“Consumer-obsessed” Mindset Paves Way for Brand Loyalty at Adidas

Customer-centric is a common term among loyalty marketers. Now, thanks to Adidas, we have something known as “consumer-obsessed” that is a corporate mindset that paves the way toward brand loyalty.
During the company’s May 4 first-quarter earnings call, Adidas CEO Hebert Hainer discussed this key business model.

“The momentum our brands are enjoying today is a direct consequence of our new consumer-obsessed mindset, which after the implementation of brand leadership, is not only fully reflected in our organizational structure, but it’s also clearly leaving its mark on our results,” Hainer said, according to Seeking Alpha. “Our new operating model is directly spurring our current momentum that it allows us to develop holistic concepts that include all the different areas, such as product design, marketing, and point of sale activation, which ultimately decides how impactful we are vis-à-vis the consumer. And with a strong double-digit growth rates in literary all regions, as well as in all key performance and lifestyle categories, the first-quarter results are proof positive that with brand leadership in full swing, we are indeed much more impactful in winning the hearts and the minds of our consumers on a much broader scale than ever before. But make no mistake, brand leadership is not only about organizational adjustment, it’s much more a change in mindset. This new consumer-obsessed mindset is strongly embedded in our 2020 strategic business plan and is the foundation to create brand desire with our consumers.”

To measure brand advocacy among its target audience, Adidas officials established a net promoter score as a comprehensive system.

“In 2015, we invested heavily in the rollout of this NPS system, which now allows us to constantly listen and respond to our consumer needs,” Hainer explained. “At the same time, we have started to integrate the voice of the consumer in our business processes. It is fair to say that the consumer now has a seat at our table. Besides establishing NPS and making it a bonus-eligible KPI for all of our employees, we have refined and significantly upgraded our consumer profiling capabilities. All of this enables us to have a laser-sharp focus on our target consumer. And we are absolutely convinced that brand leadership and its consumer-centric approach is a significant contributor to the excellent momentum our group is currently enjoying and ensures that the current success is much more sustainable.”

First-quarter sales jumped 22%, to roughly $5.4 billion. Net income from continuing operations rose 38%.

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