Nike and Adidas, two long-time rivals in the sports-fashion industry, have been on top of the athletic world competing against each other for the best selling sporting goods. Hiring hundreds of the world's most renowned athletes to draw in fans and consumers to dress like their favorite players is one of the many tactics used. Nike and Adidas are very proactive within the basketball industry, dealing with the National Basketball Association, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and International Basketball such as FIBA and the Olympics. The two advertisements that have been chosen represent the different selling strategies for basketball shoes and apparel. The Nike and Adidas basketball advertisements are selling the same product but, vary through the use of a target market, the color variation and the message portrayed within the advertisements. .
The target market, the group of people that the producers are aiming to sell to vary in the two advertisements that have been chosen. Within the Adidas advertisement, the consumer sees a series of different athletes attempting to go from the three-point line on a basketball court to the basketball hoop in an attempt to put the basketball into the hoop. The series of basketball players from left to right include, Chauncey Billups of the Detroit Pistons, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards, Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves and lastly Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets. All of these basketball players were high talented during their NBA careers, but are now either coming to an end of their careers or are already retired. The Nike advertisement does not involve any famous NBA or basketball players, but merely just a bunch of young boys coming together. The consumer only sees their hands and arms raised high in the air as they grab onto each others, as if they are preparing to play and are huddled together for motivation.