It was great to read the media headlines about adidas being the Germans’ favourite brand. The articles based on a survey which was conducted by the institute for market and opinion research ‘forsa‘ on behalf of ‘Brandmeyer‘, an agency for brand consultancy. After some research in the internet I found the contact of Peter Pirck (picture) who is co-founder and partner of ‘Brandmeyer’ and a specialist for brand analysis and strategies. I decided to give him a call because I hoped to get to know more details about the study. Furthermore I wanted to try my luck and ask him to write a guest post on the study’s findings for the adidas Group blog – after all he is the expert on this topic (Peter Pirck has over 15 years of work experience as a consultant for companies from different sectors and of different sizes). Without hesitation Mr. Pirck agreed in doing so and here we go… Enjoy!

Guest post by Peter Pirck (Co-founder and partner of ‘Brandmeyer’):

Representative survey: adidas is Germany’s favourite brand

In spring 2012, the institute for market and opinion research ‘forsa’ conducted a representative survey on behalf of ‘Brandmeyer’, an agency for brand consultancy, on the topic of ‘brands’. We wanted to know from over 3,000 Germans aged 14 or older what their favourite brand is. Completely unprompted, they were asked to freely name the brand they personally like the most and feel a close affinity with.

The most important result of this survey: the Germans’ favourite brand is adidas. All in all, top of the list were not car brands — which one might suppose to be closest to the German heart — but sports brands and fashion labels. In total, 38% of those questioned nominated brands from these sectors. One surprise for some: the cult brand Apple failed to make it to the winner’s podium, finishing in eighth place. 7.4% of Germans spontaneously named the brand with the Three Stripes their favourite brand. This was by far the best result in the survey, followed by Audi (4.5%) and Esprit (4.4%), coming second and third respectively. Also amongst the top ten was competitor Nike, which was named by 3% of those questioned, making it to seventh place. Closely behind, Puma came in at twelfth place, chosen by 1.6% of all the Germans interviewed.

 The Top 10

1. adidas
2. Audi
3. Esprit
4. BMW
5. VW
6. Mercedes Benz
7. Nike
8. Apple
9. Nivea
10. Samsung

The younger the consumer, the better the rating for adidas

However, this passion for the adidas brand varies, depending on the different age groups. Only 1.5% of those over 60 named adidas as their favourite brand. The brands most favoured by German seniors were Audi or BMW and VW. The picture painted by younger persons, on the other hand, was completely different: 12% of 14- to 29-year-olds said adidas was their favourite brand. That makes adidas top scorer in this age group. This picture becomes even clearer when we take a look at what the 14- to 17-year-olds thought. Here, adidas reached 21% and is therefore way ahead of Nike (13%) and Apple (8%). In no other age group did adidas score more points than with German teenagers.

adidas is strongest in North-Rhine Westphalia

There are not only differences between the age groups, but also between Germany’s federal states. In the north of Germany, people gave top points to different brands: in Hamburg, people are most passionate about their Nivea and prefer Apple to adidas. Lower Saxonians’ favourite brand is Audi (and not Volkswagen). In Bremen, Apple has the edge over adidas and way up north in Schleswig-Holstein adidas ranks ‘only’ third.

The picture changes completely the further south we go. In the most densely populated federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, adidas is number one and well ahead of the rest: 14.1% nominated adidas as their favourite brand. adidas also received top marks in Rhineland-Palatinate (first place with 10.3%) and in the capital Berlin (first place with 12.5%).

Compared to the differences between the federal states, the differences between the two sexes were less clear. While adidas fared a little better amongst the male population with 8.8%, still 5.9% of female respondents said adidas was their favourite brand. According to these results, adidas was just pipped at the post by Esprit.

Why do the Germans love adidas?

There are many reasons why Germans love adidas more than any other brand in the world. Starting with the brand’s great history and its legendary founder, Adi Dassler, who personally screwed the studs into the soles of the football boots worn by the German World Champion team in 1954. The quality of adidas’ products, which has continued to convince over the years and decades, the attractive design, the success marriage of performance sports and fashion and, last but not least, the successful harnessing of the retro trend. And, of course, adidas remains for people in Germany a German brand — despite production in the Far East.

About the survey

In order to gain a representative picture of Germany as a whole, for the survey 1,000 Germans were interviewed nationwide. This was then followed by a top-up in the individual federal states to at least 200 participants, with the exception of Bremen and Saarland where each state was topped up to a 100 participants. In total, 3,019 German citizens took part in the poll. All persons interviewed were aged 14 or over. They were asked to name their favourite brand, completely openly and freely. The survey was carried out by forsa.

For more information: http://www.lieblings-marken.de

About ‘Brandmeyer Markenberatung’

‘Brandmeyer Markenberatung’ is one of the top addresses for brand strategy, analysis and sales communication in the German-speaking world. All of 30 years ago, Professor Klaus Brandmeyer co-founded the major topic of ‘brands’ and, in doing so, gave vital impetus to the area of brand management. ‘Brandmeyer Markenberatung’ supports successful brands from different sectors. Here, the main focus is on the question of how a brand can contribute to sustainable value creation, the formation of a clientele and the sale of the company’s products and services.

For more information: www.brandmeyer-markenberatung.de

End of guest post

We’d like to thank Mr. Pirck very much for contributing this guest post to the adidas Group blog!