Adidas Swiftly Recovers After Wording Stumble
A mere four years after the 2013 Boston Marathon tragedy, runners having crossed the finish line in April 2017 received a congratulatory email the following morning from race sponsor Adidas that raised eyebrows and accusations of Adidas having crossed a line of a different kind.
So, let’s examine the details of this crisis and what public relations professionals have learned from it.
What caused the crisis?
An email from Adidas greeted its audience the morning after the race with the subject line, “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!”
Oh, Adidas. What were you thinking?
What factors contributed to fueling the crisis?
The phrasing by Adidas sparked controversy and backlash was swift as recipients of the email took to social media with screenshots of the subject line. Many accused Adidas of being insensitive as the word choice evoked images and memories of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing at the finish line that killed three people and wounded more than 260.
Reactions to the email were not entirely negative. There were audience members that remained steadfast in their support of Adidas and spoke out as to that particular phrasing having been part of any runner’s lexicon and causing no offense.
How did Adidas react?
Adidas was quick to issue an apology on Twitter Tuesday afternoon with a simple tweet of white typeface on a black background, similar to the brand’s logo.
While many appreciated the apology by Adidas and attributed the poor word choice to an innocent mistake, others doubted the sincerity noting the advertisement in the email’s body selling the brand’s apparel as being the purpose of the email.
Was the crisis properly managed?
Adidas exhibited good social listening as they addressed the concerns of the audience by issuing an apology within hours of the offending email. However, for many within the Adidas audience the apology came too late.
Visually, the apology was well executed with the most prominent content being the Adidas logo and the line, “We deeply apologize for our mistake.”
What could have been done differently?
The gaffe by Adidas could have been avoided completely by training the staff to be mindful of certain phrases that may spark controversy. A test message could also have been run among audience members to provide feedback before sending the email en masse.
Without a doubt, Adidas should have sent their congratulations without promoting the brand’s apparel in the same email.
What lessons could be learned from this crisis and the company’s reaction?
Adidas created its own crisis with a congratulatory email to its Boston Marathon running audience containing insensitive wording, but the company’s public relations department showed exemplary crisis management skills by practicing good social listening and swiftly issuing a sincere apology.
The brand prevented the crisis from escalating by admitting its mistake and the audience reacted by reversing its sentiment from negative to positive, returning Adidas to solid footing within a short period of time.
Adidas has since taken great strides to connect with its running audience. The 2018 Boston Marathon utilized radio frequency identification technology to provide data and video for Grow, the digital agency for the Adidas campaign, where staff created personalized videos for each of the 30,000 runners. The 2018 email was received much differently than that from the previous year. The strategy and tactics of the 2018 campaign provided an incredible return on investment for Adidas.
Adidas quickly learned from its mistake in 2017 and proved itself a leader in public relations strategy in the face of social media crisis.
United Airlines, were you listening?
Works Cited
Adidas. “Pic.twitter.com/CdBKixwSqT.” Twitter, Twitter, 18 Apr. 2017, twitter.com/adidasUS/status/854422872944771073.
Allen, Kevin. “Adidas Apologizes for ‘Insensitive’ Boston Marathon Email.” PR Daily, 20 Apr. 2017, www.prdaily.com/adidas-apologizes-for-insensitive-boston-marathon-email/.
Denison, Mike. “.@Adidas You May Want to Rethink the Subject Line Pic.twitter.com/curUb8FieO.” Twitter, Twitter, 18 Apr. 2017, twitter.com/mikd33/status/854377690408906753.
Frederick, David. “Why Adidas Created Custom Videos for Every Runner at the 2018 Boston Marathon.” PR Week, PR Week Global, 21 June 2018, www.prweek.com/article/1485759/why-adidas-created-custom-videos-every-runner-2018-boston-marathon.
Le, Mai. “What We Can Learn from 2017’s Biggest PR Crises (so Far).” Ragan Communications, 10 Apr. 2018, www.ragan.com/what-we-can-learn-from-2017s-biggest-pr-crises-so-far/.
