Adidas vs Nike or the sponsoring madness



22 February 2011 , the French Football Federation yields an unequalled offer from Nike: the brand proposes 42 billion euros per year, until 2018, to have the “swoosh” tagged on the National shirt and, in the mean time, to erase Adidas’ logo, to tear a 30 years old branding contract.

The two giant’s battlefield is inarguably professional sportsmen’s equipment and the most successful they are, the fiercest the struggle is.
Because labelling the winners transforms the brand into a winner’s brand, and nothing magnetizes more the consumer.
It is also the reason why sport idols are offered staggering amounts of money to lend their image to brands : Zinedine Zidane to Adidas, Rafael Nadal or Cristiano Ronaldo to Nike.
They confer to the equipment manufacturers a semi-heroïc dimension, hence not just helping to sell Football or Tennis stuff but also giving a huge added value to all the products of the brand.
Besides, a sponsored shirt, as national as it is, will always belong to the brand selling it . Actually only a very small percentage of the profit margins go to the sponsored team, for instance every shirt sold from Olympique de Marseille’s store brings 6 euros to the club, whereas 54 euros go to Adidas.

Undeniably sponsoring is a very profitable activity as it fills brand’s pockets as it enshrines them, though  we should not overlook the other side of the coin, the embarassing details such as the 1997 scandal about the working conditions of Nike manufacturers in Asia.
 Today, many organizations claim that few changes have been observed in China or Thailand, where workers are employed 7 days a week, 12 hours per day, therefore violating the Nike code but also the local legislation.

Alexandre L.

Sources:
http://www.fiba.com/asp_includes/download.asp?file_id=406
http://www.bizmology.com/2010/06/25/nike-vs-adidas-the-battle-for-buzz-in-the-world-cup/

Appearance and good conscience : keys to successfull sells

Look good has a price and a  good one. Nevertheless people are ready to spend a lot of money on it and advertisers know that very well.

In addition, companies use scientific language in their ads to be even more convincing.

They create needs like anti-wrinkle products and it works so well that not only they sell anti-wrinkles face cream but they sell also all sorts of variants : anti-wrinkles hand cream, anti-wrinkles face cream night, day and eye formula ...

However, aging is not the only fear advertisers exploit. 

Anti wrinkles commercial :

Diet pills

Indeed, this past few years sells of diet products have increased dramatically. Every single product has his "diet twin" : diet soda, diet cereals and even creams that reduce your waist.

To such an extent that today almost everything you can see on a drugstore's cash desk is an ad for diet drugs, pils that will help you being slimer.
People and especially women are obsessed with calories. They would rather buy a yoghurt 0% than a standard one even if it costs twice the price. It gives them good conscience.
They would buy anything to lose weight and that expains why so many marketing compains are focused on the diet side of  a product.

Commercial for a diet product :

Recently advertisers have found a new golden mine : bio products.Companies assure that their products are much healthier than the others and that justify expensive prices. Once again they are using the fact that people follow one's conscience.However today advertisers can't denied that it is not only a matter of health care anymore. It has become a commercial phenomenon and they take advantage of it; rising prices the more they possibly can.What is absurd is that everything is bio just like everything is low-fat. You can buy bio food for cats and dogs, books and even anti aging product. ( Have a look on : Portail Bio )

It is obvious that advertisers use your desire to be slim, stay young and eat healthy food to promote and sell as much products as they want. Appearance and good conscience are keys to successfull sells !

Sources :
http://www.instantlyloseweight.net/tag/diet-pills/
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2007/08/sony-bio-battery-loves-glucose/

Célia

Have fun, play my advergame!

   In case you hadn't noticed, advertising has made its way into the world of video games. Maybe you can remember the applications on the side of your screen, haranguing you to press several spots, or to shoot a virtual ball to beat a virtual goal keeper, which virtualy mises the ball, which then send you to a brand website, which wants to make real money! This new way  of advertising is known as 'advergaming'.

 Many advergames for international brands are spreading on the web

   It's the kind of ad Hundai's UK has choosen to get closer to consumers, to provide them advertisement, to appear to them as a friendly car maker which ensures to satisfy its clients. This decision is not an innocent bet, but it has been taken after the analysis of survey led by the brand itself. This shows that, with the dynamism of the smartphones maket, more than a half of the users of such phones have at least three games on it and play to one game everyday! 

Besides, this type of advertisement can last as long as the game provider decide to enable it to be downloaded. Thus, it can be a clever and cheap opportunity to remind each player, almost everyday, who is at the background of their advertisement.

   That's why in the last few years, opportunists web-desingers and virtual game conceptors have  focused on providing 'advergames' to the enterprises, building a real new market of the advertisement.

Sources: http://marketinomics.com

                 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/mar/29/hyundai-launches-iphone-game?INTCMP=SRCH

Vincent

The sex power

Nowadays, we can watch more and more sexual image hidden in adverts. In fact, some ads can be ambivalent until the end in order to catch the audience. So, we can wonder:  What do the brands expect when they use sexual conotations?

The reason is to aim more people because this is unexpected and original. The fact to being shocked is necessary to make an impression. In fact, if people think some ads are shocking they don't forget it.

Here are some examples of advertisements with sexual implications :

But sometimes people disagree with the fact of using sexual image in order to sell products or to offer services. This article reflects the fact that shocking people too often is not beneficial 

Luckily there are some companies who control these conotations in advertising

- In France, the CSA (Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel)

- In England, the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)

Thanks to these groups, people can watch television and not be shocked by these pictures every time they turn on the television .



Kévin

Targeted advertising

When we watch television and it's time for advertisements, we switch the channel because it's boring. But now we can be touched by the so called "targeted advertising". Actually, next autumn, American advertisers will change their ads depending on the audience :  some states will have specific ads , as shown in this link.

It can be beneficial for the television marketing because if an advertisement deals with something that concerns us, it will be more likely to have our attention. Consequently, one can watch an advertissement for a product or a service which one really needs.

Today, Google use this form of marketing and it's very attractive to have some advertisements which interess us. It analyzes our own research to display the ads that suits us more.

Here are some examples of targeted advertising which already exist :

 

But choosing ads in function of the audience can be felt by people as two persons who live in the same country are different because they don't live in the same place. Actually some people can think they are sidelined because they don't have the same adverts than others.

So targeted advertising can be very useful for the companies to sell more products but I think this form of marketing could be too excessive for people.

Kevin

Surrogate Advertising

 While several countries have already banned any form of advertisement for products such as alchool or cigarettes, more and more other countries are following the same health care policy.

In this way, liquors and cigarettes brands have been little by little banned from the screen all around the world.     Nevertheless, these last have not given up, struggling to still keep in touch with the audience out of the supermarkets.

Thus, marketing services of the brands have come with fresh ideas to hide the brand into another product advertisement. This, is called surrogate advertising.

Check out this advertisement for "Club Royal" apple juice, which, in fact is a Whisky brand.

   For example, a cigarette company might produce public service announcements relating to a topic such as lung cancer, using the company's logo or distinctive brand colors in the ads so that people are exposed to the company's branding without seeing an explicit ad for the company's product. The company would justify the advertisement by claiming that it's an example of social responsibility. War between governement, anti-tabacco/alchool organisations and sellers has thus been launched.

  A good illustration would be the moovie "Thank you for smoking", a pretty recent film on the topic which has been launched in 2006. It prefectly shows, with a delightful humour, how major corporations are ready, despite the knowlegde that they are encouraging and leading children to death by smoking, to spend milions of dollars to get round the law to still advertise their products.

The trailer of  "Thank you for smoking"

   Nonetheless, surrogate advertisement doesn't only concerns tobacco or liquiors, but this can be used by brands that want to increase their public image buy sponsoring public and social events, sport teams, etc...

Sources: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-03-08/india/27765201_1_surrogate-ads-ban-on-liquor-products-accessories-and-mineral-water

Vincent P.

Advertisers' new target : Children !

 

Nowadays the industries target a very particular customers : the children. Indeed, young people view more than 40 000 ads per year on television alone and increasingly are being exposed to advertising on the Internet, in magazines, and in schools. It is a fact that companies will do anything it takes to add a child to the list of their loyal customers.

Example of a product especially made for children

Why Children? 

Industrialists noticed that the development of customers loyalty must be made from the youngest age because children identify and memorize logotypes of the various brands. It is unconsciously that the children will buy products known in their childhood: a logo memorized from the age of 2 years is never forgotten. In addition, research has shown that young children-younger than 8 years-are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising. They do not understand the notion of intent to sell .

Example of a children magazine

Advertising and Children in figures :

- Print media : According to the Consumer's Union, more than 160 magazines are now targeted at children. 

- Movies and Video games : A 2000 FTC investigation found that violent movies, music, and video games have been intentionally marketed to children and adolescents (cf Alexandre's article about product placements).

 - Television : Children and adolescents view 40 000 ads per year on TV alone.

 - The internet : An increasing number of Web sites try to entice children and teenagers to make direct sales. And according to figures it works very well. Teenagers account for more than $1 billion in e-commerce dollars,and the industry spent $21.6 million on Internet banner ads alone in 2002.
- In schools, advertisers have slowly infiltrated school systems. More than 200 school districts nationwide have signed exclusive contracts with soft drink companies.

Marketing techniques : 

Today's kids have more autonomy and decision-making power within the family than in previous generations, so it follows that kids know very well about what  they want their parents to buy, and they impose it to them . In addition advertisers use parents' desire to provide the best for their children, and play on any guilt they may have about not having enough time for their kids.

It's important to follow several guidelines when marketing to kids:
- Speak to Kids : Use age-appropriate language, use current phrases, be succinct, and do not talk down to children. Otherwise, they will catch on and you'll lose them.
- Show Children in Groups: Kids like to fit in with the crowd.  
- Show Diversity : All kids are not the same. Include overweight, tall, short, and ethnic children in your marketing. 
- Cool Packaging : Kids like colorful things, interesting boxes, and shapes. Be creative.
- Fun and Friendly : Although you want to have positive, kid-friendly characters and marketing, you do not want to sermonize them. There are many fun ways to reach kids. 
- Think "Mom and Dad" : Kids have to sell mom and dad on the product. This means being cost-sensitive and demonstrating good value. 

But today, advertisers are in possession of a very powerfull tool : the internet. In fact, Interactive technology may allow them to collect vast amounts of of information about children's viewing habits and preferences and target them on the basis of that information (cf Kevin's article about targeted marketing).

Children ads :

  This article explain very well why kids are a unique market. They have a significant impact on the success of many businesses despite the fact that they spend little or no actual money. But you need to market to them very carefully because the final decision makers is often going to be mom or dad.

Sources :
http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing/segmentation-targeting-niche-marketing/1965-1.htm

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/marketers_target_kids.cfm
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/6/2563.full

Célia