A competitive analysis of the holiday retail landscape worldwide

The challenge

adidas asked us to document and survey what competitors and other retailers were doing to market their products during the 2018 holiday season. This audit included 23 brands across 11 countries and 6 channels. The goal being to evaluate specific areas of inquiry, better understand industry trends and make informed recommendations for future marketing strategies.

The approach

To facilitate such a wide breadth of data I created a detailed schedule, strategy for collection of raw survey materials, as well as tools to streamline workflow. In collaboration with our internal automation expert we created scripts which streamlined part of the collection process. Once I collected the raw data, I then analyzed it to uncover new insights and narratives.

The insight

It quickly became clear that few brands took full advantage of the holiday season in an impactful and consistent way. Only 22% of brands had a clear holiday narrative, the rest had varying degrees of disconnected marketing elements. Even though Black Friday is clearly the most shopped day of the season, only 43% of brands evolved their Black Friday promotions.