The Building and Management of Sports Brands: The Case of FILA

Muyun Wang

Business School, University of Essex, Essex, U.K.

Keywords: Enterprise Development and Management, Market Research, Corporate History.

Abstract: This paper aims to study and discuss the successful experience of FILA brand and the lessons of the

transformation from the Italian top high-end sport brand to the world sport fashion brand after the

establishment in 1911. This paper argues that FILA has successfully redefined brand value in the highly

saturated sports fashion arena through strategic brand positioning, market contingency, cultural

accustomization and localization. The study points out that the keys to FILA's success include the following

three points: diversification and responsiveness to market dynamics, sharp targeting Merlin’s brand

personality and cultural sensitivity, and Merlin’s ability to deal with brand crises. This investigation thus

forms a useful guide for future examinations of brand globalisation and application of technology.

1 INTRODUCTION

The importance of branding in contemporary business

competition gradually rises to an unprecedented level.

A strong and effective brand is not only a significant

asset of enterprises but also serves as a communication

channel between consumers and enterprises. Brand

value is an important intangible asset of an enterprise,

of which Brand Loyalty, Brand Awareness, Brand

Associations, Perceived Quality are the key elements

of brand value (Aaker, 1991). In the context of

globalization, branding and brand management have

been promoted from marketing resources to the

strategic resources in the enterprise business

operations. FILA, as a century-old sport brand, has

successfully gained consumers’ favour in this process

by transforming its branding strategies, especially in

the Chinese market. It has shifted from its initial niche,

high-end brand image to becoming a widely

recognized and accepted brand today.

This thesis employs the FILA brand to explicate

the approaches and steps used within the process of

brand creation and administration. Through the

characterization of the FILA brand and by dissecting

its development history, the changes of the brand

positioning and the variations of the marketing

strategies, this paper will show the successful story of

how FILA achieved the integration of culture,

accurate market positioning, and the long-term brand

loyalty of consumers within the strong competitive

environment of the international market. The findings

of this paper can provide useful insights and practical

references for the construction and management of

other brands.

2 HISTORY OF THE FILA

BRAND

2.1 Founding and Early Development

of FILA

FILA brand was created by the FILA family in 1911

in Biella, Italy. Originally, FILA was a company that

focused on the manufacturing of quality wool and

textile products for its target market, the domestic

market. Its menswear delivery through the use of

quality fabrics and excellent workmanship added to

its quick and early market acceptance in Italy.

In the 1970s, FILA officially joined the

sportswear sector and started to develop professional

sportswear. This transition was the first step in

turning FILA from a typical textile business into a

world class superior sportswear brand and also

became the first step that FILA began to go

international.

2.2 FILA's Global Expansion

FILA has become a well-known sportswear maker

and successfully entered the international market in

Wang, M.

The Building and Management of Sports Brands: The Case of FILA.

DOI: 10.5220/0013986600004916

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2025), pages 95-98

ISBN: 978-989-758-778-8

the early 1970s. At present, FILA has achieved

excellent strategic development results in two

continents of Europe and America due to its

trademark positioning and superior design style. As

consumers’ consciousness of healthy life increased,

the market demand of sports fashion is expanding,

and FILA being positioned fashion sportswear

perfectly fits this trend. In this way, FILA has

increased the brand’s popularity with the help of

sponsorships with famous athletes (such as a tennis

player Björn Borg) and seasons for the best high-

status championships like Wimbledon Open.

Currently, FILA is also popular in Asia. It opened

shops in Japan and South Korea in the 1990S when

its products met Asian people’s needs for formal

sports apparel. Asian, especially Chinese middle-

class population, has rapidly grown, resulting in

higher demands for premium sports brand. In Asia,

the re- branding of FILA has partially succeeded in

the initial stage and paved the path for further growth.

In 2007, FILA was bought out by China’s Anta Group

to acquire Greater China business and rebrand it. By

adapting the strategy on shifting its focuses to the

Asian market especial the China market, Anta has

gained remarkable returns. At the same time, FILA

has gained its zenith in the Asian Market.

However, the problem that hit FILA in the early

season 2000s led to a dismal sales performance for

the brand. When Nike and Adidas enhanced their

functional sports equipment R&D, and fast-fashion

brands expanding sports fashion area, FILA’s market

share was gradually squeezed. Global sales in 2003

were only $792 million, down 43 per cent from the

1997 peak.

In addition, FILA has been facing the problem of

blurred brand image in its global expansion: the

positioning is not clearly defined between luxury

clothing and sports wear and thus it has slowly faded

off the map in Europe and America. Problems, such

as how to make sure different regions hold the same

brand image and at the same time cater to the cultural

and preference differences of the global consumers,

are often some of the critical demands in the layout of

the global market that FILA needs to jointly solve.

3 FILA'S BRAND POSITIONING

AND SHAPING

Acquired by China's Anta Group in 2007, FILA

underwent a strategic transformation starting in 2012,

transitioning from a premium athletic apparel brand

to a mass-market sports lifestyle brand. This

repositioning exemplifies the brand's adaptive

management strategies. The key strategic initiatives

for FILA are the repositioning of the brand. During

the market survey, they have watered down this

technical aspect of the professional sports and had

shifted the brand focus to design oriented and trend

sensitive brand that aims at the sports fashion

segment of the market. Therefore, the objective of

Anta is to achieve social equity between ‘luxury’ and

the ‘mass’ (Zhang & Li, 2021). It is all about finding

the balance between ‘high-end and expensive’ and

‘affordable’. This has created the situations where

FILA products can be employed even more often,

thus developing multifaceted possibilities of the

products, and essentially enlarging the spectrum of

the audience that might be interested in FILA.

Secondly, FILA has diversified new product lines

through sub-brands to meet different segments of

market needs and reformulated its products

depending on the consumers’ preference in the

international market. For instance, FILA FUSION is

targeted towards youth trend market, FILA KIDS for

children and FILA ATHLETICS aiming for

professional sporting equipment (Wu, 2019).

The third important aspects, which is worth

mentioning is the changes in the techniques of

marketing. Cross border collaborations have also

been adopted by FILA and other related products

have incorporated fashion design aspect from luxury

brands to enhance its brand image and marketability.

For example, they state that a cooperation with

FENDI brought a limited edition collection, being

presented at the fashion weeks in several countries.

This approach not only improved FILA’s exposure

but also benefited consumers in terms of an improved

view of the brand and gained market impact. Such

collaborations have been-effective since, they suit

consumer’s-interested in unique and popular designs

hence strengthening FILA in the fashion empire (Kim,

2018).

Involved in the brand transition, FILA has also

widened its marketing focus from professional

athletes and high-income groups of consumers to

mass consumers.

For example, ILA targeting the male 18-35 age

group it launched marketing strategies such as

celebrity endorsement (Kim Soo-hyun) a Korean

artist to appeal the trendy youngsters. This group

cares about the latest fashion and brand personality

and likes brands which are both useful and make them

look like they know a great deal about fashion (Lee &

Park, 2020). By the right pricing approach and light

luxury design, FILA is able to satisfy the middle-

income earners who are in search for affordable but

quality products. It helps to prolong ‘perception of

PRMC 2025 - International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication

luxury’ and creates value for the brand, ultimately

appealing to the middle-class consumers (Zhang & Li,

2021).

Through high-quality children’s wear and a focus

on parent-child dynamics, FILA KIDS has

successfully captured the family market, increasing

brand awareness among young families. Wu, 2019).

4 FILA'S BRAND MANAGEMENT

STRATEGY

4.1 Channel Management and

Marketing

FILA uses an omnichannel approach where both the

online and offline markets are utilized to cater for

consumers’ needs. The exterior channels consist of

officially websites and e-business channel including

the official website of this brand in Chinese market,

the e-business channel of this brand including Taobao

and the other similar e-business channel. In order to

meet the convenience of online channels which

entered the consumers’ life with a wide variety of

offers. Offline channels communicate brand value

through flagship shops and boutiques, et al. Offline

shops are easy to be seen and touched and consumers

can decide whether to purchase or not according to

the tangible things they come across, which will

improve their degree of brand trust and experience.

The perfect integration of e-channels and brick-and-

mortar allow FILA to maximize ecommerce to

enhance sales while raising brand contacts and

customer loyalty via retail store. The use of online

and offline interaction in Omni-channel retailing is

likely to extend client delight and brand affection.

(Verhoef, Kannan & Inman, 2015).

Digital marketing can optimise the allocation of

resources and increase the efficiency of marketing

campaigns through data analysis (Chaffey & Smith,

2017). FILA has outperformed in its marketing

through digital approach where the consumer’s

behaviour is studied, and precision marketing is done

with the help of advanced technologies. Most of the

young consumers are attracted due to application of

social media to advertise contents like new product

launch attractive promotional designs and

collaboration with well-known designers. In parallel,

the company has managed to improve performing

supply chain and inventory with the help of digital

tools available within FILA. For instance, using the

sales data, FILA is able to change the distribution of

stocks in the various areas in order to suit the demands.

The use of this data-based marketing practice

strengthens its position in the competitive market and

customer satisfaction.

4.2 Brand Crisis Management

The growth process of a brand may be confronted

with a number of problems from external

environment, as illustrated by the case of FILA in the

Hong Kong market. During the 1990s, FILA began

enjoying a rapid market growth in the Asian market

and after getting into the 2000s, the company has

experienced a slow decline in its performance in

Hong Kong because of the problems such as market

saturation and confused brand identity. This decline

was a result of poor commercial transition of high-

end professional sports apparel brands, particularly in

the new area of young consumer’s fashion integration

of sports wear and trends.

To this end, FILA has attempted to pursue several

strategies to meet this challenge, such as converting

the brand positioning, enhancing the marketing

promotion, and cooperating with localised resources.

For example, FILA has recently released sports

fashion, which is closer to consumers’ demand of

Asia and the need for targeting group of design and

practicality. Secondly, FILA has given a new life to

the product by working with local talents to advertise

new releases. Moreover, ILA adapted the format of

its points of sale and workshops to a greater similarity

with the fashionable image of the brand while at the

same improving the consumer experience. These

strategies allowed FILA to establish a brand- new

path to the recovery from this downturn with a new

brand vision among the young people.

5 IMPLICATIONS FOR OTHER

BRANDS

5.1 Flexibility to Respond to Market

Changes

Market Sensitivity FILA has demonstrated how a

strategic response to market trends can be valuable by

evolving from a professional equipment specialist

image to a fashion image. It is crucial for brands to

timely identify shifts in consumer behaviour and,

depending on these shifts, be willing and able to adapt

its marketing channels: from traditional ‘brick-and-

mortar’ stores to online ‘electronic’ ones, as well as

to the growth of e-commerce and social networking

as a means of expanding its coverage of the market.

The Building and Management of Sports Brands: The Case of FILA

Based on the information collected from

consumer research, social network analysis and sales

data, brands can gather timely information on the

market trends and timely make changes in product

design and marketing strategies. They can also use

varying brand promotion strategies and plans to

expand their range of products, for example, different

series of products corresponding to the high-end

segment and the massive one. Moreover, the existing

digital structures can be developed by investing in e-

commerce systems and digital marketing

professionals to perfect customers’ experiences and

boost the performance by interpreting the data

correctly (Allan, Blanchet, Robichaud, & Kinuani,

2023).

5.2 Precise Brand Positioning and

Cultural Integration

The experiences of FILA in Asia especially Korea

revealed that positioning and localisation strategies

are critical determinations of brands success. The

brand has grown its consumers by incorporating

aspects of the cultural and using the strategy of

rejuvenation (Holt, 2004).

Brands can localise their design and promotion,

for instance, FILA released products according to the

Korean templates based on Koreans’ ideas. However,

they need to focus on several actions further,

including the enhancement of brand position. Market

analyses can see brand specify its target market and

align the definitions of core values needed for the

target population. For example - brand positioning as

a ‘brand for the fashionable young’ or an ‘eco-

technology sports brand’. This is because the cultural

connection is another way through which brand can

build a bond relationship with their customers

through activities like sponsorship to festivals or

music festivals, sporting activities, hire celebrities or

endorse local products (Renee & Chao, 2019).

6 CONCLUSION

The key to the success of the FILA brand consists of

three elements include exact positioning of the brand,

market elasticity, and cultural assimilation and

localization plan. All these factors hold great promise

for FILA, and the study of the target market and the

timely adjustment of the strategy is the fundamental

determinant of success. When the brand goes global,

it should remain loyal to the brand values and truth

but can accommodate culture and need of brand

consumer.

This analysis of FILA’s brand success will also be

useful for other brands and create a basis for further

discussions in the topics of brand globalization and

technology. In future research, incorporating cross

cultural factors and new technology trends will bring

more understanding to the complexion and

opportunities of brand management.

Under the background of the trend of

globalisation, how the brand provides consistency

and variability to different culture still have a

potential for further research.

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