The design of the Adidas website, is bold and dominant through the use of black and white, similar to the logo design of its competitors, Nike and Puma. The use of these monochrome colours emphasise authority, power and exclusivity to ‘commonly target youth and a high end audience’ (Logodesignguru.com, 2014). In this case, the youth would be the 14-19 year old age bracket, whilst the high-end audience is representative of the brands athletic target market. The simple dropdown menu is divided into different segments as shown in the above image making it easier for the customer to browse and purchase according to their wants and needs. The images orientated around the website show the athletes in action, not merely just a model standing still, bringing in the active lifestyle Adidas aim to promote. Most of the models, even the ones who depict the more fashionable items all have slim athletic figures which may suggest that they want to avoid promoting plus size models, although to criticise this, the brands women’s clothes do go up to a size 18. The overall feel and look of the website is significantly about purchasing with an option to customise apparel- a unique selling point of Adidas.
In contrast, the Adidas Instagram page is taken over by footwear and rarely any other types of apparel. The ongoing and stand-out product is trainers, covering both everyday footwear and those that are sports specific as noticed in the screenshot. The disadvantage with Instagram is that you cannot purchase directly through the social platform, and particularly on the Adidas Instagram, the product description contains a web address for more information, but this link has no URL attached, just a written website with no direct accessibility. The consumer is not able to even copy and paste the description due to the regulations of Instagram, so has to type each character individually into the browser making it difficult for the consumer to act. The page involves many competitions to engage and drive the youthful consumer- for instance, image three depicts a screenshot of a video describing a competition where the viewer could get a chance to win a pair of personalised trainers.
Another valid point, is the comparison of colour- the website has a limited palette of black and white whereas the Instagram is highly abstract and bright, intending to be less professional and more social. The key messages differentiate between both platforms; with the website evidently showing off professionalism to those slightly older, in contrast to their Instagram revealing more of a fun and energetic atmosphere with use of personal engagement through competitions.
