Adidas, Puma – Celebrity Brand Endorsement

“The digital media contributed to rethink concepts of self-image, originality and creativity”(Adidas)(Horizont,2015).

Celebrity endorsement is nothing new and has already proven that it can have a positive impact on financial returns (Erdogan, 2001)

However Adidas and Puma believe that the media is changing and therefore marketing strategies need to adapt to the changing concepts. One way to do this efficiently is to take celebrity endorsement to the next level in a world of ever growing media. More and more celebrities are using “social websites” for business and marketing purposes, which buys them an even bigger influence over their fans.

How do you take celebrity endorsement to the next level? Rather than being only associated with a celebrity, you let the celebrity become your brand.

Adidas – Kanye West

After Nike was slowly pushing Adidas out of the U.S. market and even lost some ground in Europe it was time to conquer back their share in the market. So Adidas nicked Kanye West from Nike and took him under contract in 2013 and created a new shoe and clothing line called the Yeezy Boost together with the famous singer.

Kanye West at the New York Fashion Week 2015

The Yeezy Boost line took over the 2015 New York Fashion Week according to the L.A Times when Kanye showed up unannounced with his new clothing line. Sales confirms that the Yeezy Boost was more than successful with all seven iterations sold out. Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer admitted:“The collaboration with Kanye West has significantly elevated the perception of our brand,” (Kell, 2016)

Puma – Rihanna

Rihanna clothing line has grabbed and pulled out Puma of its dark and weak financial years in 2013 and 2014. With 458 million Euros (plus 12.3%) in 2016´s third quarter it nearly contributed half of Puma´s sales, according to Puma CEO Bjorn Gulden.

Rihanna who was ranked as the fourth most powerful celebrity in 2012 by Forbes Magazine and was on Time´s “100 Most influential People in the World” was certainly the right choice for Puma to buy more influence and target customers. Furthermore Rihanna´s line has also resulted that all of Puma´s sport lifestyle products began to be more desirable by customers according to Gulden, which can be seen by a turnover of 2.7 billion Euros (plus 6.4%) in the first nine months of the year.