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Adidas’ Brilliant Marketing Strategy

In the incredibly competitive market of sports shoes, companies are always looking for new superstars to endorse and marketing campaigns to draw in or potentially switch customer loyalty.  Shoe buyers are unusually loyal to brand specifically when said brand can “fulfill customer needs, make customers feel recognized and valued, and engage through relevant and personalized experiences.”

Athletic shoes companies are constantly looking for ways to differentiate and increase their brand loyalty. Over the past year, Adidas has really upped their game when it comes to building buzz around new products such as the Oktoberfest and the Berlin shoes.  Just like the shoe industry Adidas’s value proposition is very dynamic, changing to adapt to company strategy. For the next five years, Adidas hopes to bring value to the customer through “Creating the New”, because “everything we do is rooted in Sport.”  

I can admit that I too am loyal to a specific brand of athletic shoe.  To give you a hint they are Oregon grown.  However, after seeing Adidas’s two most recent marketing campaigns the cleverness around their content has me second thinking that loyalty. Adidas recently revamped two shoe styles and made available the “Oktoberfest” and “Berlin” shoes.  These shoes will not increase your vertical leap or help you run a 40-yard dash faster.  What they can do is so much more impressive.  One protects your feet from puke and spilled beer the other can get you a free ride home.

The Oktoberfest ($240) is an updated version of the Caflair sneaker ($50).  Adidas has tied the iconic German event to a shoe whose “outers” resemble the stitching of lederhosen and the “inners” are red and white checked to match the traditional tablecloths ubiquitous at any Oktoberfest celebration.  Tiny gold embossed “Edelweiss” ring the top of the heel as well as “Prost” (Cheers!) located above the three stripe where the shoe name is typically located.  Taking it one “step” further you also get a free beer stein with every pair.  Despite an almost 5x MSRP increase above the Caflair shoe, stores have not had an issue selling them. 

Adidas’s most recent campaign is the “Berlin” ($224) a redux of the 1993 “EQT” sneaker popular after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  What makes this shoe impressive is that the lucky person wearing them is allowed to ride Berlin mass transit for a year, a value some suggest closer to $890.  The shoe pattern matches the upholstery found on the inside of trains and buses and an individually numbered annual pass is stitched into the tongue of every pair.  You had shoe collectors, mass transit riders and prospective resellers all waiting in line to get their hands on a pair. To create more marketing buzz and further drive demand, Adidas only produced 500 pairs available at two different locations in Berlin both of which sold out in a matter of minutes.   Going rate for these sneakers on today’s market is $2500 or the price of a 2000 BMW 5 Series. 

I take my hat off to Adidas.  These two collaborative campaigns with unrelated services/events increased brand awareness amongst a larger demographic and a buzz around their marketing strategies.  So don’t worry, have a crazy night and drink up, spill and puke to your heart’s desire-your feet will be fine.  And if you do decide to drink too much, take the train, Adidas has you covered there as well.
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