Brief Introduction
Business area, mission, key marketing objectives, fascinating facts
NIKE was founded in the 1960s and began mainly dealing with footwear. The company dealt mainly with footwear that bore its trademark swooshes. The company quickly expanded and began running advertisement campaigns, which would soon see the company own more than 50% of the market share in the US.
The primary advertising agent that NIKE has used since it began advertising is Wieden Kennedy. This company has continuously devised print and television advertisements for Nike. Over the years since its establishments Nike has expanded its product line to include many sports products. It has also grown production to many regions over the world.
Nike has acquired many of its competitors such as Umbro. This has strengthened its market position. Marketing is a very elaborate process of communicating the products of the company to prospective consumers (Richard, Wilson, & Gilligan, 2012). Nike has adopted many marketing strategies and methods to grow as it has. The company has used the ‘just do it’ slogan to advertise its products.
Products/Services
What is the client selling?
The company has specialized in producing a wide array of sports equipment. A company that began with production of shoes for running track has expanded widely. They produce sports equipment for track, ice hockey, baseball, tennis, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, cricket, hockey, and American football.
In the design of their shoes, Nike always wants to outdo its competitors by producing shoes which will provide an added advantage to the athlete. Nike sells shoes for outdoor activities such as racing, skateboarding, cycling, golf, wrestling, and car racing. Shoes for recreational activities are also produced.
What is the market buying?
The market for Nike products buys them due to the agility provided by these shoes and equipment. Many people choose Nike products due to their comfort ability and convenience they provide when carrying out sporting activities. The Nike air, which is a well used shoe in basketball, is loved because of its flexibility and light nature. Feedback gotten from the market segment enables the company to improve on its products and produce better ones too.
According to Doyle, Stern, Stern (2006) the market expects
- Reliability from the products
- Comfort when using the shoes
- Lightweight and agile equipment
The company is able to deliver these requirements to the sports men and women who are the target market.
Role of Communication
Why does the client want to advertise?
Nike carries out advertising to attain the following objectives:
- To promote the company’s brand and products among existing clientele. The firm runs rigorous adverts to ensure that the consumers of its products are always aware of its new products. This ensures the company’s products remain relevant to the consumers.
- To introduce its products to new consumers who are not aware of its products. This creation of awareness improves the market base the company has by recruiting new customers.
- To communicate new products and improvements in its equipment to the customers. This helps all customers to associate with the new and improved products (Wilson, 2000).
What do we want people to do?
- Existing customers: most customers use Nike products in their sporting activities. Many also use Nike products for recreational purposes. We want people to compare our products with those of our competitors and see we have covered all the angles involved in producing the shoes and equipment at Nike. A majority of our customers are athletes who use the products to achieve greatness, so we always want them to achieve greatness using our products.
- New customers: through our adverts we expect new customers to become aware of our products and begin using them. Our products are suited for many purposes and new customers will appreciate the measures we have taken in producing state of the art equipment and shoes.
How will we know that it has worked? Action standard?
- There will be an increase in the sale of products because as more people become aware of the products they will buy more.
- Increased usage of Nike products among the market population. This impulse in the use of Nike products will strengthen the brand image due to the reliable products we have.
- There will be an improvement in the amount of feedback given by the many customers.
- People will be more readily available to integrate the products from Nike in their life and provide a platform for development of better products.
Target Audience
Nike uses various strategies to reach its target market. The target market is mainly athletes and sports men. The target is mainly people who are active in sporting activities. Nike reaches its target audience through sponsorships. The company sponsors various celebrity athletes, college teams, and athletic teams.
This strategy of sponsorship is successful because it reaches the desired target audience which is the athletes (Ranchhod, Gurau & Gurău, 2007). A specific athletic team may opt to use Nike products prompting the whole team to buy the product used so they can be one.
When using celebrity athletes in their advertising and publicity Nike usually shows the relation between the success of that athlete due to using their shoes and other products. This is a psychological method because it prompts those who want to achieve success like the athlete to buy the products.
On an overall scale, Nike targets the audience who will develop an intimacy with the product and always use it due to its reliability. The products brought to the market by Nike will accommodate a huge segment of the market and the largest number of consumers will find the products suiting their needs. (Adcock, Bradfield, Al Halborg & Ross, 2001, p 57-70)
Competitive Frame
What is the competition-direct or indirect? How are competitors positioned or different?
Nike faces stiff competition from other firms which deal with the same products. Reebok and Adidas which have recently merged are now the greatest threat to Nike’s market dominance. The merging of the two companies will see the competition become a bit stiff for Nike.
The positioning of these companies in the market is such that they are able to outsource their manufacturing so they can concentrate on dealing with the market. This strategy of outsourcing has seen them utilize most of the available marketing and advertising strategies so they can always have a competitive advantage over Nike. (Kotler, Keller, Brady, Goodman, & Hansen, 2009, p.36).
What is the prospect currently thinking?
Nike is a dominant force in the production and market of sports gear and equipment all over the world. With the vast competition Nike has been prompted to always stay on top of its game in the industry. They have continually developed products to suit the market and the growing needs of the new clientele.
Nike has adopted a combination of strategies in order to continue soaring high in the market. They have used product development and improvement to acquire new market segments. They have adopted pricing strategies, advertisements and other promotional activities. These fierce competitive strategies will see the company remain relevant in the industry (Kotler, & Armstrong, 2009).
Social responsibility adopted by the company also improves the company’s image and makes people view it as a very positive addition in society hence buy its products. Nike has also sought to venture into the international market to improve its distribution all over the world. Through market segmentation the company will prevail in new markets and remain a force to be reckoned with (Rakesh, 2005).
Single Minded Position
What is the single most motivating and differentiating thing we can say about the brand?
With the slogan “just do it” the company believes that anyone can be an athlete. In their recent advert which features a boy and the caption in the advert is that anyone can achieve greatness through using Nike products.
Why should we believe it?
Nike produces quality products which meet the customers’ requirements. This provides a high degree of customer loyalty and this attracts a lot of customers to embrace the brand. Most of the athletes who are contracted to advertise Nike products have achieved success through using these products in their areas. The pricing strategy that Nike has employed has made their products very affordable to a wide network of their customers.
This technique ensures a huge marketing and competitive advantage in the market (Mortimer, 2002). The company has also done a lot in its research and development division. This has caused a lot of developments in its products and also used the customer suggestions in developing new products for its market. (Jensen & Boles, 1994, p 76).
Other significant benefits /factors
Include practical considerations and mandatory inclusions
- There is an increase in brand recognition due to many people using the products.
- Products from Nike are of a high quality hence entice the consumers
- The company employs effective marketing strategies to cover all the demographic areas
- Nike has a huge capacity for innovative technologies which will enhance their products hence the competitive advantages the company has.
- A strong distribution chain the company uses enables the many numbers of customers it has to get its products effectively.
- The company uses very effective techniques in developing their research and development unit in order to develop state of the art products.
- Strong customer relations department and feedback centre have enabled the company gain an edge in using the customer’s feedbacks.
Tone and mood
What are the values of the brand?
The brand is bold and uses some of the most captivating adverts. They believe that anybody can make it to greatness and always advocate for people to do it because they can. The brand promotes many friendly natures of their shoes and equipment.
Candidate media
Give a view of the media we might use
The company has employed a vast advertising network using print advertising, outdoor advertising, mailing, online, radio and television advertising. Nike uses celebrities to carry out its various sports adverts. Many advertising channels the company employs are audio-visual and these ensure maximum success in their campaigns. This strategy has worked for a long time because people associate the success of those athletes with the Nike products they are using.
Reference List
Adcock, D, Bradfield, R, Al Halborg & Ross, C 2001, Common marketing activities, Pearson Education, New Jersey.
Doyle, P & Stern, P 2006, Marketing Management and Strategy, Pearson Education, New York.
Jensenl, YA & Boles, MA 1994, Introduction to marketing strategies, 2nd edn, McGraw Hill, London.
Kotler, Ph & Armstrong, G 2009, Marketing Principles, Pearson Education, New Jersey.
Kotler, Ph, Keller, K L, Brady, M, Goodman, M & Hansen, T 2009, Marketing Management: European Edition, Pearson Education, New Jersey.
Mortimer, G M 2002, Marketing Management: Principles and Strategies, Queensland, Brisbane.
Rakesh, M J 2005, International Marketing, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Ranchhod, A, Gurau, C & Gurău, C 2007, Marketing Strategies: A Contemporary Approach, Pearson Education, New Jersey.
Richard, MS, Wilson, MS & Gilligan, C 2012, Strategic Marketing Management, Routledge, London.
Wilson, D F 2000, “Why divide consumer and organizational buyer behavior?” European Journal of Marketing, vol. 34, iss. 7, pp.780 – 796.