Final Marketing Plan
Varshith94
Nike.docx6
Nike, Inc.
Varshith Cherukuri
New England College
Prof – Dr. Bari Courts
CRN149 – Marketing Strategies
September 24, 2021
Nike, Inc.
In the current global market, companies have strived for excellence. However, few have become close to this excellence, and the only excellent ones have succeeded in various market areas such as consumer excellence, good promotional planning, product development, and sponsorship. Nike, Inc. is currently one of these organizations that have grown in these four areas. It was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman, and it was renamed Nike, Inc. in 1978 to become the world's number one athletic shoe and apparel seller. Its main officed based in Beaverton, Oregon, has benefited to position itself as the market leader in sportswear selling worldwide, going ahead of Anta, VF Corporation, Adidas, Reebok, and FILA.
Bhasin (2019) states that Nike, Inc., Adidas, and Reebok hold the top three positions globally in the best footwear ranking list space. Thus, these two companies are the main competitors of Nike and have established a distinctive world distribution network to connect with customers. For instance, Adidas has been operating in two ways: Adidas as a brand and a solid subsidiary in Reebok. Thus, this combination of operational strategies has helped Adidas build a strong brand portfolio to compete with Nike. Other competitors in this sportswear market are Puma, Fila, Converse, Under Armour, and Asics (Childs & Jin, 2018). These competitors are also focusing on apparel and deodorants to give Nike a tough fight.
However, despite this stiff competition, Nike, Inc. has collected worldwide revenue estimated to be $33 billion compared to Adidas' 13.67 billion. The company has a brand valuation of approximately $27 billion (Bose, 2018). A considerable percentage of this revenue gets generated from footwear sales because of a company's substantial marketing strategy plan linked to world football, athletics, and other sports like cricket.
As a sportswear brand globally, Nie, Inc. offers unique and quality products that are more attractive to the customers than its competitors' products. The firm has been attracting more customers by using its promotional mix or marketing mix in footwear, apparel, or sports accessories. It has examined the changes in the target customers in the athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment industry to promote its products via marketing communications. These promotion communications have involved world celebrities in representing the ideal customer of its products. Also, the firm's advertisements include famous personalities, such as professional athletes like Eliud Kipchoge (Bose, 2018). This celebrity is a Kenyan experienced long-distance runner who won the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathons.
The promotional mix that uses direct marketing in promoting new products to target markets is not commonly used by other companies. These unique fashion and athletic products get heavily advertised to convince the world that they are the best. However, the organization has made the work easier by relying on salespeople to approach specific sport-based institutions or individuals in target market areas. For instance, the company identifies and markets its products to sports groups in higher learning institutions. Therefore, this marketing communications mix using direct marketing has helped establish strong relations with target customers and motivate them to buy the products.
Nike's unique and differentiation success has primarily relied on its unique marketing and promotion strategies that attract target customers. Also, it has attracted customers with its unique, innovative processes such as cutting edge designs on footwear which has gained substantial public interest. Also, the sponsorship programs it provides have won the interests of world sport professionals and people in general. For instance, Nike has already sponsored more successful track and field athletes like Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Sebastian Coe than Adidas and Reebok.
Furthermore, Nike owns world brands such as Hurley, Converse, and Jordan. By providing a variety of products to many customers in more markets than any FILA and Adidas companies. Thus, through these various products, Nikes captures a far more outstanding market share than other competitors. Also, the quality of its products positions the firm ahead of its competitors. For instance, Nike shoe models are made from a lightweight, breathable combination of plastic, ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA foam), and mesh fabric (Nayak, 2017). As a result, the company ends up making high-quality and good-looking sportswear.
The gap to fill by providing redefined or new services or products is offering a shoe customization feature that meets customer's tastes and preferences. The company can make these customized shoes with unique features such as a herringbone pattern bought online and delivered to clients' doorstep (Standaert, 2021). By fulfilling this gap, Nike's customers will become satisfied with shoe comfort and remain loyal. The concept of filling this gap stems from every consumer's style specificities that are rare to find in the market. From the beginning, the company has always attracted its target clients with its innovative process and design, mainly through cutting-edge technology that makes sportswear fashionable and durable.
References
Bhasin, H. (2019, January 11). Top 10 Nike competitors. Marketing91. https://www.marketing91.com/top-10-nike-competitors/
Bose, M. S. (2018). Social Media Marketing in Fashion Brands in Nike. International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, ISSN, 2349-5162.
Childs, M., & Jin, B. (2018). Nike: An Innovation Journey. In Product Innovation in the Global Fashion Industry (pp. 79-111). Palgrave Pivot, New York.
Nayak, T. (2017). " Just Do It"@ Ad Campaign: The Case of Nike Inc. Globsyn Management Journal, 11.
Standaert, W. (2021). Product digitalization at Nike: The future is now. Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases, 2043886920963286.
