You are given points for your 2 reflections. You will write the Reflections and submit to Turnitin. Each Reflection is one 700word MAX about the given questions. Below are detailed instructions for Reflection 2 (Assignment 1B). This Reflection is worth 10 marks by itself. This reflection is on the topic of Brand Internationalization as the learning topic week 4 Brand Internationalization. The billiondollar question in Global Branding is to what extent should a brand adapt or standardize in the international markets. The standardization and adaptation could be applied to the Marketing Strategies (STPD: target segment andor positioning) or to the marketing mix (4Ps or 7Ps, starting always with the product as first and foremost). For more detailed understanding, make sure you check the online learning materials, attend the consultation and the workshop of Topic Week 4. Tasks: Continue with the previous global brand that you have identified in the first reflection, or pick a new one if you like or if that previous global brand of your reflection one has already been used as examples in the provided learning materials regarding the topic of standardization vs adaptation. Do research on the brand’s global marketing strategies to see to what extent they have used standardizations of adaptations in their marketing strategies STPD andor marketing mix. Include examples from at least two host countries’ markets in your writing. Research to find out what are some environment factors in the host countries that are leading to decisions on those standardizations or adaptations. Make sure you compare and contrast with the STPD marketing strategy and marketing mix in the home country of the brand for clear illustrations of standardizations and adaptations.
ROYAL MELBOURNE INSTITUTION TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY (SEMESTER C-2022) Lecturer: Huong B Group: 07 Course Name: Global Branding Course Code: MKTG1417 Campus: SGS Campus Due date: 21 November 2022 Word Count: 700 REFLECTION PRACTICE-BASED ADIDAS STANDARDIZATION AND ADAPTATION MARKETING STRATEGIES ANLYSIS I INTRODUCTION Adidas is a German multinational sportswear corporation, founded by Adolf Dassler (“Adi”), and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria (Germany) that designs and manufacture athletic and lifestyle shoes, apparel, and sporting accessories (Adidas n.d) Adidas was considered the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, behind only Nike (Walters 2021) Adidas is well-known for selling a different range of items for both men's and women’s clothes and shoes and satisfying a variety of market segmentations worldwide In 1924, Adidas started its business story in its home-country, Germany with many challenges and the mid-1990s, Adidas shoes won the worldwide market, mainly in Greater China, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and North America that brought Adidas to become the largest athletic shoe suppliers in the globe (Paz 2021) Adidas continuously strengthens its brand to maintain its competitiveness by consistently improving quality, looks, and designs to exceed customers’ expectations II STANDARDIZATION & ADAPTATION Standardization Firstly, the same iconic logo design for all market segmentations, are "Trefoil Logo" for Adidas Originals products and the " 3-Stripes Logo" for tech or sports-focused products Iconic Adidas logos with “3-Stripes” and “Trefoil” can be easily recognized in over 150 countries around America, Europe, and Asia due to their consistency (Adidas 2022) Adidas logos are preserved in shape, size, and design, with dominant colors of black and white across host countries Their standardized marketing endeavors focus on global values such as “brand credibility, consumer experience, and pushing the boundaries in sustainability” (Adidas n.d) Adidas' standardized mission, regardless of nation or culture, is to become the leading sports brand worldwide, provide the best innovative sports products and cherish consumer experience (Adidas n.d) Next, Adidas’s Brand Essence is standardized in all its global geographical market segments, which is “Impossible Is Nothing” tagline effectively communicating the same marketing message on a global scale: “it is possible to change lives through sport positively”, “Never stopping, never giving up”, promoting athletes and consumers to surpass their limits (Adidas 2021) Adidas put its efforts to conduct its global campaign “Own the Game” (2021), concentrating this strategy on markets in Asia, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, Africa), and the United States (Herzogenaurach 2021) to animate sport spirits, mainly football Implementing a “Run for the Oceans” global campaign to help the globe end the plastic waste (Green 2022) For same targeting across nations, Adidas focuses on athletes, teens (15-20 years of age group), and Adults (30-65 years), which is middle- or upper-income class Adidas runs standardized marketing communication approaches that Adidas promotes to reach targeted customers and advertise products mainly through viral Social-media For example, Facebook or Instagram in Vietnam, Weibo or WeChat in China, Twitter in the U.S, etc (Adidas n.d) Adaptation a STDP marketing Segmentation Adidas adapts many different global segments of the consumer by introducing different product segments including Performance, Originals, Style, and Neo (Bakar 2016) Asian customers prefer Original Adidas styles because it provides casual, heritage, and street-styled clothing and shoes, which is appropriate with the minimalist style of Asian cultures While, Adidas' Performance styles, designed mainly focusing on football characteristics, and athletics, collaborated with Europe sports groups like Chelsea FC, to encourage people’s soccer loyalty (Diane n.d) This style was created to satisfy the football idolatry in Western cultures Positioning & Differentiation Adidas in Vietnam, Cambodia, and China can be considered a high-end brand because of Adidas’s high level of price (average price from $60-$20,000), and Adidas stores are located at centers of big cities (HCM, Shanghai, Seoul) While, in U.S and Europe, Adidas is an affordable brand, compared to other luxury brands like Chanel, Gucci (Europe), or Burberry (U.S) b Marketing Mix (4Ps) Product The design of Adidas sportswear and shoes in the United States and Europe as Germany, UK, or Italy focused more on sporty-styles, more colorful, vibrant colors (red, orange, yellow, neon, etc.) with unique and strange-looking patterns because the Western people relatively encourage dynamism, brilliance, eccentricity, and extraordinariness in styles (Figure 1) Due to cultural differences, Asian consumers prefer "minimalist fashion", emphasizing sophistication, elegance, and moderation in styles, to adapt to the consumers' preferences and needs, Asian Adidas brands in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Korea primarily develop lifestyle-items with simple and basic designs with elegant colors such as black, white, grey, dark blue (Karg 2015, Figure 2) Figure 1: The Adidas products (shoes, apparel, clothing) designed for U.S and European market segmentations (Adidas 2022) Figure 2: Asian Adidas sportswear and shoes (mainly in Vietnam, Japan, and China) (Facebook 2022, Adidas 2020) Besides, Adidas applies localization approaches to create special versions based on different cultural preferences to help Adidas adapt to cater better to different market segmentations Adidas China launched limited-edition sneakers inspired by traditional Chinese New Year designs, to commemorate the Lunar New Year including NMD R2, EQT Support ADV, Superstar, and Campus, with simple color schemes_ white and red accents representing “Good Luck” in Chinese culture The Chinese character “Blessing” is marked on the back of each shoe in the collection, with a special meaning of bringing blessings of peace and success to the Chinese in the new year (Figure 3) Adidas U.S uses adaptation by introducing special, one-of-a-kind Adidas Ultraboost X sneakers with iconic state imageries of U.S such as Wisconsin’s cheese, Georgia’s peaches, Vermont’s green mountains, the Statue of Liberty, representing each U.S state (Business Insider Africa 2017, Figure 4) In the German market (Adidas-home-country), Adidas launched Adidas ZX9000 shoes as a gift made for Berlin, with the main color scheme being dark color (black and grey), which is inspired by gloomy weather, the antiquity of architecture, retro-futuristic atmosphere, monochromatic and neutral mood of the Berlin city (Herr n.d) Figure 3: Originals Adidas sneaker collection (2018- Chinese New Year edition) (Kiot 2018) Figure 4: Adidas commissioned 12 women artists to create one-of-a-kind Ultraboost X sneaker representing for each US state (Business Insider Africa 2017) Figure 5: Adidas sneakers Price ZX9000 (Made for Adidas chooses to apply adaptation strategies on price, Berline_10th anniversary which will be different in host-countries, depending on the of Originals in Germany’s consumer-average-income For example, Adidas focuses on capital) (Her n.d) selling lower-cost basic, affordable products such as Adidas Samba, Adidas Superstar, and Adidas Coast Star shoes ($60- $100) for African or low-income Asian markets (Cambodia, or India), where the purchasing power, averagely, is low, whereas, Adidas promotes higher-priced shoes like Adidas 4D versions, Adidas Yeezy Boost ($1,500-$20,000) in America, Europe, high-income Asian nations (China, Japan, S.Korea) (Adidas n.d) Place Adidas adapts with 2,500 own-retail stores and own e-commerce channels over 50 countries (Adidas 2020) In Vietnam, Adidas' official stores frequently are located in high-end shopping malls (Aeon Mall, Vincom Centres, Crescent Mall, etc.) in centers of HCM city Besides, VN Adidas products are primarily presented in all of Vietnam's popular e-commerce channels like Shopee, Tiki, and Lazada Adidas China promotes selling products on e-commerce platforms: Taobao, Alibaba, and TMall because modern Chinese prefer to purchase products online to save time and avoid queuing (Adidas 2019) In U.S, Adidas has more than 177 retail stores and outlets nationwide, products are also sold through U.S Adidas official website, and are rarely sold on E-commerce channels Promotion Adidas adapts different markets by localizing advertising contents to maximize the power of promotion South Korea achieves the most Olympic gold medals in archery, therefore, to win the nation's hearts to increase brand awareness, Adidas Korea decided to become the official sponsor for the Korean Archery team In UK, Adidas UK features London Olympics as the major theme in most of its advertising campaigns; discounts its sportswear products during the Olympics to catch customers’ attention (Adidas n.d) In United States, football is considered the most popular and king sport, so Adidas US chooses football theme for US-focused promotion While, in Italy, Italian highly encourage national football-team, thus, Adidas Italy mainly highlighted its official websites with Milan soccer-team image (Adidas n.d) Figure 6: Adidas websites across different nations (Adidas n.d) To drive promotion effectively, Adidas adapts to collaborate with local social-influencers, celebrities or athletes to advertise For example, in South Korea, Adidas collaborate to Blackpink, LeBron James (U.S), Messi and Ronaldo (Europe) (Badenhausen 2018) Figure 7: Adidas collaborate with Blackpink (Korea), Messi and Ronald for promotion campaigns (Badenhausen 2018) III CONCLUSION After analysis, I believe that Adidas is more in applying adaptation strategies because adaptation strategies are utilized in abundant marketing aspects (through 4Ps) with many specific marketing strategies to serve separated geographical market segmentation However, Adidas highly strives to balance standardization and adaptation Standardization will encourage Adidas shape its brand in the globe, clearly describe brand personality and values in general, at the same time applying adaptation to satisfy various cultures and local markets’ requirements, increase Adidas brand awareness to elevate profits Adidas success in brand internationalization with high extent when its brand name and iconic logo are rapidly recognized in over 150 countries and still be one of leading sportswear and shoes suppliers in the earth IV REFERENCES Adidas (n.d) About History, Adidas, accessed 18 November 2022, https://www.adidas- group.com/en/about/history/ Walters M (2021) The History of Adidas: A background of Collaboration and Innovation, GamePlan, accessed 18 November 2022, https://www.gameplan-a.com/2021/08/the-history-of- adidas-a-background-of-collaboration-and-innovation/ Paz R (2022) The History of Adidas, Sole Supplier, accessed 21 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