Is Nike wrong to try to leverage its American rebel image to build brand awareness in the global market for soccer footwear and apparel? What are the potential drawbacks of this approach?
Standardizing promotional activities has three big reasons. First, it has significant economic advantages. It lowers the cost because it can be spread over many countries. Second, one large effort to develop a campaign will produce better results than several smaller efforts. A third reason is that many brand names are global. A projection of a single brand image avoids confusion caused by local campaigns.
The two main arguments that indicate the drawbacks of this approach of global imaging are cultural differences and local laws. Not in every culture can be expected to be open for this kind of marketing. A negative image on the home country can contribute to a negative image of the brand. Also local laws and regulations can cause problems. Some part of the global marketing can not be done because countries have laws against using or saying certain things in the ads.
In the case of Nike it is my opinion that it is not wrong to try to leverage its American rebel image to build brand awareness. For that, there are three main reasons. One, differentiating from its competitors. Second, to build one image and third, the effort to gain the interest of the youth.
It is very important to differentiate from you competitors by a clear marketing strategy. Nike does this in one single act. Nike does not create different strategies that would imply more cost, less results and confusion in a globalizing world.
In addition, building one image is helping Nike effectively to differentiate from it competitors. Now the difficult question is whether Nike can use its rebel image. And I say: “Why not?” Despite the feeling of some people that it is ethically wrong, the rebels that Nike uses are still great players. Mr. Eric Cantona was indeed a difficult person, but he was such a great player that most people forgave him his stupidities. I for one do not remember Cantona as a bad man, I remember him to be a great soccer player.
The third is attracting the youth to your product with your image. It is not wrong to use idols for that. Again, Mr. Eric Cantona was and is a idol for a lot of European soccer fans.
Since its creation, Nike has proven itself as a popular brand and it has created niches by selling products such as footwear, apparels and various types of sports equipment. This paper will attempt to trace the product development of Nike shoes from its origins in conception and design to the manufacturing and production process located in contract factories in developing countries to advertising and marketing of Nike as a cultural commodity and finally, the retailing of the footwear around the world.
"Getting and spending" has eclipsed family, ethnicity, even religion as a defining matrix. That doesn't mean that those other defining systems have disappeared, but that an increasing number of young people around the world will give more of their loyalty to Nike than to creeds of blood, race, or belief. This is not entirely a bad thing, since a lust for upscale branding isn't likely to drive many people to war, but it is, to say the least, far from inspiring.
Nike’s sweatshop manufacturing practices which can be seen through media have shown people that this company goes under the good guys images, these images which are displayed in their commercials show people that their employees are treated well and their happy in their working environment.
Nike’s goal is to remain unique and different from others in terms of the items offered on the market. Arguably, Nike belongs to a monopolistically competitive market as there only a few organizations with the ability to regulate the amount charged for their product which means they cannot make their prices high as this is likely to make customers move on to other available choices (Nike, Inc., 2012). However, Nike can find a balance between the prices to charge for their products and remaining competitive with other companies in the industry. Nike has formed a distinction between the appearance and performance of their footwear and that of their competitors. Although products are differentiated from other companies, they still influence each other because they are items of the same
Many global companies like Nike, Inc. are seen as role models both in the market place as well as in society in large. That is why they are expected to act responsibly in their dealings with humanity and the natural world. Nike benefits from the global sourcing opportunities, therefore areas such as production and logistics have been outsourced to partner companies in low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As a result the company is limited nowadays to its core competencies of Design and Marketing.
It’s because when I sport the Nike swoosh, I feel as if I representing the Nike brand and the beautiful, driven, fit women I see in their advertisements. Feeling this way gives me the inspiration and confidence to play my best. I feel as if I identify with the women in the advertisements by wearing Nike. “The relationship between persons and the product remains one of the most crucial signifiers within advertisements. Persons in advertisements supply the consumer with a certain identification frame—whether the person is presented as a user or is presented within a lifestyle setting, the viewer is invited to identify him/herself with the presented person.” 202 Brand Culture. The Nike brand does a great job at doing this to their consumers to create brand loyalty. Nike brand users, just like myself, see the athletes using the brands and feel a certain connection to them. Brand loyalty should not only be a goal for brands because of the benefit of having their logo advertised on consumers who fit within their target market, but also for PRICE SOMETHING ECONOMY
Nike attempts to convey themselves as an ethical and loyal company within their print advertising, by contributing multiple factors to appeal to their customer base by using tactics such as sexual appeal and tugging at people’s hearts with emotion. While Nike does not appear to be unethical, some of the techniques they use are questionable to the media and the public. When it comes down to how Nike evaluates their print advertising, they should think more so about who is endorsing their products and showing a value in character and overall community leader, then how athletic the athlete is to the public. Nike is not an unethically advertiser, but a questionable judge of character with the athletes they plan to endorse their products.
Nike’s Asian operations had previously continued to soar generating US$300 million in 1994 in revenues to a whopping US$1.2 billion in 1997. However based on the Asian economic crisis, this had adversely affected revenues, while regional layoffs were inevitable. Nike also performed well in the European market generating about US$2 billion in sales and a good growth momentum was expected, however, some parts of Europe were only slowly recovering from an economic downturn. In the Americas (Canada and the U.S.A.), Nike experienced a growth rate for several quarters. The U.S. alone generated approximately US$5 billion in sales. The Latin American market at this point was exposed to economic volatility; however Nike still saw them as a market with “great potential for the future”.
From their marketing strategies to their selling philosophies, Nike has developed one of the most recognizable and demanded name and logo tandems ever created.
But what makes people buy the name brand Nike? They have great advertisement. I love to watch Nike commercials; they appeal to me as an athlete. The commercials show the inner fight in people, breaking records, becoming a stronger person, being the best you, and being the best athlete; you can be overcoming anything. I find their advertisement to be very inspiring and motivational. The Nike slogan ‘Just Do It’ plastered on so many products inspire others to get out and ‘Just Do It,' no hesitation. Nike tries to appeal to you to buy their products by placing their apparel on professional athletic. Everyone knows Lebron James he has many young athletes that look up to him and want to be just like him. What do they see Lebron James wearing? Nike apparel, for the kids that want to be just like him, they want what he has. So they want the Nike look. For me personally, I see Nike products and logos at just about all sporting events, which is a great strategy for the business.
In my point of view, the most unethical Nike’s decision is not to take the responsibility to ensure at least minimum and humane standards that it should offer to its work force. For example, in Vietnam, Nike paid its workers less than the cost of three meals of rice and vegetables and tofu. It treated workers no better than in sweatshops with only two drinks of water and one bathroom break in an eight hour shift. Also Nike let its contractors in developing countries to use child labor under sub-standard conditions. On the other hand, the least unethical Nike’s decision is to have a TV commercial featured a Manchester United player explaining how spitting at a fan and insulting a coach won him a Nike contract.
This is the best way by which Nike has used to convey its significance, because the target audience appreciates and relates to their idols. Nike uses inspirational stories that are related to sports and fitness to build its communication. They use pictures or verbally transmitted to deliver their story. Nike main aim is to broadcast as excitement and affection. For this sometimes Nike provides advertisements that are related to emotion that will reach the target audience. Nike use to print advertisement which performs the individualism of women, which helps them to convey
The developmental stages of a successful campaign help to establish the product in the audience’s mind or consciousness. The stages of the Nike campaign can be described by using the Yale Five-Stage Developmental Model. Yale researchers developed this model while observing the growth of national identity. The first stage of this model is identification. Our text states that “Many products and causes develop a graphic symbol or logotype to create identification in the audience’s mind” (p. 264, Larson). The logo Nike is most famous for is “The Swoosh.” This is the term given to the symbol of winged victory that appears on Nike products. “The design of the swoosh logo was inspired by the wing from the Greek goddess Nike” (p. 3, http://shrike.depaul.edu /~mcoscino/word.html). The Nike logo’s presence can be noted in almost every aspect of the athletic world.
Nike is the number one innovator in the world in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories. This worldwide company operates in an extremely different organizational structure than other companies, such as Reebok and Adidas. Nike operates tremendous marketing strategies and develops inventive designs to inspire athletes around the world. This company is one of the largest suppliers in the world in athletic footwear and apparel, main producer of sports equipment, and making Nike the most valuable brand among sports companies. The task for Nike is to join diversity and inclusion to encourage ideas and innovation. Around the world, this company is a popular brand.
NIKE, usa rostros de deportistas exitosos como publicidad, les proporciona implementos deportivos y cada logro de ellos, es un logro de NIKE. Mientras mas gente los vea y se identifique con estos deportistas de elite en distintas disciplinas, mas se incentiva al consumidor común y corriente a verse reflejado en aquel deportista, como un tema aspiracional, como un tema de reconocimiento y autorrealización, otra ves tocamos con ambos niveles de jerarquía de las necesidades de las personas, la estrategia de NIKE esta muy bien ejecutada, llevando a que la carrera del deportista sea junto a NIKE y como NIKE lo ayuda, le entrega respaldo, yo también con NIKE tendré el respaldo de calidad, buenos implementos y facilidades para desarrollar mi deporte y mis metas deportivas, sea correr solamente o participar en las maratones que también forman otra parte esencial de la estrategia de comunicación.