This article is by Sean Muller, CEO of iSpot.tv, a company that tracks real-time paid TV media and related earned digital activity across social, search and video.
A year after its World Cup sponsorship,
Known globally primarily as a soccer brand that spends far less money on national TV advertising than its competitors, the German company is upping the stakes in 2015 by focusing on different sports, a tactic Nike has used to great success to date.
In a Jan. 22 interview with Fortune magazine, Mark King, president of Adidas Group North America, said the brand wants to focus on sports aside from soccer, and plans to run ad campaigns in the U.S. by quarter instead of by year. According to the article: [King] wants all eyes on the American viewpoint, with marketing campaigns over the next few years mostly focused on the U.S. athlete rather than telling the Adidas story from a global soccer perspective.
Nine days after Super Bowl XLIX buzz dispersed, Adidas launched a campaign fresh from the golf course. Adidas’ spot, “Bringing Boost to Golf,” not only showcased Boost cushioning technology in its golf shoes, but it also included a variety of athletic shoes with the same feature. Coincidentally, Adidas soccer shoes, also available with Boost, have been left out of the commercial.
Four days later, Adidas released its second TV ad titled “Take it,” the first installment of its new “Sport 15” brand campaign. The 60-second commercial which starts with arguably the world’s most famous soccer player, Lionel Messi, quickly lends its focus towards both professional and amateur athletes competing in a variety of American-based sports not typically associated with the German brand.
Adidas was the sixth highest TV spender in its category last year – behind Skechers, Reebok, Nike, ASICS and Under Armor – with only 12 national commercials. But with its strong presence online and around the World Cup, Adidas didn’t need to invest national TV advertising dollars since its logo was already prominently displayed.
Adidas’ commercials, at half the cost of Nike’s spots, had the second-highest online activity, with more than 122 million online views across YouTube and iSpot.tv. Nike’s 25 commercials were viewed online more than 249.8 million times, far exceeding the online views of its competitors.
Skechers led by far with the highest TV spend—buying the most number of spots, airings, and were seen on more national TV networks—yet its digital views were 2.8% of Adidas and 1.4% of Nike. Reebok, an Adidas Group brand, was next in line for the highest spend with an estimated $77.4 million in TV advertising. Its nine commercials totaled more than 7.6 million online views, more than double what the Skechers commercials earned.
Looking at the numbers, Adidas spent almost exactly half of what Nike spent on national TV advertising in 2014. As a result it had half the number of spots which were viewed half the number of times online. A new campaign that invests double what it did in 2014, and yet still half of what Skechers spent in 2014, could pay huge dividends in digital and social response for a brand going toe-to-toe against Nike.
