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International Marketing Study Program 2001
Adidas, Hong Kong
9 January 2001
A late night at the Karaoke did not do favours for another early start to the day. Despite sleepy eyes, and hectic arrangements with taxis, the second company visit to Adidas was filled with 'passion' in more than one way. The presentation was sparked off by Wolfgang Benzheimer, Marketing Director of Adidas Asia-Pacific. An overview of Adidas' marketing operation was covered, that included Adidas' history, mission and portfolio.
This was followed by a presentation by Darren Chan, who was responsible for regional advertising in Asia-Pacific. The communication strategies employed by Adidas, past, present and future were most intriguing indeed. Accompanied by a video presentation of ad campaigns, Darren explained Adidas' brand objective, brand values and brand positioning. The comparison in corporate values between Adidas and their main competitor, Nike stirred a lot of questions from the floor. It was interesting to learn about how Adidas commit themselves towards the sporting arena and their sponsored athletes.
The afternoon sprung alive by charismatic John Harrison, product marketing manager. Furnished with wit and humour, John covered the role of product marketing, and used Adidas' recent Kobe Bryan campaign as an excellent example to spice up his presentation.
Creative services and retail marketing manager, Bob Neville rounded up the presentation by covering issues in retail marketing. By providing examples of how Adidas re-engineered their focus on retailing, which yielded significant increase in sales, it provided invaluable insights. Perhaps the theme that underlined the Adidas visit was 'passion'; passion which was clearly entrenched in the organisation to achieve its corporate vision. It will not be long before the group embarks on an arduous trip to London, bringing with us knowledge and memories of Hong Kong.
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Mr Wolfgang Bentheimer, Vice President Marketing, Mr Bob
Neville, Head of Creative Services/Trade Marketing, Mr Darren
Chan, Head of Advertising/Media Planning and Mr John Harrison,
Head of Footwear Marketing |
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