Celebrity endorsement of a product can often be a short cut to achieving all the brand attributes that usually take years (and cost a fortune) to build up by brand awareness advertising and word-of-mouth recommendation. Adidas had a tired brand, associated with the 1970s. A series of campaigns over the years never really got them out of the doldrums and into a position where they could compete with Nike.
Recently however they seem to be making progress, thanks to the endorsement of footballers such as David Beckham. The Predator Pulse shoes actually carries David Beckham’s thumbprint moulded into it (not sure what this is meant to imply). Marketing sports clothing is very controversial, particularly when it is aimed at younger people.
Teenagers are at a stage where they are emerging from the collective identity of their family and seeking to “invent” the person they want to become (Maslow’s stage of self-actualisation). It is very common for them to choose a figure from popular culture (Madonna or David Beckham) and copy them, sometimes going to obsessive lengths. Sports marketing companies exploit this – for instance by changing a football strip every season so that new purchases have to be made to acquire the latest “look”. They know that teenagers especially will experience anxiety if they cannot keep up-to-date with the person they are seeking to emulate. Not sure whether the marketing profession should be condemned for exploiting vulnerable people or praised for offering a way of satisfying the basic human need of self-actualisation. Or perhaps the families are responsible for not giving their children adequate role models?
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