Shares "or so-called vanity metrics are often deemed superfluous" but adidas believes they are "good proxy for quality of a sponsorship campaign," according to Seb Joseph of THE DRUM. For the sportswear brand, "success is being the most talked about by young football fans, a goal its claiming as the football season comes to a close." According to its own analysis, adidas generated over 1.6 million shares across Twitter, (retweets), Facebook (shares), YouTube (direct shares and shares to other social platforms), Instagram (user tags) and online media (shares to social platforms) between the Champions League final, the Copa America and Euro 2016. Most of that engagement came during the latter (1.1 million), when adidas said that it "dominated the daily share of volume for 27 of 30 days of the event," which yielded 1.17 million shares -- "more than twice the number of the next biggest brand." Nike, Puma, Under Armour, Coca-Cola and the other Euro sponsors were the advertisers the German business claimed to "outmuscle over the last two months." Some 17 accounts worldwide "were responsible for driving that volume, though there was no global paid support," with just "small pockets of spend" in certain key markets. All of which meant that around 95% of the engagement was organic, adidas said. Social video analytics business Burst Insights CEO Mike Litman said, "A 'like' is a seal of approval in social currency terms so it's not a surprise to see the adidas campaign come first amongst the Euro 2016 social brand advertisers in the eyes of many." The "positive association" of being the kit maker for some of the tournament’s most popular teams (Wales) and sponsors of some of its biggest players (Paul Pogba) saw the shareability of adidas’ content "swell markedly during the matches." An adidas spokesperson said of the company's focus on measuring shares as "the most valuable form of consumer interaction" on social media, "Essentially, it’s about creating a deeper engagement with our consumer." The challenge for adidas "is understanding that deeper engagement on dark social hotspots like WhatsApp and Snapchat." The spokesperson said, "As a brand, we always try to create a conversation rather than just talking at people. So, by measuring shares we’re seeing how consumers are interacting with -- and talking about -- our content. We will also engage with their conversation so they feel even more part of what we’re doing." Adidas' "dominance of the brand chatter around the tournament was backed by Burst Insights," which found it upped its retweet and like engagement scores by 100% and 112%, respectively, during the tournament compared to its previous all-time bests (THE DRUM, 7/11).
