ABSTRACT
It seems that all sport brands currently have a common feature which is the need to cultivate their difference to remain sustainable. To illustrate the particular identity of firms, organisations and brands, practitioners and professionals often talk about brand DNA, which integrates history, stories, memories, values and goals, its ‘raison d’être’. Beyond consolidating a stature and improving an image, comparing sport brands’ intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics allows us to see differences in terms of identity, positioning and communication. Moreover, it improves the understanding of possible strategic evolutions driven by the endogenous (within the firms and organisations) and exogenous (market and socioeconomic) environments. Finally, this double conceptualisation, as the double helix, contributes to the definition of sport brands’ DNA, which makes each brand different. Based on the work of Ladwein (1995), two categories of sport brands’ attributes can be identified and illustrated (see Table C.1). First, intrinsic attributes indicate the common characteristics of all products and services offered by the brand: field of expertise, technical characteristics, features, knowhow etc. Second, extrinsic attributes depend on the way the brand is valorised through various strategies: positioning, segmentation, targeting, communication, etc. It is possible to identify two co-existing categories of strategic orientations and actions determining the brand's future. On one hand, endogenous actions directly concern products and services and on the other hand, exogenous actions characterise the expansion and acquisition of new attributes potentially modifying consumer perceptions. Examples of strategic actions differentiating sport brands' DNA https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
Sport brands’ DNA main attributes
Intrinsic (products/services’ specific attributes)
Extrinsic (brand's specific attributes)
Endogenous actions (Dependent on products and services ranges)
Efficiency (comfort, practicality, price…)
Leisure (women, seniors, babies…)
Creation (innovation, originality…)
Heath (obese, diabetic…) Expert (competitor, elite, connoisseurs…)
Line extension (sub-segments, premium, low-cost)
Fashion (aesthetic, style, vintage…)
Exogenous actions (Independent from products and services ranges)
Brand extension (new fields of expertise and sectors)
Social marketing (ethical, responsible, green…)
Co-branding (internal or external)
Community/tribal marketing (generations, ethnicities, religions…)
Source: Adapted from Ladwein, 1995