T he ‘#allinornothing’ marketing campaign has made Adidas the most talked about sports brand at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The campaign, titled ‘The Dream: All in or Nothing’, was launched prior the 2014 FIFA World Cup and featured some of the world’s best footballers including Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi. The world’s leading football brand outran all its competitors at the football’s most prestigious tournament, outfitting the tournaments’ finalists Germany and Argentina, being a partner with three World Cup individual award winners and providing the official match ball for the final. During the campaign, Adidas has achieved a record of over $2 Billion in sales this year. It has sold more than 8 million football jerseys (2 million more than during the 2010 FIFA World Cup) and 14 million footballs (1 million more than during the 2010 FIFA World Cup) more than any other brand through-out the tournament. he CEO of the Adidas Group Hebbert Hainer told adidas-group. com that the entire campaign ‘has been an outstanding success.’ “The World Cup has been an outstanding success for us and underlies our position as the world’s leading football brand. With this campaign, we were able to dominate the tournament on and off the pitch,” Hainer said on adidas-group.com. The campaign also generated growth of Adidas community on social media. Tom Ramsden, Adidas marketing director revealed to adidas-group.com that the content shared on various social media platforms during the campaign led to its success. Ramsden said, “We always knew that real time communications would be the best way for adidas to win the World Cup. We shared a combination of planned, anticipated and reactive content on our social media throughout the campaign to drive our conversation online with football fans.” The @AdidasZA became one of the most growing Twitter handles in South Africa during the campaign, with 30% growth rate of followers on Twitter. South Africans used the #allin to engage with @AdidasZA. “We are very delighted with the success of the campaign,” said Gugu Ntuli, PR Manager at adidas South Africa. “We received a rapid growth on our social media platforms and more and more football fans engaged with us.” Ntuli added that the campaign is one of their most successful campaigns. “With over 50 000 Twitter interactions during the campaign, we are proud of our campaign’s accomplishments thanks to our #allin campaign.” Ntuli added. its World Cup campaign NEWS Adidas scores big with All in or nothing: Adidas sweeped clean at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Photo: adidas.com By Johannes Masiteng Reaching customers through social media In today’s world of integrated social many companies have shifted to social media to engage with their clients and extend customer reach. Adidas has also moved to social media to broaden its customer reach and increase brand exposure. Adidas has 18.9 million Facebook followers and 1.5 million followers on Twitter, while the @AdidasZA Twitter handle has more than 66 000 followers. These accounts deliver interesting information about Adidas’ latest new products, campaigns and relationships with the athletes they sponsor. Senior brand marketing manager at Adidas South Africa Bradley Stern said on adidas. co.za that they use appropriate social media to engage with customers and give them access to the brand ‘which they will never get anywhere else.’ “We have different ways to engage with our customers using social media- from first-looks of latest products to live chats with our partner like Orlando Pirates’ Daine Klate and Tlou Segolela. “ Adidas also makes use of hashtags on social media to ensure sufficient interaction with clients. As the Adidas South Africa online marketing manager Tokoloho Moeketsi explained on adidas.com/za, the Adidas South Africa marketing team uses hashtags in many photos and posts they share on major social networking sites. “We use hashtags such as #f50 regarding our new football boots and #allinpirates regarding the new Orlando Pirates 2014/15 season jersey on both Facebook and Twitter. The hashtags allows followers to communicate with us and know more about a particular event or topic,” Moeketsi said. Recently, @AdidasZA Twitter handle shares photos about athletes they sponsor and their latest products, using hashtags like #zxflux, #threestripes and #showyourstripes. Moeketsi said the marketing team uses social media to create campaigns that generate hype around new products and activities by Adidas. “We communicate with our customers about our latest ZX Flux boots using #f50 and about our 3 Stripes card using #threestipes on Twitter. This allows us to create new products and content tailored for our customers and provide them with feedback,” said Moeketsi, commenting on their use of Twitter to interact with clients. “It is clear that social media, especially Twitter, is essential to us for interacting with our loyal customers and create hype around our new products,” Moeketsi concluded. Adidas South Africa Twitter account shares information about latest activities and products by Adidas. Photo: www.twitter.com/adidasza By Johannes Masiteng Head Office (South Africa) Unit C Black River Park, Fir Str, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, Western Cape. Tel: 021 442 6200 Bloemfontein Loch Logan Waterfront Henry St, Bloemfontein, 9301 Tel: 051 430 3842 Adidas South Africa stores and contact details Cape Town Canal Walk Century Blvd, Western Cape, 8001. Tel: 021 551 7120 Durban Gateway Theatre of Shopping 1 Palm Boulevard, Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal, 4052. Tel: 031 477 3121 Johannesburg Campus Square Centre Kingsway Ave, Johannesburg, 2092, Tel: 011 726 6682. Port Elizabeth The Bridge Shopping Centre, Cnr Cape Rd & Langenhoven Dr, Greenacres, Port Elizabeth, 6001, Tel: 041 363 0222 NEWS 4 Adidas Newsletter Adidas Newsletter 5