Nike Brand Experience

This blog post will discuss the interactive shopping experience Nike customers receive and evaluate how this builds a relationship with the brand.

“Nike is enabling and inspiring athletes to be the best they can be by offering premium services and experiences at this unique digitally enabled sporting clubhouse." Gino Fisanotti, Marketing Director Nike UK & Ireland

Nike+ FuelStation store opened in London’s Clapham Common park in 2012. The brand has chosen this placement of the store to come direct to the target market. Clapham Common is one of London’s top sporting areas therefore a large amount of these will be potential Nike customers and could persuade London’s athletes to change their sportswear brand. The placement of this store is unique and innovative, which again backs up the brands values.

Inside the store, Nike promises this to be the retail experience of the future. It tries to bring the digital and physical worlds together to create a new experience for consumers by inspiring them throughout their shopping experience. This store does not have a large stock of products; it is more about advising the customer of the products and their capabilities while creating a memorable experience. 

When you walk in, you step through the door a camera tracks your movement, turning the red interactive wall green as you move past it along a long corridor. Nike has said this feature is at the entrance to make the customer feel involved as soon as they enter the store and to show movement, a large part of their branding as discussed in previous post. This impresses the customer as soon as they enter the store and makes the shopping experience more personal.

The store’s next feature is the Nike Fuel pod. This area is designed to let you record yourself moving and having fun. The Kinect tracks your movements, creates a silhouette made of pixels on the wall in front of you and goes from red to green based on the amount of movement. At the end, if you give Nike your email address, you get an email with your 30-second clip and you can share, embed, or just watch your efforts. Again, this is reinforcing the interaction with the customer and making them feel involved. Both features in the store do not relate to any products but are the main two features the customer is involved in when entering the store making them feel connected to the brand. Being able to share your video online helps Nike promote the store and brand through the customers. Usually when a customer shares a shopping experience online it is usually negative feedback which will give the company a bad reputation and may turn potential customers away. Nike have created something fun and positive to share online which still reinforces the brand values of inspiring athletes.

The store also provides information about the products in a digital way. There are iPads on the walls and all staff members carry an iPad where everyone can access the online catalogue of products, show how the products are made and why they are made the way they are to be the most beneficial. This is known as omni-channel marketing, providing a seamless customer experience through all available channels (Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin, 2016). Not only can they tell you about products, Nike have Nike+ Run Club set up in cities all around the world. This provides a free running club with advice on the best routes in the city, also a Nike running community, both offline and online. 

Another part of customer interaction is a separate area of the store where they have a treadmill set up with cameras and different technology to track how you run to send information to the staff’s iPad which can help them choose the correct type of footwear. This allows them to match your running style to the type of running shoe you should be wearing to maximize performance. This is an innovative way to involve the customer and strengthen the brand’s story and values. As previously mentioned, Nike cofounder Bill Bowerman started by customizing the running shoes for his students and as a company Nike continue to give this option to customers today but in a more modern and digital way that many other sportswear brands may not offer. 

In conclusion, Nike have stayed consistent with their values and message to potential customers and they have stayed true to their mission statement. Nike are keeping their reputation of a victorious, innovative, successful, high quality brand and the brand continues to build a stronger presence in the fitness industry by thinking of new ways to keep improving sportswear and inspiring athletes around the world. 

References

Ferrell, O.C., Dibb, S. and Simkin, L. (2016) Marketing: Concepts and strategies. London, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Frearson, A. (2012) NikeFuel station at Boxpark. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2012/03/12/nike-fuelstation-at-boxpark/ (Accessed: 23 November 2016).

Pocket-lint and Miles, S. (2012) Nike fuel station: The future of retail? Available at: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/114698-nike-fuel-station-shoreditch-high-street (Accessed: 23 November 2016).

Nike "Find Your Greatness" Campaign 2012

This section of the Nike blog deals with the promotion aspect of the marketing mix, considering the brands marketing strategy during the London 2012 Olympics. 

Nike focus on emotional branding in their advertising. The basics of their advertisements are usually the story of the underdog becoming the hero. Usually showing someone’s humble origins and how they fight their own demons and struggles to be successful and become the hero. Nike advertise in this way to make a form of non-personal communication seem more personal and make the customer believe the brand understands the thoughts and feelings ordinary people have every day when considering their exercise regime. This can be highlighted in Nike’s Find Your Greatness campaign during the 2012 London Olympics shown below where they focus on selling a type of beneficial lifestyle rather than a specific product. It also supports their mission statement of inspiring every person with a body to become a great athlete. The aim of this promotion was to increase brand awareness through positive promotional activity.

“Greatness is no more unique to us than breathing. We are all capable of it. All of us.” 
- Tom Hardy, in Nike's "Find Your Greatness" ad

‘The Jogger’ advert was Nike’s most successful advert during this campaign. An advertising campaign involves designing a series of advertisements and placing them in various advertising media to reach a particular target audience (Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin, 2016). This advert was spread through social media and online first, where Nike have the opportunity to reach an extremely large audience worldwide. It was first featured on YouTube home page and then shown on through the more conventional method of advertising, TV advertising. Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin (2016) states that the internet is becoming an increasingly large part of the promotional mix as it can be interactive, updated or modified quickly and can target a specific group of people therefore digital marketing is becoming more popular due to its efficiency in marketing. This advert was then shown in 25 different countries and has become one of Nike’s most iconic adverts. The advert features an overweight young boy on an empty road running early in the morning. It is very simplistic but the commentary by Tom Hardy triggers an empathetic response from it's viewers. We can all relate to this young boy’s desire and determination to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle. This creates a positive brand attitude and develops the consumers view of the brand, making them more likely to purchase their products as they will connect the Nike products with the positive, uplifting message from their advert.  

Although Adidas was chosen to be the global sponsor for the London Olympics 2012, Nike’s campaign featured young relatable kids striving to reach their goals and personal best and strengthened Nike’s values that everyone can be a successful athlete. This separated Nike from Adidas advertising strategy of using professional athletes using Adidas products. Even though Adidas would have had more publicity through the sponsorship, Nike's clever emotional advertising campaign was more memorable even though the frequency and reach of their adverts may be smaller than their competitor's. 

Nike have used institutional advertising, which Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin define as a type of advertising that promotes organisational ideas or political issues. In this ad campaign Nike would be promoting their ideas on personal goals and fitness while also addressing the growing issue of obesity. Their target market for this campaign seems to be mainly at kids as their adverts featured kids practicing sports however this may inspire parents or adults by provoking an emotional response of what they could have achieved if they were as determined to "find their greatness". 

“A powerful message to inspire anyone who wants to achieve their own moment of greatness in sport, launched just as the world focuses on the best of the best.” Nike Official Website

With a successful advertising campaign for the brand evaluated, the next blog post will go on to analyse the consumers experience and relationship with the brand.

References

Ferrell, O.C., Dibb, S. and Simkin, L. (2016) Marketing: Concepts and strategies. London, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Nike Brand Identity & Brand Image

A brand is represented by its name, logo and slogan which can help the consumer recognise the brand instantly. In the previous blog post Nike's slogan "Just Do It" was discussed in relation to the brand values. Now Nike's name, logo and packaging will be considered and by using Kapferer’s brand identity prism analyse how Nike built a strong brand image for consumers. 

The name Nike comes from Greek goddess of victory and their logo known as the Nike “swoosh” is two simple curved lines that are almost in the shape of wings. A marketer will employ a symbol along with its brand name to make the brand to make the brand distinctive and to communicate a certain image (Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin, 2016). Nike's symbol and meaning of their name has connotations of movement, speed and being victorious, attributes which every athlete would like associate with themselves. Nike’s branding is a solid black “swoosh” logo with the brand name in capital letters, also in solid black, which makes the consumer think of the products as professional, reliable, luxury products. The colour black is also associated with being strong and masterful, qualities which many athletes would like to achieve. Brand strength is a function of the product's attributes and functionality, it's differentiation, plus any demonstrable added value to the purchaser (Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin, 2016). Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin (2016) have used Nike as a brand example to highlight that the brand is seen as 'first mover', they have reputation for highly desirable products due to their brand being known for it's high end quality and performance, therefore provides the customer with this same reputation as the brand which is an added value to the purchaser making Nike a strong brand against competition. 

Although the brand has a large range of prices, this is to accommodate their large target market. As they target everyone, not just professional athletes they understand these customers need sportswear at a lower price than the professional athletes would pay but they still want good value for their money or they will go to their rivals. Prices are dependent on the type of shoe the consumer is purchasing and how much the consumer would like to personalise their footwear. Nike still provide good quality products at reasonable prices which attracts a wide target market and encourages brand loyalty. 

Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin (2016) states that packaging must support the brand's image and positioning to help customer's differentiate between competition brands products. Nike shoes come packaged in a simplistic, dull orange coloured shoe-box with the solid white Nike logo on the lid, consistent with the design of the logo and the stores. Nike have considered the effect of these shoe-boxes on the environment and the growing concern of consumers about cutting back on packaging waste therefore they re-engineered to use 30% less material than their 1995 shoe-box. This is said to save 200 trees annually, giving the brand a positive reputation in the media. Like a brand name, a package can influence customers' attitude towards a product and thus affect their purchase decisions (Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin, 2016). Nike use category-consistent packaging, which means the packaging of the product is associated with the type of product. All shoes are packaged in the rectangular, similar sized cardboard boxes, this is the usual practice for packaging shoes. Nike's packaging is instantly recognizable due to the graphic design on the outside of the box.

Kapferer’s brand identity prism enables brands to assess their strength and weakness using the six-sided prism to maximize customer satisfaction and loyalty. These aspects are physique, personality, culture, self-image, reflection and relationship. Brand identity is said to be a unique set of brand associations reflecting what a brand stands for and the intended promise to the customer as a relationship is forged (Aaker, 1996).

• Physique element of Nike is the solid black/white “swoosh”, this is recognizable worldwide without any text as their logo is currently as shown above. The dull orange colour is also a physical element of Nike, helping differentiate from rival brands. 

• Personality relates to human characteristics associated with the brand. In relation to the brand Nike, human characteristics include sportive, athletic, determined and strong. Ferrell, Dibb and Simkin state that the brand personality once developed, such emotive sentiments of 'bring the brand to life' making the brand desirable to target consumers and business customers.

• Culture is the organisations values and behaviours, Nike have American values and are sports and fitness based, innovative and challenging. 

• Self-image is how the consumer of the brand think of themselves when using the company’s products, Nike consumers will see themselves as professional, successful, strong athletes with high quality, personalised goods

• Reflection refers to the typical brand customer. In terms of reflection, Nike consumer base would be runners as the brand purpose was based on providing better running footwear to maximise their potential in this one sport. The actual target market for Nike is much larger with separate stores (e.g. women’s only stores in London, China and California) and social media accounts dedicated to a variety of sports (e.g. there are seventeen Instagram accounts; Nike, Nike Women, Nike London (UK account), Nike Sportswear, Nike Training, Nike Running, Nike Football, Nike Lab, Nike Skateboarding, Nike Basketball, Nike Golf, Nike Rio, Nike Baseball, Nike Young Athletes, US Nike Football, Nike NYC and Nike Court (tennis))

• Relationship signifies the relationship between the customers’ and the brand. I would say the relationship between Nike and their customers is a supportive, reassuring, confident relationship due to their community online and offline and the brand mission statement is to inspire and innovate their customers. Their advertising campaigns make you believe in your own strength and capabilities.

Nike have built up an incredible brand identity with a distinctive brand image which contributes to the success of the company and builds a loyal customer base. However in July 2012, Nike was not chosen to be the sponsors for a huge sports event, the London Olympics, and the next blog post will examine how Nike overcame this obstacle by creating an iconic advertising campaign to rival their competitors by reminding the world of Nike's mission and core values.  

References

Aaker, D. (1996) Building Strong Brands, New York: Free Press

Ferrell, O.C., Dibb, S. and Simkin, L. (2016) Marketing: Concepts and strategies. London, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Market, C. and crtvmrkt (2016) The $35 Nike logo and the woman who designed it. Available at: https://creativemarket.com/blog/the-35-nike-logo-and-the-woman-who-designed-it (Accessed: 21 November 2016).