Nike Corporation as a Providing Athletic Shoe Industry

INTRODUCTION - Nike is a vastly influential corporation that may be monopolizing the athletic shoe industry. We have gathered information concerning the marketing strategies of Nike and some of the problems it and other shoe companies are facing. The market of athletic footwear has grown immensely in the past three decades, with many factors affecting the demand of the market. Nike has marketed and produced its way to the top of the industry and looks to continue to lead through the 1990s. And JUST DO IT is an every day saying to many Americans.PROMOTIONAL MIX - Among the other mediums Nike uses to disseminate its promotional mix are film (Space Jam, based on the Nike ad featuring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny, was the first movie ever inspired by a TV commercial) this is ADVERTISING.

The Internet (www.nike.com and @lanta, the company s Olympic site) help Nike eliminate another filter that can dilute marketing communications. The telephone, Nike print ads feature only a photo of the shoe and an toll-free 800 phone number consumers can call to listen to a message from a Nike sponsored who wears the shoe in actual competition; and promotional items such as key chains, dog tags, pencils, and pads (PUBLIC RELATIONS and DIRECT MARKETING). When Nike was started, it was clearly understood the affect opinion leaders had on public opinion. It was promoted with reasoning like getting its shoes on the most dominant and charismatic runners. Today, Nike s stable of athletes is not only broader, but much deeper than its competitor s and the company uses those athletes, more than anything else, to spread its message. Hero worship has always been useful for exploitation and a quick method of gaining audience cooperation (SALES PROMOTION).MESSAGE - Nike s begins with its name, which means the Greek Goddess of Victory.

However, as anyone who has watched TV, seen a billboard while driving, attended a sporting event, read the sports page, flipped through a magazine, been to the movies, surfed the Internet, or spent time at the mall knows, Nike does not end there. To ensure its messages are seen, heard, experienced, and remembered, it is estimated that Nike will spend $800 million in marketing in 1997. The more people are exposed to an idea, the more they are apt to accept it.Nike messages attempt to appeal to emotions such as pride, sense of adventure, and competitive spirit, which is consistent with its ideology. Nike advertising has defined the meaning of the cool for millions of teenagers across the United States. They create a mood, an attitude, and then associate the product with that mood. Call it image transfer. Cool ads, cool product. Its television ads, in particular, are both praised and criticized for their use of graphic language and image. Part of the genius of Nike s brand image consistency is that the ads come from an intuitive truth about the nature of sport.Today, Nike is using architecture as a monolithic marketing facility.

The company s nine NikeTowns, most several stories high and some as large as 85,000 square-feet, 92. Every design element in the stores is athletically designed down to the handles on the dressing described as behemoth and as a very entertaining shrine. No matter where you glance there s the ubiquitous Nike swoosh. NikeTowns provide the company with another vehicle to spread its ideas. The retail shrines help make Nike s message easy to understand and enticing as well. Our stores are here to get the message out about NIKE.PUBLIC RELATIONS - The company s primary public relations initiative, participate in the Lives of American Youth (P.L.A.Y.), while designing to promote fitness, athletics, and active lifestyles among children, in the long-term, benefits Nike.

The company has enjoyed a great deal of positive press from the P.L.A.Y. campaign and, more importantly, has in all likelihood, generated millions of dollars in sales of its merchandise to children who need shoes, caps, shirts, etc., to participate in sports and fitness. Nike s theme must be repeated until it s learned by the audience, then repeated to reinforce to learning. The repetition of simple messages, images, and slogans can create our knowledge of the world, defining what is truth and specifying how we should live our lives. Put more simply, if we want to register an impression, we must use repetition. Nike not only uses all available media to transmit its messages; the company spends millions of dollars to repeat its messages again and again. Nike has worked to transform itself from a brand of sneakers to a marquee integral to the sports culture it targets.

SALES PROMOTIONS - Through its sponsorships of athletes, teams, and leagues, Nike has presence at virtually every professional and amateur sporting event in the U.S., whether football, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, wrestling, or volleyball. But the company s presence extends beyond the playing courts and fields. Pick up the sports page of any major daily newspaper or sports periodical and the Nike swoosh is visible in game photos. For instance, the cover of the December 9, 1996, issue of Sports Illustrated, arguably the world s premier sports magazine with a paid circulation of 3.2 million, features at least five clearly visible Nike swoosh logos.

As another example, in a recent issue of a 90-page pro football magazine, I counted 59 easily identifiable swooshes in editorial pages, not advertisements. The swoosh was literally everywhere: Player s shoes, socks, jerseys, pants, wristbands, and gloves. Nike spokespeople use carefully crafted statements that further the Nike ideology. For example, one Nike spokeswoman explained Nike s reason for not officially sponsoring the 1996 Olympics by saying, We don t rent an event two years. We stand behind our athletes 365 days a year. It is the effect on message credibility of it appearing to emanate from a prestigious or authoritative source. By purchasing Nike products, many feel that they are just like that particular ballplayer and a part of the attractive in-group. We enhance our own egos, as we become just like our favorite celebrity. As consumers see Nike athletes in action during a game or a guidelines for their own behavior.

For instance, a NikeTown customer says, If they re good enough for (top-rated tennis pro) Pete Sampras, they re good enough for me. This behavior confirms the theory that when linked to opinion leaders such as pro athletes, appeals to the anticipatory aspirations of the group.MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES AND SELLING TECHNIQUES - Now on the top, Nike has made incredible use of the media, an innumerable amount of great athletes, and the consumer to push their products into nearly every American home in some fashion. Nike s SWOOSH symbol was found on the shirts and hats of Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras at the last U.S. Open. And, as Americans continue to strive for excellence in the areas of fitness and health, Nike looks to be a leader in thus surge. For example, at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Nike erected giant wall murals featuring Nike-sponsored athletes near the Los Angeles Coliseum. And in sporting goods and department stores all over the world, retailers drape Nike banners and posters from their ceilings and walls. In 1996, the Nike logo was more recognized and converted by consumers than other sports brand and arguably and brand. As previously discussed, Nike maintains its association with sport and sporting events via sponsorship of major professional and amateur athletes and teams. But the company s logo is not only on players who are on the field; it is on visual media around the fields and stadiums, as well.

During the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, for example, the famous swoosh logo was seen everywhere. The city was inundated with the Nike swoosh logo. It s on billboards, on a specially constructed Nike building overlooking Olympic Park, and also on the hearts and soles of thousands of Olympic competitors. In addition, Nike s new Sports & Entertainment division is charged with coming up with events that create experiences that tangibly communicate the brand s values and U.S. mystique to overseas consumers who are embracing its swoosh symbol. Nike s most pervasive technique, however, may be slapping its familiar swoosh logo on everything from sunglasses to soccer balls. Today, the Nike logo is on swim goggles and swimsuits; golf, weightlifting, and batting gloves; hockey sticks and skates; footballs and basketballs; NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLS jerseys and apparel; snowboards; and of course, every shape, size, and color of short, shirt, and cap.