Just Do It

Nike Inc was born in 1962, a brainchild of Bill Bowerman & Phil Knight when they started a partnership originally titled ‘Blue Ribbon Sports.
Their aim was to sell low-cost high-quality Japanese athletic shoes to American consumers, today Nike not only manufactures athletic shoes at every marketable price point on the global market, but over 40% of their sales come from sportswear & equipment.
With over 20,000 global retailers, Nike factory stores, Nike stores, NikeTown, online retailers & their own online stores to sell their products, Nike dominates sales in the athletic wear industry with a 33% market share.
'Nike as a brand has always identified itself as the "athlete in you". This concept is reflected in every design, advertising, and decision made by the brand, which is reflected in their mission statement: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body you are an athlete.' (Hameide , K. (Hameide , 2011 p41.)

Store Layout

The design of the NikeTown store on Oxford Street utilizes a similar layout strategy to a department store or a mini mall to increase the probability of customer purchases.
Each sport is designated an area, in which the products are arranged by type & colour. This gives the illusion that they are a multiple of smaller stores inside one large store. This idea is also reinforced by the floor/wall plan & colour schemes.



Store Brands = Concept Mix (Merchandise + Price + Location + Service) + Experience (Atmosphere + Personality).


Market Segmentation

By organizing the store into sports, Nike generated additional markets for each of their consumers, which facilitates the consumer belief that they need clothing for each specific sport, which is predominantly a lie.
The fact is, that Nike running shirts serve the same purpose as tennis or yoga shirts. Their focus on merchandising & décor seduces the consumer into an imaginary set of buying choices.
Nike’s immediate consumers are mainly athletes, therefore an athlete is more inclined to buy a sports shoe designed by Nike than someone who generally doesn’t engage in regular sport or exercise . To target their consumers who are likely to develop brand & product intimacy; those that care primarily about utility & quality over price.

Advertising Strategies

The advertising strategies in the NikeTown store are more complex than the design tactics, using posters and videos of professional athletes in specific Nike merchandise.
Back in May 2010 Nike realsed a three minute ad for the world cup called ‘Write The Future’ directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu & created by Wieden & Kennedy features football superstars Wayne Rooney, Dider Drogba & Christiano Ronaldo.

‘According to web video analytics company Visible Measures “Write the Future” clocked a record 7.8 million online views in its debut week, underscoring the power of creating compelling digital content that consumers will voluntarily seek out and share with others.’

The “Write the Future” campaign reassures consumers of the facebook generation that Nike is a quality brand; this is effectively portrayed by sports figures such as Rooney appealing to consumers sense of belonging to the brand.




Micheal Jordan; The Superbrand

The signing of Micheal Jordan to Nike in 1984 to create a product line based purely around Jordan’s career building bridges & defining the relationship between corporate brands & sport stars is Nike’s most recognized marketing strategy, voted number one in the ‘Greatest Sports Marketing innovation of the last 50 years’ with 18% of the vote.
When AIR JORDAN was created, Nike even went as far to develop a silhouette of the player suspended in air, which would act as a logo alongside their original ‘swoosh’ logo.

Testimonials: A celebrity supporting a product in a way that confirms its quality & benefits can be effective and persuasive is an excellent form of publicity. (Hameide , K.)

In a survey by sports business reporter Darren Rowell back in 2008, it was noted that the performance of sales within the category of basketball shoes was on a decline by 30% .
“However, Top sellers (in basketball shoes) were ALL Jordan styles, led by the Retro 8 ($137), the Spiz'ike ($173), The Air Force 1/Jordan 12 hybrid ($144), the Melo M4 ($118), the Big Fund ($108) and the Collezione 13/10 combo pack ($307).”
The Jordan brand is worth an estimated $8000,000.




Interview

Darren: So in the beginning, it could have been adidas or Converse and not Nike?

MJ: The thing is I never wore Nike shoes until I signed the Nike contract. All through college, we wore Converse. And up to that point, my favorite shoe was an adidas. And at the time everybody was starting to recruit me, I was pro-adidas the whole time. Nike offered me the opportunity to have imput in designing the shoes I wanted to were. But I was very loyal. I went back to adidas and said, "Look, this is the Nike contract. If you come in and we're close, you know, I'll sign with you guys -- hands down. And they didn't feel like it was worth it, which in hindsight is perfect for me because it made my decision much easier.

Darren: About 10 years ago, the Jordan brand became its own subsidiary and you got your logo, the Jumpman. What did that do for you?

MJ: It gave me my own identity. Nike knew its brand was strong. They wanted to create a sub-brand that was just as strong. So now you got a two-headed monster going at that whole market. What we were able to do was capitalize on the high end of the business and we've been able to dominate the business in the everything over $100 space.
Darren: I get reports that say that the Jordan brand continues to dominate this premium shoe market. Why did people buy Air Jordans then and why do they buy them now?

MJ: I think initially it had a lot to do with my impact on the basketball court. And then that translated to everything off the court. But then it was the quality of the shoes that we were building. I mean, it always had a sense of style about it and it was totally different from what you see in the marketplace. And I think that has allowed us to transcend over time and one of the reasons why it has lasted for 23 years. One -- it's gotta be hip. Two -- it has to be done with the highest of quality and three, it represents the best in basketball and those are three things that we've earned.

Darren: Not many people know the story about the Jordan X. That's when you go to baseball and the designer you work with Tinker Hatfield basically thinks the franchise is over and he doesn't loop you in on the process because he thinks you probably have moved on. After production starts on it, he brings the shoe to you before it is to come out and he says what do you think?

MJ: I told him the shoe didn't pass because I wasn't looped in.

Darren: So Tinker actually then made a couple changes to the shoe at the last minute. You scared him.

MJ: I did. Because I felt like this is the first time something was going to hit the market that I didn't approve. And you know, everybody kept trying to talk me into saying, 'Hey, well, we learned from this. Let's move on.' I said, 'Let's go back.' Because I don't want something that misrepresents me in the market.

Websites:
Nike.com
Write The Future
Micheal Jordan for Nike