How Nike "Just Do It"
How Nike "Just Do It"
A brief look into Nike's Promotion
Nike’s success is in part due to their effective use of promotion. Over the years Nike have used promotional strategies such as outbound and inbound marketing to convey their message to audiences resulting in the brand occupying the largest market share and achieving a £37.4 billion yearly revenue (2020).
Running with Promotion through the years
In the company's earlier years, Nike effectively used below-the-line marketing strategies to directly promote their products to micro-audiences such as; professional runners and an athletic demographic. The brand would use a limited number of prints in specialized magazines such as "Runners World" (Phil Knight, July-August 1992, Howard Business Review). However, as technologies and the brand success progressed, so did Nike’s promotional strategies.In 1987 the Nike brand launched its first TV ad, a popular out-bound marketing channel. “We wanted to communicate not just a radical departure in shoes but a revolution in the way Americans felt about fitness, exercise, and wellness. The ads were a tremendous hit, and Nike Air became the standard for the industry immediately thereafter.” (Phil Knight, July-August 1992, Howard Business Review). The success of Nike’s TV ads were instrumental in getting the brand's message to a mass audience.
In these modern times
Nike's promotion has moved with the times and developments in technologies. This progression can be seen in recent years by the optimization of their in-bound marketing channels such as; Youtube, Social Media platforms and multiple on-line applications.
On March 8th, 2006 Nike launched its YouTube channel (YouTube, Nike Online 2021), a likely response to competitor brands that were starting to use YouTube as a promotional tool, for example, Adidas, who had already launched their channel in October 2005 (YouTube, Adidas Online 2021). Nike's use of Youtube channels provides video content consisting of a number of series within different segmentations of the brand such as; innovation, athletics, wellness, Nike Kids, Nike Family to name a few. This is an effective way to provide free, high-quality content directly to each segment of Nikes audience. To-date Nike's Youtube channel has 1.66 million subscribers, showing the effectiveness of YouTube as a promotional channel.
Nike's in-bound marketing through social media is also very strong with multi-million followers across different social media platforms. Nike uses each of these social media platforms to their strengths. Their Twitter account for example is very conversational, speaking directly with their audience “prominently to address customer queries with 96.8% of the brand’s tweets being replies”. (Kavya Ravi, October 2019, 6 ways Nike built a strong brand on social media- blog). This is an effective use of promotion to build relationships with customers. Nike’s Instagram serves as a great place for Nike's audience to find inspiration through their high-quality images, videos and stories. Nike’s on-going strategy of focusing on the people that use their products more than the products themselves is carried over to their Instagram page. With 1.75 million followers (Instagram, Nike Online 2021) it is clear it is an effective strategy in today's “influencer” culture.
Nike understands the importance of meeting their customers' needs “...our consumers have incredible expectations. They expect us to serve them on their terms with personal and premium experiences we know they love” (Heidi O’Neill, President, NIKE Direct. ((n.d))Transcript). Nike achieve this through their multiple On-line channels such as; NIKE App, NIKE Run Club, NIKE Training Club, NIKE SNKRS. Each of the apps offer a user-friendly digital experience that is easily integrated with consumers' lifestyles. The applications provide a free service to consumers, drawing them into the brand's experience, it’s products and technologies, it’s values and purpose. The NIKE Training club app is the number 1 workout app in the U.S and Europe with 1.8 million workouts daily. The NIKE RUN app is the number 1 running app in the world. (Adam Sussman, Chief Digital Officer. ((n.d)) Transcript). The apps are an obvious example of the effectiveness of Nikes promotion and their response to modern technologies and consumer trends. The digital experiences that Nike offer organically direct the consumer to their products.
Summary
To conclude, I believe that Nike is hugely successful in their use of promotion. Their modern marketing strategies are effective in drawing customers into the brand to help create a lasting relationship with consumers. Nike is extremely effective in conveying emotional branding through out-bound strategies. Their promotion focuses little on their product and more on the emotions their products represent such as; aspiration, motivation, accomplishment and the rewarding feelings of participation. These feelings are an effective way to make people want to; buy into the brand, it's products and services. It is easy to appreciate how effective Nike are at promotion, their motivational phrases such as “Just Do It” have become ingrained within western culture. It is difficult to not think of the brand Nike when referring to sports, athletics and fitness.
A brief look into Nikes Marketing Mix
Product:
Fig 1. Nike, UK (2021) Nike Zion 1 basketball shoe (Product Photo) Nike.com. Available at- https://www.nike.com/gb/t/zion-1-older-shoes-K6CvD2/DA3131-401 Accessed- 15.08.21
Price:
Nike use pricing and price leadership strategies, where the price of the product is based on the value that is placed on that particular product by the consumer. This gives Nike products the advantage as it gives them a more exclusive and high-quality edge, therefore enabling the higher price point.
Nike use pricing and price leadership strategies, where the price of the product is based on the value that is placed on that particular product by the consumer. This gives Nike products the advantage as it gives them a more exclusive and high-quality edge, therefore enabling the higher price point.
Fig.2 Nike,UK (2021) “Basketball Shoes” product search (Image/Screenshot) https://www.nike.com/gb/w?q=basketball%20shoes&vst=basket accessed 09.08.2021
Fig.4- Welch, C (August 27 2016) Nike Running Club App (Photo) The Verge.com. Available at https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/27/12670716/nike-running-app-bad-redesign Accessed 15.08.2021
Nike’s progression in online technologies reflect the consumers needs for ease when it comes to shopping and integrating products to fit their lifestyle. Nike’s user friendly website makes shopping and ordering an easy process for customers. Nike’s products are clearly labelled into different segments.
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