Adidas recruits team of female influencers to help double its share of the women's market by 2020
Adidas has assembled a team of women social media influencers as part of its strategy to boost its share of the female sports apparel market by 2020.
Adidas will use both athletes and non-athletes in its social media influencer campaign
The German brand brought onboard 25 influencers who will work with it “on a regular basis,” including retired former tennis world number one Ana Ivanovic.
Discussing the approach, Adidas’ senior vice president of brand marketing, Eric Liedtke, said the kind of consumer it’s trying to target “doesn’t follow the Real Madrids, she doesn’t follow the James Hardens, she follows her own cycle of influencers, and they are typically on Instagram or YouTube or the social media areas we tap into”.
He added: “So we put together a team of 25 influencers that come and work with us on a regular basis.”
The team of influencers also includes figures who are non-athletes but hold a high social-media presence, including model and DJ Hannah Bronfman, author and coach Robin Arzon and personal trainer Zanna van Dijk.
The partnerships with the female social media influencers builds on the brand’s recent efforts to grow its share of the women’s sports market. In February, it launched an empowering female-centric global campaign titled 'Unleash Your Creativity', which tells the stories of 15 women athletes.
Last week, the company reported record sales of €19.3bn in 2016 thanks to a strong performance in its ecommerce business and it will be aiming to channel much of the growth in women’s line through digital sales.