Fred Perry Brand Story (Part 2) ------ The Value behind Sponsorship and Endorsement

A great majority of sports brands all have a similar preference for event sponsoring and celebrity branding due to the characteristics of this industry. It is no doubt that sponsorship and celebrity endorsement, as traditional marketing tools, have especially valuable functions and significant roles in the competitive context. It is the fact that big brands like Nike and Adidas are more attractive to famous celebrities’ involvement thanks to their huge budgets and strong reputation, and the degree of brands’ popularity and reputation usually depends on the influence of celebrities as well. Fred Perry has, however, followed different strategies of sponsorship and celebrity endorsement to compete against its rivals and leading brands. These different strategies reflect different ambitions and meanings behind the sponsorship and celebrity activities.

Creating a Tennis Iconic Brand 

As a sportswear brand relevant to tennis, Fred Perry is a long-term sponsor of Wimbledon, the most prestigious tournament of Tennis, which is an effective shortcut to raise its brand awareness. The audiences of Wimbledon are its potential consumers. The sponsorship activities are beneficial for the brand to make a good impression on the audiences in a relatively quick way. And they will associate the brand with sports and tennis when talking about Fred Perry, which helps the company to build a tennis iconic brand. The growing brand awareness and iconic image increase the sales and boost the financial results.

Moreover, lots of tennis players, as you can see, are constantly sponsored by a variety of sports brands, and they always wear sports clothing emblazoned with recognizable brand logos on tennis courts. Because tennis is a highly lucrative sport around the world. Fred Perry once signed a sponsorship deal with British tennis player Andy Murray, a Wimbledon winner. He was picked by the brand thanks not only to his popularity and reputation but also to his personal image synonymous with the brand image. According to Fred Perry chief executive John Flynn, Andy Murray was regarded as a Fred Perry-type person who is a rebellious individual with thoughts. Fred Perry successfully created a tennis iconic image with individual and rebellious personality who also knows own mind through its sponsorship of Andy Murray. However, accompanied by the end of sponsorship contract, Andy Murray won a five-year contract with Adidas in 2010 thanks to his growing reputation, which paid him more than 10 million euros as a return.

Comments Triggered by Andy Murray’s Leaving

With Andy Murray’s leaving from Fred Perry, there was a hot debate triggered in the society. Some commenters said that there were no top tennis players wearing Fred Perry sportswear now. Some blamed Fred Perry for no longer sponsoring any tennis players. Some explained that Fred Perry only sponsors tennis players from native Great Britain according to its usual practices, but now there were no top tennis players from Great Britain on the ATP World Tour except for Andy Murray. Some believed that it was tough for Fred Perry to compete against some big brands such as Nike and Adidas. Some expressed that Andy Murray’ leaving did not influence Fred Perry, and it had freed up a big enough budget to sponsor new tennis players, but it was just there were no right players appealing to it. Some criticized that Fred Perry should make great effort to keep Andy Murray, and he looked distinctive wearing Fred Perry, Adidas was instead doing a terrible job of sponsoring him, and he always wore the same clothing throughout the year. Some hoped that Fred Perry would look for new tennis players so as to retain its position in the market. Some thought it did not matter if Andy Murray wearing Fred Perry made the brand be first perceived as a fashion brand instead of sports one.

Expanding New Target Groups

To cope with a number of competitive challenges from fellow giants, Fred Perry intended to expand its target audience beyond the tennis audiences and fans. It targeted working class kids and youngsters through sponsoring the Urban Cup table tennis tournament. Richard Martin, Fred Perry marketing director said that the brand creator Mr. Perry had been a table tennis winner before he first won the Wimbledon tennis champion, and he also was a working class guy. Fred Perry planed to make an investment of around £300,000 to develop its sponsorship activities including sponsorship of table tennis events and table tennis star Darius Knight. To encourage more kids and youngsters to get involved with sports, Fred Perry expressed its willingness to increase its investment budget. Besides, Fred Perry has collaborated with Bradley Wiggins, the Olympic gold medal winner and first Tour de France winner, to launch a new range of clothing with classic and vintage cycling elements in the recent years. It reminds consumers that Fred Perry has still targeted sporting market and kept links with sports and world-famous athletes through endorsing Bradley Wiggins as its model. The performance and effect of these strategies will be presented in the conclusion part since I need more time to think about it and more research to prove my answers.

Repositioning of Brand

To reach a wider audience, Fred Perry has got involved with music cultural events. It has become a sponsor of Dot to Dot Music Festival, which is a music festival held in Great Britain. Fred Perry takes advantage of the popularity of this festival to draw wide attention of music followers. It exercises the attraction of music to build a connection between its brand and consumers, and raise the brand’s profile as well. It is shown that Fred Perry is not just a sportswear brand, and it is rather different from other brands. The sponsorship of music events helped Fred Perry to successfully rebuild its brand image blended with sports, rebellion, and fashion. And it succeeded in creating a blend between sportswear and street wear.

Moreover, Fred Perry has developed good partnerships with a variety of recognized musician and bands including Paul Weller, Damon Albarn, the Gallagher brothers, and The Wanted. One of the most noteworthy is that Fred Perry invited Amy Winehouse, a music and fashion icon, to design and market a collection of her own clothing. Fred Perry targeted Amy Winehouse thanks not only to her strong influence in music and fashion domains, but also to her preference for Fred Perry. She used to wear Fred Perry clothing when performing in public and during her real life. The key factor of successful celebrity endorsement is that celebrities are really interested in the brand and are crazy about the brand. Otherwise, partnerships will generate shallow and superficial effects. As the brand’s designer and spokesmen, Amy Winehouse’s popularity and influence helped Fred Perry to maintain its strong brand and maximize its competitive advantages in an incredibly effective way.

Sources:

Murray ends Fred Perry sponsorship deal

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/murray-ends-fred-perry-sponsorship-deal-1814472.html

Andy Murray set to lose out in new clothing deal as lucrative adidas contract ends

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2867063/Andy-Murray-set-lose-new-clothing-deal-lucrative-adidas-contract-ends.html

The man who bet his shirt on Andy Murray at Wimbledon

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/jul/03/fred-perry-andy-murray-wimbledon

So,no top players are using fred perry clothes right now...

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/so-no-top-players-are-using-fred-perry-clothes-right-now.344685/

High Net Worth: As Andy Murray celebrates Wimbledon win, who are the top ten richest tennis players in the world?

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/celebritymoney/article-2355923/The-worlds-richest-tennis-players-Where-Nadal-Federer-Murray-rank.html

Fred Perry targets 'working class' kids with table tennis sponsorship

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1106298/fred-perry-targets-working-class-kids-table-tennis-sponsorship

Emily & Sam- Market Segmentation

https://fredperryuwe.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/emily-sam-market-segmentation/

Sam- week commencing 25/02/13

https://fredperryuwe.wordpress.com/2013/02/27/sam-week-commencing-250213/

Finding the perfect match

https://www.marketingweek.com/2010/03/30/finding-the-perfect-match/

Fred Perry – Amy Winehouse Rumoured to be Designing Fred Perry

http://www.footasylum.com/fred-perry--amy-winehouse-rumoured-to-be-designing-fred-perry/

Team 4: Florine Bonduelle, Shensheng Dai, Arthur Jourdan, Erin Palmeter, Joséphine Peyre

Ideal icons

Nowadays the most part of the brands has an icon to represent the brand image. This choice is complex and need to be strategic. Indeed, the aim of the muse is to represent the atmosphere, values and the personality of the brand. The company has to follow several criteria in order to do the right choice: coherence, notoriety, influence, talent, creativity and media plan. Sport equipment companies don’t escape this trend. 

Nike had Christiano Ronaldo, but he has been replaced in June 2016 by the Brazilian Neymar, Barça soccer player. This decision can be explained by the popularity, the age and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio (native country of the player). This choice is a good one, because the player well represents the value of the brand: modernity, dynamism and performance.

Adidas chose a sportive model to represent its collection: Karlie Kloss. Indeed, to combine the young woman combine both style and performance. She told that "It is a real honor for me to work with Adidas by Stella McCartney. I strive to make the most of every opportunity and I am uncompromising when it comes to things I love - especially fashion and sport. I am completely in step with the brand philosophy."  

Under Armor has the famous model Gisele Bündchen as icon. This ensures Under Armor a high visibility and allows it to highlight its products intended for women who are a growing market for the brand. The brand is based on the performance et quality, in order to follow the brand image, the choice of a real athlete could be maybe more opportune. Tina Maze, a Slovenian ski racer could be a smart choice for the group. Indeed, she represents the excellence as she culminates two gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Sources:

•  http://www.strategies.fr/actualites/marques/1025951W/bien-choisir-son-egerie.html
• - http://www.lci.fr/football/quand-neymar-devient-legerie-de-nike-a-la-place-de-cristiano-ronaldo-1534784.html
•  http://www.femmeactuelle.fr/mode/news-mode/karlie-kloss-egerie-adidas-stella-mccartney-31504
•  http://brandandcelebrities.com/blog/gisele-bundchen-ambassadrice-nouvelle-campagne-under-armour-2015/ 

Team 4: Florine Bonduelle, Shensheng Dai, Arthur Jourdan, Erin Palmeter, Joséphine Peyre

Adidas Vint

Our blog is dedicated to sports and the brand image that the sports equipment companies give to their products on this particular market. As we can observe with the Fredd Perry article but more particularly regarding the Coq sportive article we observe that there is a “vintage/nostalgic” trend within this market. In fact brands like Coq sportif, Sergio Tachini are renewed sports brands. These brands were, during their golden age, technical sports brands that were worn by great sports celebrities (Maradona and Yannick Noah for “Le coq Sportif”). In our days we can see that those brands were relaunched by focusing on the original brand image but also on the history of the brands which gives a vintage, nostalgic image to the customer and threw their strategy.

Stan Smith Wimbeldon 1972

Therefor following this trend we tried to find a solution for Adidas to compete in this market segment. In fact Adidas is a key player in the “vintage” sportswear clothing but the difference with its competitors is that this vintage, streetwear trend is answered by products (the Stan smith shoes or the unavoidable tracksuit) and not by a proper brand like “le coq sportif, “K-way “or “LacosteLive”.

We tried to think about a “subsidiary brand” that we will name “Adidas Vint”. Our brand image is very simple: it consists of proposing a vintage collection to the nostalgic Adidas consumers. In fact these days most of the sports brands are launching vintage range of products.

We would like to revisit the Adidas old collections (track suit, jackets, polos etc..) that gives a vintage aspect to the consumer. Our essence is not innovating but just revisiting old collections and models and focusing on the endorsement Adidas has known with Stan Smith, Haliet etc..

The brand archetype is the fact that “vintage is trendy”. In fact vintage is a under fashion aspect that gives the feeling to the consumer that he is unconventional by buying and wearing our brands products. In fact the customer thinks that instead of following new trends it goes for vintage in order to retrieve memories from their youth or just loved products that aren’t anymore sold in “conventional stores”. Our brand story is a review of Adidas’s background. In fact Adidas is a brand which was created in 1949. From this date until now it has created a multitude of products that are no longer available but some became brand icons as the Adidas “gazelle” or the famous “stan smith”.  in the present. In fact the brand tries to revisit old models and match them to actual fashion and sports trends.

Adidas Gazelle

“Adidas Vint” is a brand looking to the past of the sports brand with its two foot

As we can observe with the relaunch of the “stan smith” shoes the social networks will be the most important communication channel since our target consumers are connected. In fact in our days people tend to think that all the new trends are launched or relied to internet and the social networks.

 Our campaign would be an endorsement campaign by revisiting old products and giving them a product identity linked to a celebrity.

To give an example of partnership will start with izabel goulart wearing the famous Adidas tracksuit jacket revisited by putting her name on the product. We have many possibilities and our main communication would be led by endorsement as each product would be endorsed by a celebrity.

A Look Inside the Athletic Wear Market

Purchase Behaviours

The nature of the purchases of athletic wear has significantly changed in recent years. There has been enormous growth in the industry as customers see versatility, performance, and comfort as more important. People no longer wear athletic clothing for only athletic activities, and as a result, is increasingly becoming fashionable as the health and fitness trend spreads globally. In fact, from 2008-2014 athletic wear was up 4.1% whereas non-athletic apparel was only up 0.2% during this period, indicating the boom of active wear in the apparel market as a whole.

Diagram from Global Industry Analysis, Inc. 
The Global Sports and Fitness Clothing  Market Trends

Market Analysis

As outlines in this diagram from Global Industry Analysts, Inc., this growth is being driven by consumer’s emphasis on active & healthy lifestyles, media coverage induced popularity of adventure sports, growing affluence & increased per capita spending, and rising number of health clubs.

As a result of changes in purchasing behaviours, active wear is in the growth phase of maturity. The global market for active wear is projected to reach US $196.2 bullion in 2020. This growth is the outcome of increasing awareness over health and fitness, rise in income levels, and westernization of lifestyles around the world. It is predicted that the Asia Pacific market is the fastest growing market at 7.1% CAGR in 2015.

Diagram from Global Industry Analysis, Inc.
The Global Sports and Fitness Clothing  Market Trends

Non-active wear companies are now being threatened by athletic wear brands. Competition is tough as companies are having difficulties specializing in just clothing for athletic activities for everyday and need to think about how customers are wearing their clothing in different ways. Non-athletic companies have changed their productions and clothing lines to add and incorporate this new trend in athletic wear. An example of this is the Gap, who launched their athletic wear line called “GapFit” in 2014 and is now a key player in the athletic wear industry.

Value Drivers

In such a competitive market, in order to drive value, company’s need to focus on the degree of activeness and quality. Companies that produce clothing that appeal to not just the sport users but still remain sporty in terms of its comfort and versatility, will attract a wider range of customers. Quality also plays a huge factor as companies will be able to identify themselves from competition in the market and achieve a competitive advantage by providing a higher degree of quality.

Visual and Narrative Codes

Marketing and communication strategies have contributed largely to the trend towards athletic wear. The aim of many of the brands in the market is to reach a large population of target customers, and to create perceived value towards their brand. Athletic companies are doing this by informing and teaching customers about the importance of being active and living a healthy lifestyle. This narrative is contributing to company’s goal of appealing to a wider audience and to incorporate their brand in customer’s everyday lives. Nike, in particular, uses celebrities to represent the ideal customer. By illustrating influential personalities, including athletes, wearing the Nike brand, customers are more motivated to buy product as they see their favorite celebrities wearing the brand and want to be just like them. Most Notably, Nikes “Just Do It” slogan is likeable and relatable to customers as it motives customers to get up and get active.

Market Segmentation

When it comes to the sportswear industry, it is found that there is a large market in this industry, and this large market is segmented in different ways based on geographies, genders, functions, behaviors, populations, etc. The market is divided into different segmented market and each segmentation targets different audiences so as to better create unique values for consumers, and develop specific marketing strategies. Nike is the largest sportswear brand in the industry which leads the sportswear market, followed by Adidas and Puma, all of which have a variety of market segmentations. Accompanied by the fact that an increasing number of people involve in different sports activities and pay attention to lifestyle, more and more sportswear brands are committed into segment the market based on different lifestyles such as adventure, health, technology, etc. The changes create a potential opportunity for brands to target the emerging market. Nike also has divided the market based on lifestyle, and it targets the football players and basketball players. Moreover, it also attracts the consumers who maybe do not play sports but will purchase its products thanks to fashion lifestyle.

Competitors

The large market is doomed to attract much more brands to develop business activities thanks to the large audience base. Nike, Adidas, Puma, Asics, New balance, and Reebok are all the main competitors, which all plays a leading role in the market. Although Nike and Adidas are the two biggest leaders in the sportswear industry, there are a great many other brands that target narrow market segmentations and achieve better performance. Fred Perry and Lacoste both are strong and successful model of narrow brand positioning. The biggest difference between the narrow brand positioning and wide brand positioning lies in the fact that they pay attention to different segmentation and target audiences. They take advantages of different brand strategies and marketing activities to build different brand images, and create different values and experiences for their consumers. Fred Perry are good at build a strong bond with consumers through connecting music and subculture with sportswear. Lacoste build a fashion brand image to attract its audience.

Sources:

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sports-fitness-clothing-market.html

http://www.mbaskool.com/fun-corner/top-brand-lists/13559-top-10-sportswear-brands-of-the-world-2015.html?start=8

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/market-segmentation-of-the-nike-company-marketing-essay.php

http://fortune.com/2014/12/25/athletic-apparel-top-performer/

http://www.strategyr.com/MarketResearch/Sports_and_Fitness_Clothing_Market_Trends.asp