quality products in last decades.
But Adidas
promotion was no longer just about ‘showing off product’. Adidas UK’s head of
brand marketing Barry Moore says the brand is moving to a more “responsible and
spontaneous” marketing model to reintroduce itself to the new generation. It
can be regard as the movement to experiential marketing. Experiential marketers
recognize the emotional factors that influence human beings’ decision making,
and focus on providing achieving pleasurable experience to customers (Schmitt,
1999).
As a
response to Adidas’s new vision, which is reintroduce the brand to the next
generation, Adidas started a new experiential marketing campaign in London on
18th February. Adidas built the X-shaped training space at Victoria
Park to host ‘The X’ pop up, which aim to provide free fitness training
experiences to young women
during
the park’s darker winter period. As the Adidas UK’s head of brand marketing
said, Adidas is trying to make larger social impact and build relationship with
consumers.
Smilansky
(2009) figure out several benefits of experiential marketing which may be reasons
of this new marketing campaign, including brand advocacy, bring brand personality
to life, clear differentiation, emotional connection with target market. In
this case, Adidas link their brand personality to heathy lifestyle and sport.
By creating an interactive brand experience of free fitness training, Adidas
can not only promote their brand personality to their target market (new
generation), but also build customer loyalty and attract new customers.
‘The X’ is part of a wider investment in
experiential pop-ups for its new city-based marketing structure, mainly focus
on six global cities including LA, New York, London, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo.
The experiential marketing campaign in London is a start, Adidas will also set ‘The
X’ pop up at other cities in the future.
As a reflection
of this case, it shows that improving quality and decreasing the price of
products is not enough for attracting customers and build long-term customer
relationship in 21st century. Experience has become the new key for success
of marketing.
Smilansky,
S. (2009). Experiential marketing: A practical guide to interactive brand
experiences (1st ed.). London: Kogan Page.
Schmitt,
B. (1999). Experiential marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 15(1),
53-67. doi:10.1362/026725799784870496
how was the customer's comment about this new experiential marketing campaign? Maybe focusing on the customer's aspects at the same time will understand more clearly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the company of Adidas should focus on the customers' reflection in the future.
ReplyDeleteA good example of experiential marketing!
ReplyDelete