ASICS Team

Melissa Rigby
Alexandra Sorensen
Becky Lyle
Jamie Christensen
Jenna Reeder

Table of Contents
History.........................................................................3
Mission, Goals and Objectives.................................4
Strategies.....................................................................5
Company Structure...................................................6
Past IMC.....................................................................7
Present IMC...............................................................9
Financial Details......................................................11
Effect of Sales............................................................12
Competitors..............................................................13
Brands Copy.............................................................14
Target Audience.......................................................15
Creative Brief............................................................18
Bibliography..............................................................20

History of ASICS
The company that later became ASICS was created in 1949 by Kihachiro
Onitsuka, a Japanese salaryman with the idea to create his own company that
produced sneakers for schoolchildren, a luxury that was in short supply at
the time. Inspired by the Latin phrase, Anima Sana in Corpore Sano, which
translates to A sound mind in a sound body, Onitsuka developed his athletic
footwear company Onitsuka Co., Ltd.
The phrase itself is the company philosophy, which embodies a
strong wish that people around the world may live in health
and happiness through sports; and we wish to help that goal
by contributing to the global sports culture as a general sports
equipment manufacturer.
In 1977, after securing a spot as a general sports equipment manufacturer,
the company name was changed to ASICS, the acronym of the inspiring Latin
phrase. In that same year, ASICS introduced its products to the United States.
In 1990, the Research Institute of Sports Science was opened in Kobe, Japan.
Through this institute, ASICS has developed remarkable technological innovations in sports shoes and apparel. The main goal of this work is to ...enable
professional and recreational athletes all over the world to perform better, to
reach a higher level and to enjoy themselves.
Today, ASICS is a well-known worldwide brand that specializes in producing
top-of-the-line sports footwear. In recent years, ASICS running shoes have
been ranked among the top performance footwear in the sportswear market.

In 1966, Onitsuka TIger created a shoe line called

Limber, later renamed Mexico 66, which featured
crossed stripes. These became known as tiger
stripes. The stripes are now so common that
they are nearly as representative of ASICS as the
company logo is.

Mission, Goals and Objectives

Mission: Accoring to ASICS, Our mission is to become the number one brand for the
sports enthusiast. To accomplish this, we pledge to continue to make the best product;
striving to build upon our technological advances and pushing the limits on what we can
learn from the body and its needs in athletic gear.
Goals: Further enhancing the visibility of the ASICS brand and boosting sales in Japan and
overseas.
Objectives: ASICS has implemented a five-year growth plan, of which 2016 is the final
year. ASICS is aiming for 400 billion in consolidated net sales in 2016.

Strategies
In order to meet its goals and objectives, ASICS has chosen the Americas as the place to focus on
growing its market and increasing its visibility. According to its 2013 annual report, We plan to
boost sales in the U.S. by focusing on running shoes, our core strength. Although competition
in the U.S. is intensifying, the market is expanding, so we plan to launch new products and open
more flagship and outlet stores in the U.S.
In the past, ASICS has increased its visibility through global advertising campaigns and through
the global store chain. In order to increase its visibility further, ASICS is adopting a new strategy. According to its 2013 annual report, This strategy will maintain our existing reputation for
high-performance, high-quality products, while also rebuilding brand design, including store
environments, to create a brand that is more familiar to general consumers.

Company Structure
ASICS Corporation is the parent company, based in Kobe, Japan. ASICS America
Corporation is a private U.S. subsidiary based in Irvine, California. The figure below
shows the structure for ASICS America.

Past IMC
ASICS has marketed for the past few years about showcasing real people who actually participate in marathons.
It has done this in many different campaigns, which carry the same message but all have different takes on the
sport that ASICS has become one of the top companies. In 2011, VITRO launched the U.S. campaign We Stop
at Never.

In January 2012, ASICS hired 180 Amsterdam as its global ad agency. VITRO continued as US advertiser, but
lost its global position. This campaign pulled to the audience about how marathon runners never stopped going.
They dont quit under any circumstances.
Another marketing movement that ASICS made was in the UK. It made a movement to bring science into the
stores. In the ASICS stores in the UK they brought in scientists to show the customers on how the shoes benefit
them and how they work. ASICS still to this day has this in its stores. This has built trust between ASICS and its
clients.
A past campaign titled Made of Sport, created by 180 Amsterdam, celebrates the true sport athletes journey
to personal victory. It shows the early mornings, late nights, and dedication of every waking hour; it shows how
marathoners come together and how they achieve their goals.

Past IMC
Al Moseley, managing partner and executive creative director at 180 Amsterdam, said, ASICS is reclaiming the
idea of true sport, and giving it back to the everyday athlete. The campaign encourages the audience to ask themselves if they too are made of the dedication, commitment and passion that true sport athletes exhibit.
The Effort is Beautiful campaign was created in 2012. It took people who have been labeled as Beauty Queen
and shows how they are real people.

ASICS put on a marathon in Paris to introduce its new marketing campaign Real Beauty, Real Women. The
winner of the race would be the new face of ASICS for its running shoes.

Present IMC
ASICS recently hired Starcom to its marketing and advertising team, along with existing agency, VITRO
and 180 Amsterdam.VITRO was its global ad agency from 1996-2011.
Vice President of ASICS, Gary Slayton, said, The assignment for the Amsterdam-based agency is to drive
consumers toward a more emotional connection with the Japanese sportswear brands True Sport positioning through global marketing campaigns in TV, print, online and outdoor advertising as well as retail, events
and public relations.
ASICS for this year has a campaign called the Blogger Challenge. It has invited bloggers to train with Coach
Andrew Kastor and run in the LA Marathon on March 9th, 2014. Each bloggers write about how the training is going. Each of the bloggers post about the health, tips, and food for getting ready for the Marathon.
These bloggers are on the ASICS website with their posts. Each blogger will write about once a week about
how the training is going.

Present IMC
Better your Best Campaign (2013-Present)
In its Better Your Best campain, ASICS targets real life people in real life situations. These people challenged
themselves to do better than their best. They showed this with different marathon runners who challenged themselves to do better than their best.
ASICS created videos of people who are legendary marathon runners and how they made their best better.
ASICS has had this campaign going on since late 2013. This has been one of its most productive campaigns it has
had.

ASICS is using real life people to market towards its audience that are marathons runners or want to become
marathon runners.

10

Financial Details
ASICS America is a private company, so its financial details are not available to the public. However, according to the ASICS America company dossier from Lexis-Nexis, its net sales for 2013
were estimated at $37.9 million.
ASICS, based in Japan, is a public company which makes its financials known. According to the
ASICS 2013 annual report, the net income for ASICS in 2013 was $1.2 billion and the net sales
were $2.2 billion.

According to the ASICS 2013 annual report, net sales in the Americas increased 13.2 percent
between 2012 and 2013, to $5.7 billion. The net income for the Americas segment of ASICS
increased 27.6 percent between 2012 and 2013, to $40.69 million. ASICS attributes the increase
in income largely to the increase in sales. According to the report, In particular, sales in the U.S.
recovered to double-digit growth, thanks in part to the launch of the ASICS 33
collection.
Sports shoe sales make up 74 percent of ASICS net sales, nearly $1.7 billion out of $2.2 billion.
According to AdWeek, Kantar
Media found that in 2013 ASICS
spent about $15 million on advertising in the US.

11

Effects of Sales
VITRO is the advertising agency for ASICS America. According to VITROs website, After 15 years with VITRO, ASICS is now the number two running brand in America. Sales
have increased 700%, market share has doubled.
One case study illustrating advertisings effect on sales took place in Spain during 2011.
According to the article ASICS Races to Build Its Brand published Feb 14, 2012 in the
Wall Street Journal, ASICS did a TV campaign in March 2011 which increased ASICS
brand awareness in Spain by over seven percent. ASICS repeated the campaign in October. That year, despite a poor economy, ASICS sales in Spain grew 32 percent, far beyond
the market growth of just 1.2 percent. Alistair Cameron, head of ASICS European operations, said of the case, With the most expensive brand in the market, to be growing in
that market is really a sign of how TV advertising supported our strategy.

12

Competitors
According to HOOVERS 2013, the top competitors for the ASICS Company based on gross
revenue, net profit margin, and net operating cash flow are Fila USA, Nike, and Adidas.
Brooks and Underarmour are secondary competitors. Nike is the top competition with 2013
annual sales of $27.8 billion. Adidas comes in second with sales of $19.95 billion. ASICS had
annual sales of $37.6 million in 2013.
In a comparison done by Running Shoes Expert, the top 2014 recommended running shoes
are as follows:

ASICS is the only company to have the top rated type of running shoe in two categories.

13

Brands Copy
The advertising copy for ASICS deals a lot with running. The main focus of its ads is that
ASICS shoes are great for running, especially long distance. It uses common and simple
words in its advertising. Sound mind sound body and So comfortable its like running
on a cloud are just a couple of examples that were found that show its simpleness when it
comes to its advertisements. ASICS does not do comparative advertising. The main focus
is on the product and lifestyle.

14

Target Audience
Demographics
The main age group that purchase ASICS shoes are those between the ages of 35-54, who are
mainly white. Between men and women, 58.5% of people who purchase these shoes are women.
Specifically there are 66.5% who are married and a large majority of them have children living
at home between the ages of 6-17. Many of those who purchase ASICS shoes have an education
beyond college graduation, are employed in a professional occupation, and make more than $150
thousand. These consumers typically live in the Midwest and have lived at their current address
for more than 5 years.
ASICS users are heavy readers of magazines. The most popular magazine among them is Runners
World. Though other fitness magazines are also popular reads, the most common magazine types
were airline and business or finance magazines. People who buy ASICS also enjoy Consumer Reports, cooking magazines such as Cooking Light and Taste of Home, lifestyle magazines such as
Country Living and O, style magazines such as Glamour and Allure, and the celebrity magazines
Parade and People.
People who use ASICS are most likely to be medium-light users of live broadcast radio. They
prefer to listen to the radio from 6-10 a.m. and from 3-7 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. on weekends. They also really like to listen to streaming radio sites such as Pandora and
iHeartRadio. However, they are less likely than the average to listen to Spotify.

15

Target Audience
ASICS customers have a strong presence on the web, and frequently visit websites such as
NBC Sports, NFL.com, ESPN, and other sports-related websites. One of the most popular
websites visited by ASICS users is wunderground.com, a weather report website. Google Maps and MapQuest are also high-volume sites, used to map out and calculate running-routes. Other websites that ASICS customers have a high use of are priceline.com,
livingsocial.com, fandango.com, groupon.com, and WebMD.com.
Those that purchase ASICS shoes can be considered Americas athletes. They watch to
keep up with their favorite sports on ESPN stations as well as the Golf Channel and the
MLB and NFL Networks. These consumers are also watching other networks like HGTV
and DIY as they actively keep up with their home projects. They enjoy watching Bravo,
which is most commonly known for The Real Housewives shows.

16

Target Audience
Psychographics
Among women ages 35-54, 60 percent say their reason for purchasing athletic shoes is to replace
a worn-out pair of athletic shoes. Other reasons include needing shoes because they recently
started training or to prevent injury during exercise.
Overall, the second most common reason for women ages 35-54 to buy athletic shoes is to wear
them as an everyday shoe. ASICS, however, targets consumers who are serious runners. Only 13
percent of women ages 35-54 buy shoes because they are are avid athletes.
Just 2 percent of women ages 35-54 say their athletic shoe purchase was influenced by the endorsement of an athlete.
ASICS is a high-end brand, but 78 percent of women ages 35-54 said they are willing to pay more
for comfortable shoes. Of people with a household income of $150 thousand or more, 87 percent
said they are willing to pay more for comfortable shoes. The target audience will buy ASICS brand
if they know the shoes are comfortable.
Despite being willing to pay for comfort, the target audience is looking for a good deal. Of women
ages 35-54, 61 percent said they prefer to buy shoes on sale, and only 22 percent usually pay full
price for shoes. Even in the $150K+ income bracket, shoppers are more likely to seek sales than
buy shoes at the full price.

17

Creative Brief
Brand: ASICS
Product/Department: Running Shoes
Project: Research Project/ Company Brand
Region: ASICS is targeting all nations and the competitors of running shoes.
Who we are talking to (Target): Marathon Runners
Specific Target: Marathon runners who are advanced.
Profile of target segment: The target audience is the ages between 35-54 years old, male
and female. The target audiences household income is $150,000 a year, so the audience is
middle class to upper class.
Main competitors: Fila USA, Nike, and Adidas.
Strengths: ASICS is a well-built shoe that is made for running. ASICS is also well-known
around Europe and Asia. It has good marketing towards its audience which is marathon
runners, whereas Nike and Adidas are just breaking into marathon runs.
Weaknesses: ASICS is not as well-known in the U.S for its running shoes. Another weakness ASICS shows is that it is not an American-based company like Nike. ASICS has mostly focused on Europe, but hasnt made a huge impact on America yet.
History: Founded in 1949 by Kihachiro Onitsuka. The motto is A sound mind in a sound
body.

18

Creative Brief
Clients Track record: Most clients are loyal and will repurchase the brand.
Targets perception of competitors: Many find the competitors not up to speed with the
ASICS running shoe, because while Nike and other competitors always talk about a lightweight running shoe, what a marathon runner needs is a shoe that wont wear out after a few
26-mile runs.
Come away with: The brand truly cares about its clients and want the clients to find that the
shoe will last through early morning runs and late night ones.
Call to action: ASICS calls out to the audience by challenging them to do better, push harder,
and be their best.
Why the target should buy this product: If the audience wants a shoe that will last a long time
and handle all the hard trails with hills, gravel and pavement. The target audience also needs
a shoe that will support their feet and knees on their long run, which ASICS provides for
them.

19

18

Bibliography
t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

t

http://www.ASICSamerica.com/about-ASICS
Runnersworld.com
Lexis-Nexis company dossier
http://www.marketingweek.com/2012/07/19/ASICS-accelerates-uk-expansion-plan/
http://adage.com/article/global-news/ASICS-names-180-amsterdam-lead-global-agency-pitch/232040)
http://www.runningshoesguru.com/2012/01/ASICS-made-of-sports-new-campaign/#sthash.paHXl1Y9.dpuf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le8En3oKY_c
http://www.runningshoesguru.com/2012/01/ASICS-made-of-sports-new-campaign/#sthash.paHXl1Y9.dpuf
http://search.proquest.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/467204558
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/starcom-wins-ASICS-global-business-158416
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgVsO1-zJ6w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsA27ueSODY
http://www.triathlonbusiness.com/2014/industry-news/better-best-campaign-ASICS/
ASICS Annual Report 2013 and X-rates.com currency calculator
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/starcom-wins-ASICS-global-business-158416
http://VITROagency.com/project/ASICS
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-24/ASICS-to-compete-against-Nike-adidas-with-lower-pricedshoes.html
http://ureporter.mriplusonline.com/selectdemo.asp
http://subscriber.hoovers.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/H/company360/overview.html?companyId=120987000000000
http://www.runningshoesexpert.com/
http://ureporter.mriplusonline.com/selectdemo.asp
http://academic.mintel.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/display/626120/?highlight#hit1

17

20