Brief:
- Adidas has the most-shared logo of any other brand on social media, according to a ranking by researcher Brandwatch that placed the sportswear brand ahead of Nike, Puma and Under Armour. The Adidas logo appears in 6.5 million images shared on Twitter and Instagram each month.
- The Adidas logo is shared in an average of 154 unique images every minute, Brandwatch found, while runner-up Nike sees 5.3 images per minute, followed by Google at 3.8, Emirates at 2.8 and Puma at 2.7. Brandwatch's Image Insights product used image recognition to scan for logos shared in 100 million images on social media from Dec. 1 to April 1.
- The sportswear brand's sponsorship of soccer teams helped to boost the appearance of its logo on social media, Brandwatch said. Star athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo and Alexis Sanchez have the Adidas brand on their uniforms, boosting the frequency of its appearances. Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo also appeared on the cover of the 2018 FIFA video game, which likely led to the Adidas logo's boost in social media appearances, per The Drum.
Insight:
In a world that's becoming increasingly visual with the growth of photo-based platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, this ranking of logos' appearances on social media demonstrates the power of brand imagery and sports sponsorships, particularly for a global sport like soccer whose teams inspire regional allegiances.
Brands spend millions of dollars each year to get their name and logo in front of mass audiences, but there are few ways to determine the level of visibility achieved or the ROI that's directly linked to offline marketing efforts. Brandwatch's study provides a snapshot of how the most-seen brands on social media stack up against competitors in their quest to build awareness around their brands' logo and name.
Among U.S. brands, Nike was the most shared with 5.1 million average unique images a month. Nike's roster of athletes includes Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and dozens of top Olympic stars. In Brandwatch's study, sports apparel ranked higher than other industry categories, including technology (top brand: Google), entertainment (Disney), retail (Starbucks) and aviation (Emirates).
Adidas, whose sales last year rose 16% to $25.4 billion, aims to expand its online presence while driving sales gains of 10-12% a year by 2020, per the Financial Times. Adidas is closing retail stores and boosting its investment in digital platforms with a goal of doubling e-commerce sales in the next two years to 4 billion euros through greater brand awareness online and on social platforms.