MEDIA-I: Adidas heads online to ward off rivals in AP

HONG KONG: Adidas is stepping up its new media marketing initiatives to gain a stronger foothold in Asia as major designer labels attempt to expand into the already-competitive sports apparel category. The sports brand has unveiled its Hong Kong website and is in the process of revamping its Taiwan and China sites, which will be relaunched in the first quarter of next year. Carmen Chan, new media manager for Asia-Pacific at Adidas, said the company was focusing on technology and new media in its marketing in an effort to win over the 12 to 25-year old segment, which she said comprised Adidas' main target audience. "We are a sports performance brand first, and secondly we are a fashion brand. But fashion is also very important to this age group because people who wear our brand want to look good too. Technology also plays a key role for us in the type of image we want to present." Adidas launched a series of online ads to drive traffic to its website, www.adidas.com.hk, which was set up to be used as a brand and promotional campaign centre. The site was developed by DG Interaction. Optimum Media Direction's interactive manager for Greater China, Jerry Yee, said: "We had a budget of only HK$100,000 (US$12,821) and got very good results from ads placed on portals like Yahoo, Sina, hongkong.com. It was a multi-channel focus and it was outsourced to BBDO." But as fashion and fitness come together in markets like Hong Kong, Adidas is facing increased competition not only from sports brands such as Nike, which has a longer history on the web, but also from designer labels, ranging from DKNY to Gucci. Chan added: "Since other fashion brands like DKNY are now going into sports themes and producing sporty clothes as part of their range, there is more competition to be fashionable with sports wear. Our 'original' fashion design is very popular. We are also starting to do crossover projects with other fashion designers, but at the same time we have to maintain our key focus, which is sports. "The website is also looking to build a community for users because we want to give them a reason to return to the site. We have introduced some key features on the site like newsletters, email and feedback to build loyalty. We also use rich media and games to make it more attractive." Chan singled out the site's auction feature as a strong draw, saying Adidas would use the feature to auction off limited editions of its products. "The aim now is to link our site with offline promotions. You can see the Adidas URL on our shopping bags and all advertising. We may consider ecommerce at a later stage when the economy improves, but it will depend on each market's conditions." Adidas also plans to roll out sites for Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and its other key markets in the near future.

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