Nike's Core Marketing Strategy

Nike is the leading and yet renowned supplier of athletic apparel and shoes. The company controls close to 33% of the global athletic shoe market (Dogiamis & Vijayashanker,2009).Nike was founded by Bill Power and Phil Knight in 1962 as a Blue Ribbon Support and then was later on renamed to Nike in the year 1968 (Patrow,2003).The company supplies very high quality product in close to 100 countries with major markets being located in the U.S,U,K, Asia Pacific as well as in the Americas. The company has managed to attain its lead and legendary position via the application of innovative and yet attractive product design which is backed by quality production as well as well crafted marketing strategies.

Companies today face many challenges to maintain market share and differentiate themselves from a highly competitive and ever evolving market place. Marketing is crucial to a company’s long term success. The aim of this paper is to use the “Nike - The art of selling air” case study and concepts from strategic marketing

As the brand name of Nike continue to soar, other companies in the industry; learning from the success Nike has experienced, start focusing more on brand development to keep up with the increasing levels of competition. These companies resort to brand maintenance, which has become the main target in this industry due to product differentiation made by Nike. Nike, being market-advantaged, produces an extensive range of products, through which it gains a balanced level of profits. This has influenced rival companies to initiate a new range of products in their businesses too. Previously these companies had high risks of failing in business, if their single products did not appeal to the market. Due to the impact of Nike’s business strategy, the other companies are also enlarging their product range,

Currently, Nike stand as a leading figure in producing high quality sports and fitness equipment and apparels. Bearing just a simple start of selling Japanese imported shoes from a station wagon has transformed

The company I am presenting is Nike which was founded in 1965 by the athlete Phil Knight. Nike is a well known brand which is selling its products worldwide and has 36% of the market share.

Brands use different strategies to create competitive advantages to beat with their rivals. Some companies use “Overall Cost Leadership” to increase profit by reducing costs and increase market share by lowering price. Some companies use “Focus Strategies” to select a group of market and tailor its strategy to serve that group. The others use “Product Differentiation” as a strategy to obtain a premium price by making unique products. Nike, with its differentiation strategy, the company is continuing to separate its self from the competitors by using its superior technology and innovation. This paper mainly discusses on the company’s product differentiation and analysis how the company using this strategy to build its brand image and become a market leader in sportswear industry. A brief discuss about Nike competitive advantage which related to its broad differentiation aspect and the company product life cycle are also presented on this paper.

Nike will have a number of different marketing objectives for their isotonic sports drink, Nike Go. A main market objective will be to establish the isotonic drink as the most credible sports drink in the market. This will not just happen though, this can only happen through a lot of promotion and appeal. Creating strong consumer awareness is very important in gaining market share as it is a completely new product from Nike. This can be done through promoting the product, Nike Go, and allowing consumers to become aware that Nike has this new product. In order to establish brand recognition, there needs to be a capture of market shares in the sports drink segment. This will mean the product, Nike Go, will be well known

Before the Internet era, Nike had already established itself. It had done well though TV ads and celebrities getting on board like Bo Jackson. However, when the new era came, it changed everything for Nike. They needed to be able to change with the new era. If millions of people use Facebook, IG, and Twitter, Nike needed to expose themselves in those areas as well. Therefore, they became more up-to-date, and gained more attention that way with the millennial crowd. This allowed Nike to become more holistic in the modern world. This new community created insane amounts of data, which Nike used to track behaviors, creates online groups of Nike fans, and builds meaningful relationships between the brand and its customers. Nike adopted a range of digital exercises such as a strong emphasis on storytelling, being an authentic brand, understanding and communication with customers on their terms, being extraordinary and shareable, and allowing complete customization.

Nike’s organizational Form reflects a conglomeration of resources, processes and people around the activities most critical to their target customers in terms of its Value Proposition. It decided therefore to concentrate in depth on the critical activities and competencies rather than increasing the breadth of its

Competition is very fierce due to the number of companies competing for sales. Lots of money goes to marketing and promotions using various channels to reach the young demographic group of consumers who spend the most money on Nike’s products. Growth is slowing down in the athletic footwear industry. But new markets are emerging with high growth rates. These markets include extreme sports market and the corporate merchandise market.

With the emergence of the latest fitness revolution, exercise and sports have transformed from recreation into a social indicator of prestige. The Nike organization believes that everyone is a potential athlete and the brand has come to represent success. Though the shoes may help one move better, its value proposition includes making one appear trendy and current. The company markets the sports-inspired lifestyle and further encourages this image through its marketing strategy and use of celebrity and professional athletes to endorse their products.

One of Nike’s main opportunities is product development. Developing their product range makes them more competitive and because products tend to go out of fashion quickly, Nike must introduce new products relatively fast because consumer demand the newest and latest products. Increase in internet shopping will no doubt reduce the cost and improve prices making them even more competitive.

Nike’s recent decline in market share and stock can be attributed to changing trends in consumer spending habits and apparel tastes. Nike can re-establish a competitive advantage in the short-run by implementing an innovative design team and brand ambassador. Long-run competitive advantage can be achieved by fully committing to a sustainable innovative business model or by incorporating innovative technology trends into their retail structure.

A comprehensive analysis, using market data and market research, allows us to assess all areas affecting Nike’s strategic direction:

Routine Problem Solving Nike's prominent and continuous advertising campaigns ensure that consumers in the youth market are aware of the brand, as greater awareness inevitably leads to greater sales. Once these sales are secures by consumers in the youth market their interest is maintained by further advertising, which leads to repeat purchase. 4.5 Variety