A Comparative Analysis of
Nike and Adidas Commercials
A Multimodal Approach to Building Brand Strategies
Mads Nørgaard Hansen
Dennis Gade Pedersen
BA Marketing and Management Communication
Supervisor: Carmen Daniela Maier
Department of Language and Business Communication
Aarhus School of Business
Aarhus University 2010
A Comparative Analysis of
Nike and Adidas Commercials
A Multimodal Approach to Building Brand Strategies
Abstract
Heavy competition in the sports industry has caused organisations like Nike and Adidas to focus on more than just selling sportswear- and equipment. Organisations need to differentiate themselves and focus on both product attributes and brand values when creating brand strategies. Therefore, we have found it interesting to see how Nike and Adidas communicate their branding strategy differently and have set up the following hypothesis and questions:
In Nike and Adidas commercials the organisations make use of complex multimodal choices in order to communicate their branding strategies.
1. Which multimodal choices do Nike and Adidas employ in order to communicate their branding strategies?
2. Which personality traits are similar and different in Nike and Adidas product and value commercials?
Due to the complexity of our hypothesis, we will employ three frameworks: social semiotics, film theory, and branding. These frameworks will help us to analyse and make meaning of the four commercials: Nike’s “Master Accuracy. Hit The Target” and “Is talent all it takes?” and Adidas’ “The Spark” and “Chelsea FC – Every Team Needs The 12th Man”. In order to answer the first question, we will analyse the four commercials by applying multimodal concepts and film theory. The multimodal analysis derives from social semiotics and M.A.K. Halliday’s meaning-making of language, but as more contemporary concepts from Gunther Kress, Theo van Leeuwen,...