Sports Brand Industry Report
The sports industry is undergoing huge expansion and innovation, with traditional sports being played to the highest level thanks to the addition of futuristic technologies. These innovations have two goals; to more accurately measure the sport being played – think of on-field cameras and tracking devices embedded into player’s shoes – and improve the play itself – Boeing’s 2016 collaboration with golf club manufacturer Callaway is just one example of the evolution of sports equipment.
And if traditional sports aren’t for you, you could take part in one of the many recreational activities that are now played competitively: ultimate frisbee, zorbing or real-life muggle quidditch, for instance. The industry is growing to accommodate a wider range of sports, with more junior leagues starting up on a regular basis.
This is reflected in the steady growth of participation in sports within the UK. In May 2018, 300,000 more people were doing 150 minutes of sporting activity a week compared to the previous year.
And it’s not only participation that’s up. The nation’s interest in watching sports is also rising; since London hosted the 2012 Olympics, attendance at sporting occasions has grown an average of 2.8% year-on-year.
So with growing participation in, and viewership of sporting events, which brands are consumers noticing and associating with their favourite sports? From the clothes they wear to the gym, to the logos on the t-shirts of their favourite team, brands influence the sporting world on multiple levels and can be favourably wrapped up with an activity consumers enjoy both taking part in and/or watching.
Here we dive into the brands most frequently recalled within the industry, and assess how favourably they are thought of by consumers. Read on to find out who is leading the pack in 2019.
Click here for a note on the methodology used to compile this Brand Index Report.
Increasingly dominated category
Unprompted Brand Recall refers to the first brand within a category that comes to mind for our audience when asked.
This quarter the two most recalled brands, Nike and Adidas, increase their Unprompted Brand Recall, resulting in a huge 62.1% of consumers recalling one of these two sporting heavyweights first.
All other brands listed within the top 10 sporting brands by Total Brand Equity (TBE) – how well thought of each brand is in relation to how well recalled it is – receive at least 1% when it comes to recall. The two brands who received less than 1% recall last quarter – Puma (0.7%) and Reebok (0.9%) – both receive a total of 1% this time around.
Despite Nike and Adidas continuing to dominate the category, there does still seem to be room for other brands to increase their share of mind quarter-on-quarter.
The spread of brands recalled is as varied as the recall scores. Athleisure brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma continue to dominate the top of the leaderboard, however there is also a football club, a football governing body, a media channel and two High Street retailers all mentioned frequently enough to make the top 10.
While Manchester United FC were dropped from the Brand Index leaderboard this quarter, their 8th place position has been taken over by a rival team, Arsenal. For there to be just one newcomer to the leaderboard, and for that newcomer to be a brand within the same subsector, shows that the spread of subsectors within the industry at large is relatively stable quarter-on-quarter.
Split picture regarding NPS
Four brands amongst the top 10 increase their Net Promoter Score this quarter. The most dramatic rise through the ranks is seen by Puma, whose NPS grew from 28.6 to 40.0 in the space of three months. The brand has had a busy few months, with news ranging from signing one of the most lucrative sponsorship deals of 2018, which will come into effect in the summer of this year, all the way to recent beta testing of their futuristic self-lacing shoes. Their brand image clearly improves with time, as considerably more consumers are now willing to recommend the athleisure brand to friends and colleagues.
Puma overtake last quarter’s NPS champion, Adidas, to take the top spot – just 0.8 ahead of Adidas, who took second place.
Five brands within the top 10 suffered dips within their Net Promoter Scores. The biggest drop was seen by Under Armour who held an NPS of 33.3 in Q4 and who’s score now totals 23.1. The American brand’s shares fell by 10% in one day last December, as sales figures failed to impress investors.
The two brands whose NPS were below zero last quarter both stay below zero this quarter, though their fates are different; Sky Sport’s NPS grew from -17.9 to -8.8, whereas FIFA fell even further out of favour, dropping from -16.7 to -18.2.
Arsenal enter the leaderboard with a respectable NPS of 27.3, taking the place of Manchester United, who dropped out after scoring just 0 last quarter.
With four brands enjoying a rise in NPS and five brands seeing a dip, the average NPS rose just marginally from 13.2 to 15.6.
Similarly divided field for Purchase Intent
Just as the leaderboard was split by shifts in NPS, four of the top 10 brands experience dips in Purchase Intent while five rise in this metric. These variances almost even themselves out overall, as average amongst the top 10 grew only very slightly, from 33.1% to 34.7%.
The brand with the biggest rise in Purchase Intent is Sports Direct. They sat in the middle of the table with 31.0% in Q4, they now find themselves much closer to the top with 46.7%. The revenue of Sports Direct Group (a group comprising of Sports Direct, recently acquired House of Fraser, Debenhams, Evans and a handful of other businesses) was up 4.5% towards the end of 2018, suggesting that a rising Purchase Intent for the brand is mirrored in on-the-ground sales.
Almost able to match their winning score from last quarter, Adidas continues to rank first for Purchase Intent, with a score of 51.2% – down just slightly from 52.0% in Q4.
Amongst the five brands whose Purchase Intent scores dropped, Under Armour came off worst, with the biggest overall drop (from 44.0% to 30.8%).
The overall lowest Purchase Intent is still held by FIFA, though they did manage to gain a small amount of ground, growing their score from 5.6% to 9.1%.
Key attributes
In 2019 we’re asking respondents to rank the brand they named in our ‘Unprompted Recall’ question for a variety of qualities in order to establish which brands are best known for their service, inclusivity, and value for money, as well as five other industry-specific factors.
Here’s how each of the top 10 brands ranked, for the eight key attributes addressed:
| Brand | Inclusivity | Memorable branding | Having the newest technology | Trust | Trend-setting | Service | Price | Quality |
| Nike | 78.10% | 83.41% | 78.83% | 81.49% | 87.32% | 78.31% | 71.75% | 87.95% |
| Adidas | 78.98% | 80.64% | 75.25% | 85.17% | 86.95% | 77.78% | 71.71% | 90.00% |
| Sky Sports | 72.66% | 76.52% | 80.30% | 75.00% | 80.30% | 71.88% | 64.39% | 81.82% |
| Sports Direct | 71.67% | 66.67% | 61.67% | 71.67% | 65.00% | 70.00% | 78.33% | 74.17% |
| JD Sports | 70.83% | 73.61% | 69.12% | 79.17% | 75.00% | 70.83% | 68.06% | 79.17% |
| Under Armour | 76.92% | 76.92% | 82.69% | 86.54% | 82.69% | 80.77% | 73.08% | 88.46% |
| FIFA | 65.91% | 79.55% | 72.50% | 75.00% | 84.09% | 72.50% | 60.00% | 84.09% |
| Arsenal FC | 79.55% | 65.91% | 63.64% | 70.45% | 70.45% | 65.91% | 65.91% | 81.82% |
| Reebok | 70.00% | 70.00% | 65.00% | 75.00% | 80.00% | 69.44% | 75.00% | 87.50% |
| Puma | 75.00% | 72.50% | 77.50% | 77.50% | 75.00% | 70.00% | 75.00% | 85.00% |
1. Inclusivity
It’s a hot topic in the sports industry. When the role models of the industry are necessarily fit, usually slim and (by virtue of the competition) young, promoting inclusivity for novices outside of these parameters is a challenge.
Some moves are being made to make athleisure and sports apparel available to all. For instance, Nike’s introduction of the first hijab sportswear and Puma’s collaboration with Fenty, a company best known for actively promoting diversity through their products, but there’s still a long way to go until differences in body sizes and types are celebrated by the sports brands within the top 10 here.
To learn more about Nike’s campaigns – we’ve listed the 5 ingredients of a great Nike marketing campaign here.
No brand within the top 10 scored a weighted ranking above 80% for inclusivity, showing that there is room for improvement.
FIFA are ranked as the least inclusive brand of the top 10 with just 65.9%, perhaps thanks to ongoing press coverage that centres around corruption and malpractice.
While the football body seems to be failing at addressing the needs of a wide range of consumers, the only other football-specific brand in the top 10, Arsenal FC, received the highest weighted ranking, 79.6%.
2. Memorable branding
Within the crowded sports and athleisure markets, being remembered (let alone fondly!) because of your branding, advertising and the partners you work with is foundational to your company’s growth.
Nike ranked highest for having the most memorable branding of all, with 83.4% weighted ranking. Their 2018 Just Do It campaign called upon influential (and controversial) sportspeople and raked up plenty of column inches in the process. This press coverage and the memorability of their advert combined to encourage online sales to grow by 31% in the bank holiday following the launch of the advert, and might have helped Nike creep up in Unprompted Brand Recall this quarter.
At the other end of the scale, Arsenal FC receives just 65.1% in the ‘memorable branding’ category, putting them last of the 10.
3. Having the newest technology
For professional athletes, innovative products and solutions are high on the list of priorities when it comes to choosing equipment. Without the newest technology, the athlete might find themself unfairly disadvantaged compared to competitors on more lucrative sponsorship deals.
When it comes to the average consumer, the latest technology might be a way to up their game, progress into a professional career, inspire ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ in the gym, or simply afford them bragging rights.
Under Armour ranked as the most technologically advanced brand, with a weighted ranking of 82.7%. Sports Direct received the lowest score in this category, a weight ranking of 61.7%.
4. Trust
To match their high score for having the newest technology, Under Armour also came out on top as the most trustworthy brand of the top 10.
The least trustworthy brand is Arsenal FC, with a weighted ranking that is still relatively high compared to low scores for other attributes – 70.5%. Arsenal’s mixed FA Cup performance in 2019 might go some way to explaining why the brand is seen as untrustworthy by consumers, mixed opinion over the trustworthiness of the brand stemming from the team’s mixed performance this quarter.
5. Trend-setting
Nike leads the way as the trendiest brand amongst the top 10, with a score of 87.3%. Nike, Adidas, Puma and Reebok all have their classics – the sneakers and other apparel that have developed a cult-like following – but their new items do just as well. Adidas, who came second with a weighted score of 87.0%, produce the most-instagrammed sneaker of all time – the Adidas NMD range – but 53% of the world’s most Instagrammed sneakers are produced by Nike.
Perhaps as a result of being the least technologically advanced, Sports Direct also bottoms out with the lowest score (65.0%) for being a trendsetter.
6. Service
Our audience has spoken: the brand offering the best service within the sports industry is Under Armour, with a weighted ranking of 80.8%. This winning score gives the brand their third top place out of the eight key attributes, the most of any of the companies in the top 10.
Arsenal FC is ranked last in our top 10, with a score of just 65.9%. This gives Arsenal their third bottom score – matching Sports Direct who also come last in three of the key attributes.
7. Price
The only title that Sports Direct wins is for the best prices, with a weighted ranking of 78.3%. This low price comes at the cost of quality, trend-setting and technological advances in the eyes of consumers, all of which they came last in. It’s also possible to infer that price is the attribute that least encapsulates the sports industry, as both the top and lowest scores are the lowest of all eight attributes.
It’s FIFA who receives the lowest weighted ranking, 60.0%, within the pricing category.
8. Quality
The representatives of the sports industry within the top 10 are seen as high quality, as the lowest and highest scores were the highest of any of the eight attributes. The high score was achieved by Adidas, where their weighted ranking for offering consumers quality products was 90.0%.
The lowest score, which was still a respectable 74.2%, was achieved by Sports Direct.
Sports Brand Index leaders
The overall leaders of the Q1 Sports Brand Index were as follows (ranked by Total Brand Equity).
Total Brand Equity (TBE) is a measure of how well thought of each brand is in relation to how well recalled it is, and Brand Strength refers to how well a brand is thought of in the market:
| Brand name | Recall | Purchase Intent | NPS | Brand Strength | Total Brand Equity |
| Nike | 41.6% | 45.2% | 33.2 | 78.4 | 3,260.0 |
| Adidas | 20.5% | 51.2% | 39.0 | 90.2 | 1,850.0 |
| Sports Direct | 3.0% | 46.7% | 0.0 | 46.7 | 140.0 |
| Puma | 1.0% | 40.0% | 40.0 | 80.0 | 80.0 |
| Sky Sports | 3.4% | 29.4% | -8.8 | 20.6 | 70.0 |
| Under Armour | 1.3% | 30.8% | 23.1 | 53.9 | 70.0 |
| Reebok | 1.0% | 40.0% | 20.0 | 60.0 | 60.0 |
| Arsenal FC | 1.1% | 27.3% | 27.3 | 54.6 | 60.0 |
| JD Sports | 1.8% | 27.8% | 0.0 | 27.8 | 50.0 |
| FIFA | 1.1% | 9.1% | -18.2 | -9.1 | -10.0 |
You can see how this looks plotted as both Total Brand Equity (TBE) and against the matrix of ‘well known and well liked’.
.png)
Key takeaways
- While managing to grow their Unprompted Brand Recall by almost 4%, to 41.6% overall, Nike suffers dips in the other two key metrics (NPS and Purchase Intent), meaning that their overall Total Brand Equity score grows only marginally from 3,160 to 3,260.
- The sports apparel industry continues to dominate the sports market as a whole, with over 60% of share of mind being held by just Nike and Adidas alone.
- The group of brands appearing in the top 10 remains almost entirely steady, with just one substitution – Arsenal FC takes the place of Manchester United FC.
- Both NPS and Purchase Intent are split across the board, with around half the brands increasing in these measures and the other half decreasing. There’s ground to be gained and lost across the board amongst the ten brands, then, even if breaking into the leaderboard proves difficult.
- Across the eight key attributes, Under Armour wins three top spots: newest technology, trust and service. Nike wins two categories: the most memorable branding and the most trend-setting company. At the other end of the scale, Arsenal FC and Sports Direct both come last in three categories.
- Perhaps, then, being widely recalled in the sports industry doesn’t correlate with being the most popular. Nike and Adidas hold more than 60% of the recall and win three titles between them, while Under Armour with just 1.3% of the recall also wins three titles. Sports Direct is recalled first by more than twice as many people as Under Armour, yet it only comes out on top in one category and comes last in three others.
Conclusion
The sports industry remains stable when it comes to the brands populating the top table, meanwhile metrics are relatively unstable when you look under the hood. Even the biggest brands who dominate the minds of consumers can suffer from dips in key metrics such as NPS and Purchase Intent, meaning that smaller businesses could win a place in the leaderboard if they work on brand memorability as a first priority over other factors.
Being easily recalled doesn’t always mean your brand is well-thought-of within the sports industry, so consumers may well be in the market for better providers. Price appeared as one key attribute where sports brands did the least well overall, so offering a cost-effective product may well help drive brands on the leaderboard upwards, or allow new brands to break into the top 10.
Measuring these key metrics (Unprompted Recall, NPS, Purchase Intent and so on) will help your business figure out which aspects of your strategy need to be modified so that you can stay (or move into) the top echelons.
And if your brand wasn’t featured, let’s have a chat: we can help you run a tailored brand equity matrix specific to your category or target consumer.