Adidas establishes ‘digital newsroom' strategy to reverse slump

In order to ‘propel demand’ and resurrect a decline in sales, Adidas Group is establishing a global web of digital newsrooms to secure a strategic insight into how their brands are marketed online.

The sportswear brand said that it needed to make itself more relevant to online audiences, so is establishing newsrooms over the next 12 months to build on its current “moments of celebration and acknowledgement” real-time marketing strategy. The digital outposts will allow the brand to keep a finger firmly on the pulse of popular culture, trends and topics.

The move forms part of the companies push to resurrect a slump in sales across Western Europe, which faced a 6% decline of year-on-year in 2013. The brand hopes to bolster its marketing strategy to fully exploit its sponsorship of the World Cup and drive ‘record football sales’.

Herbert Hainer, chief executive of the Adidas Group, said that it would also allow its marketers to better coordinate the brand’s online profile and dissect key moments.

He said: “The majority of our communication activities today happen in social media, because this is the space where our core target consumer is engaging with brand content.

“To bring greater consistency, increase speed and drive higher levels of brand activation online, Adidas will be investing throughout the year in establishing digital newsrooms around the globe. This will allow us to better coordinate the brand’s online presence as well as leverage and magnify key brand initiatives all year round.”

The group will also establish a central operation from Reebok’s HQ in Massachusetts where it will target young consumers in a further effort to keep its finger on the pulse of youthful activity.

This aggressive push from Adidas is further testament to the growing importance of digital marketing and its connection to brand awareness and profit margins. Their plan follows similar action from competitors such as Nike and Puma. Real-time marketing is clearly a responsive tool being adopted by companies all over the world to build and maintain relationships with consumers and drive sales.