TENNIS – Second Set: It's Not Impossible to Step Out from Adidas and Step Into Nike

Date Posted: 04 July 2008

The big sport brands with a remarkable marketing budget never miss the opportunity to advertise at big sporting events. But does it have a significant effect on consumer perception?

One of the bigger news stories related to the tennis tournament is that Nike won over two tennis stars from Adidas this year. Andy Murray, the British tennis talent, switched from Adidas to Nike and Novak Djokovic, the world’s third ranked tennis player and Adidas’ top endorser, turned up in a pair of Nike trainers on Centre Court on the 23rd of June, despite his contract with Adidas.

Djokovic was wearing Adidas logos all over his clothing and he even tried to disguise the Nike logo on his shoes. Both tennis players said they believe, they previously might have lost their matches due to the slipperiness of the Adidas trainers they were wearing. Both events received wide publicity in the British press around the 20-25th of June. Luckily for Adidas, Djokovic lost his next match while wearing Nikes.

BrandIndex shows similar ‘Buzz’ scores for Adidas and Nike with 5% in the beginning of June and some progress up to 8% until the 16th. After that, Adidas’ scores fell back to 6% while Nike’s scores rose to 10%. For two weeks, this result was stable but on the 30th of June the scores have the same value again with 7% as Nike have seen a slight dip but Adidas rose. This means that BrandIndex’s ‘Buzz’ scores do not mirror the events, which is great news for Adidas. The Quality scores for Adidas, however, tell a different story. Starting with 34% in the beginning of June, they rise as the tennis gets a broadcasting boost, rising to 39% but falling back after the 21st of June to 31%. The scores do recover slightly, finishing June with 33%.

Brands should be careful when choosing who to sponsor, as their chosen public figure can not only cause a positive impact on the brand, but if something goes wrong, they can easily influence the public opinion in a negative direction as well.

Agi Zabo, BrandIndex Research Executive

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