Key Takeaways
- Adidas rebuilt itself from a near-bankruptcy in the 1980s into an athletic apparel leader by centering experience-driven marketing, inclusion, and relationships.
- The "She Breaks Barriers" campaign and a high-profile Beyoncé partnership put values, representation, and women's sports front and center, not just product.
- Adidas uses live, in-person experiences, like Donald Glover's AirDrop stunt at Coachella, to turn attendees into walking billboards at culturally relevant moments.
- The brand's core philosophy is putting the athlete's (consumer's) needs first, then building marketing around genuine inclusion rather than surface-level representation.
- Adidas treats experiential and cultural marketing as complementary to product innovation, not a replacement for it.
Quick Links
- Experience-Driven Marketing That Accounts for Every Athlete
- Taking the Adidas Experience on Tour
- This Race Isn't Close to Over
- People Also Ask
- Frequently Asked Questions
Adidas hasn't always been the athletic apparel heavyweight it is today. Not by a long shot.
Founded nearly 100 years ago in Bavaria, Germany, Adidas's rise to greatness is a story of struggle and triumph. Over the years, racing head-to-head with rival companies like Puma and Nike has caused Adidas's market share to ebb and flow, including a near bankruptcy back in the 80s. However, when Robert Louis-Dreyfus took over as CEO in the early 90s, Adidas stopped to re-examine itself from both a product and consumer engagement standpoint, marking a turning point in its storied legacy.
Since then, the company has rebuilt itself from the ground up, thriving as an innovator and a leader in the athletic space. Its diverse product line, which includes an array of athletic performance shoes and apparel, speaks for itself. But the tight race it finds itself running year after year has led Adidas to adopt a marketing strategy that has always included experience-driven marketing, inclusion, and relationships at its core. Adidas has continued to hone and modernize that strategy, proving that taking an inclusive approach to experience-driven marketing and consumer engagement has kept the brand ahead of the pack.
Experience-Driven Marketing That Accounts for Every Athlete
Adidas's innovation runs deeper than hyper-tuned performance products. The brand launched the She Breaks Barriers campaign, which advocates for wider media coverage of women's sports. Per Adidas's web copy, only 4% of US sports coverage is dedicated to female athletes. In response, Adidas crafted a message for its audience to copy and paste from Adidas.com and send to their local news stations, calling for more coverage of women's sports so young girls can see role models and learn the lifelong benefits of sports.
To further empower female athletes around the world, Adidas doubled down by partnering with Beyoncé to bring a new line of sneakers and athleisure wear to market. Beyoncé unveiled the collaboration in a series of Instagram posts, each receiving several million likes in under an hour.
"This is the partnership of a lifetime for me," Beyoncé said in a statement. "Adidas has had tremendous success in pushing creative boundaries. We share a philosophy that puts creativity, growth, and social responsibility at the forefront of the business."
With Beyoncé at its side, Adidas positioned itself to capture a significant share of the ever-expanding female "sneakerhead" market, as well as the female athleisure market. Here Adidas proves that promoting gender inclusivity is taking a place on the right side of history. Rather than producing ads that simply showcase women and people of color wearing its apparel, Adidas recognizes the contribution of women in sports, putting values ahead of product, a strategy that resonates with modern consumers.
Q: How did the Beyoncé partnership help Adidas's positioning with female consumers?
A: It signaled a genuine values alignment rather than a surface-level endorsement. Beyoncé described sharing Adidas's philosophy around creativity, growth, and social responsibility, which helped Adidas capture more of the female sneaker and athleisure market.
Taking the Adidas Experience on Tour
As online shopping continues to gain clout, companies are forced to invent new and exciting ways to engage customers in person. According to Adidas's Global Director of Digital and Retail Marketing, Swave Szymczyk, a sound experiential marketing strategy is more important than ever.
"Stores will change, there will be less products, there will be more interactions in stores. For bigger brands like Adidas it will be about providing more and more of those interesting, creative experiences that actually mean something to the consumer," Szymczyk told Marketing Week.
Adidas looked to Donald Glover to give Coachella festival-goers an Adidas experience they wouldn't soon forget. The strategy was simple: Glover used iOS AirDrop to share a photo of his unreleased Adidas exclusives with random concert-goers. Those who accepted the AirDrop invitation received a free pair of the sneakers. All they had to do was sign a "contract" stating that they would wear the shoes all weekend long.
Just like that, Adidas generated hundreds, if not thousands, of walking billboards at one of the most Instagram-friendly events of the year. Plus, it surprised and delighted its primary demographic straight at the source. It was, without a doubt, an experience to remember.
Q: Why did the Donald Glover AirDrop stunt work so well for Adidas?
A: It combined scarcity (unreleased shoes), surprise, and a built-in audience of highly engaged, social-media-active concertgoers. Each pair worn all weekend turned into a walking billboard at one of the most photographed events of the year.
This Race Isn't Close to Over
Adidas has done enough for its brand to call any given year a win already. But it's really only laid the groundwork for continued success. What we do know is that Adidas's recent success largely stems from the very revelation that resuscitated the brand back in the late 80s: focus on the athlete's, the consumer's, needs first.
That's meant listening to and including consumers in its communication efforts, surprising them with unforgettable experiences, and aligning with the causes and cultural moments they care about most.
Think a legacy brand can't keep reinventing itself against a rival as prestigious as Nike? Adidas keeps proving otherwise. Want to build a marketing strategy this intentional for your own brand? Contact us.
People Also Ask
What made Adidas's turnaround possible in the 1990s?
New CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus led a re-examination of both product and consumer engagement strategy after the brand nearly went bankrupt in the 1980s, setting the foundation for its later growth.
How does Adidas use cause marketing effectively?
Campaigns like She Breaks Barriers focus on a specific, measurable inequity (only 4% of sports coverage goes to female athletes) and give consumers a concrete action to take, rather than a vague statement of support.
What role does experiential marketing play in Adidas's strategy?
Live, in-person activations like the Coachella AirDrop stunt let Adidas create memorable, shareable moments that reach highly engaged audiences directly, complementing its product and cause-driven marketing.
Why does Adidas partner with cultural figures like Beyoncé?
These partnerships signal genuine values alignment rather than simple celebrity endorsement, helping Adidas build credibility and reach with audiences, like the female sneaker market, it wants to grow.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is experience-driven marketing?
Experience-driven marketing focuses on creating memorable, in-person or interactive moments with consumers rather than relying solely on traditional advertising, building emotional connection and brand loyalty.
How has Adidas used inclusive marketing to grow its brand?
Through campaigns like She Breaks Barriers, which advocates for more media coverage of women's sports, and partnerships like the one with Beyoncé, Adidas centers representation and values rather than product alone.
What was the Donald Glover Adidas activation at Coachella?
Donald Glover used iOS AirDrop to share unreleased Adidas sneakers with random festival-goers, who received a free pair in exchange for agreeing to wear them all weekend, turning attendees into walking billboards.
Why is experiential marketing important for legacy brands like Adidas?
As online shopping grows, in-person experiences give legacy brands a way to create meaningful, memorable interactions with consumers that a website or ad alone can't replicate.
Who can help build an experience-driven marketing strategy like Adidas?
A Little Bird designs experiential and brand activation campaigns that put consumer engagement and inclusion at the center. Contact us to talk through your goals.