Reebok 2010 Annual Report Download - page 103

Group Management Report – Our Group Other Businesses Strategy TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy 99
Tour validation as important
strategic pillar
Golfers of all levels are influenced by
what equipment the best professional
players in the world play with and wear.
Hence, TaylorMade- adidas Golf’s leader-
ship and presence on the world’s major
professional golf tours is imperative to
increasing brand exposure and traction
among consumers.
To attract the most talented players,
TaylorMade- adidas Golf offers a
comprehensive service to the world’s
leading players. For example, the
TaylorMade support fleet travels the PGA
and European Tours from event to event,
each with a fully staffed, state-of-the-art
workshop for building and servicing
drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons,
wedges and putters on the spot. Today,
the TaylorMade- adidas Golf Tour Staff
includes high-profile names like Sergio
Garcia, Sean O’Hair, Yong-Eun Yang,
Dustin Johnson, Fred Funk, Justin Rose,
Paula Creamer, Camilo Villegas, Retief
Goosen, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Mike
Weir, Andrés Romero, Darren Clarke and
Natalie Gulbis, as well as Martin Kaymer,
a top-ranked German golfer, who in
2010 not only won his first major, the US
PGA Championship, but also earned the
number one ranking on the European
Tour. In China, a market where golf is
still in its infancy, TaylorMade-adidas
Golf entered into a new agreement with
the China Golf Association, which has
appointed TaylorMade- adidas Golf as
the exclusive equipment supplier of the
national golf team.
Marketing excellence as a
key success factor
Well-coordinated and consumer-relevant
marketing is paramount to attaining
sustainable market leadership. To
achieve that, TaylorMade- adidas Golf
has combined product marketing, brand
communication and retail marketing into
one fully integrated global marketing
team. This team uses a variety of
marketing tools to achieve its objectives.
Product launches are supported by
substantial PR and marketing campaigns,
involving key assets and best-in-class
customer support to drive sell-through of
new products.
In addition to traditional marketing
techniques, TaylorMade- adidas Golf
is also dedicated to exploring and
executing new and innovative ways to
promote products using social media
(Facebook and Twitter) and product
seeding initiatives like Project Burner,
in which TaylorMade-adidas Golf gave
away Burner 6-irons, and the Penta TP
free-sleeve programme.
TaylorMade
“Only R11” campaign see p. 124
Another prime example of TaylorMade-
adidas Golf’s efforts to create unique
promotional events is the “Unstoppable
8 Tour”, which brought high-energy
demo events into eight major US cities in
order to increase consumer awareness
of the new Burner 2.0 irons. This helped
TaylorMade to become the number one
selling iron brand in the USA during
November and December. In 2010,
TaylorMade- adidas Golf also launched
the second round of the “Wear in the
World” golf adventure, which involved
testing performance apparel in some
of the world’s most extreme weather
conditions. Destinations included golf
courses at the birthplace of golf, in
St. Andrews, Scotland, the sandy dunes
of Dubai and Mount Rokko in Japan.
The programme, which illustrates
how technologies such as Climacool,
Climalite and Climaproof can help
provide a competitive advantage in the
most extreme golf conditions, attracted
widespread attention from consumers
and the media.
Intelligent retail marketing
and distribution
TaylorMade- adidas Golf works with
retail partners who possess the skills to
effectively showcase the performance
advantages and modern design
credentials of TaylorMade, adidas Golf
and Ashworth products. Core channels
include green grass retailers, off-course
golf specialty retailers and sporting
goods retail formats with golf-specific
departments.
Focusing on strategic accounts,
TaylorMade- adidas Golf strives to create
and make available state-of-the-art floor
displays that showcase products and
communicate key messages as clearly
as possible, allowing it to position its
clubs, balls, footwear and apparel among
the top-selling golf products in these
retail channels. Close working relation-
ships with key accounts will continue in
2011, as will efforts to build additional
brand presence at smaller retailers
and on-course golf shops. In emerging
markets throughout the world, the
company employs established adidas
Group infrastructures to distribute
products, promote awareness and drive
growth.
Pricing strategy reflects
brand positioning
TaylorMade- adidas Golf’s pricing policy
mirrors the positioning of its three
brands. TaylorMade’s pricing strategy
is to dominate the market at premium
price points and to compete aggressively
in the high-volume mid-price segment.
adidas Golf supports its market reputa-
tion as the innovation leader by selling
its products primarily at premium price
points. Ashworth positions products in
the mid- and premium-price categories.
Market share expansion, particularly
in golf, is driven mainly by the ability to
deliver best-in-class lines of products at
multiple price points. In 2010, an example
of TaylorMade- adidas Golf’s success in
implementing this strategy is the adiPure
(high-priced) footwear and Traxion Lite
(medium-priced) footwear.