Business Strategy

Brand development strategy: A case study of Nike

Introduction

Brand development strategy is one of the innovative ways to establish the brand in the market and attract audiences across the international markets where it is possible for the company to strengthen their customer’s base (Roll, 2015). In the recent years, marketing communication as well as branding strategy of the company are beneficial for all the multinational corporate firms to improve brand image and identity in the market so that the customers can identify the brand in the market (Keller, 2015). The aim of the paper is to identify the branding strategy and marketing communication tactics of the organisation and understand brand portfolio of the company so that it is easy to recommend some suitable suggestions for further expansion of the brand where the objective of the company can be fulfilled successfully. This study focuses at branding strategy of the company Nike as well as the tactics of Nike through which it tries to expand their brand cross the international nations. This paper also provides a scope to suggest some recommendations for improving branding strategy of the company Nike through which it can establish the brand and imporve brand reputation across the globe.

Background of the organisation

Nike, Inc. is and American multinational corporation that is famous for its development, design, manufacturing and sales of footwear, equipment, accessories, apparel and service for the customers across the world. it is the world’s largest suppliers of the athletic shoes and apparel for which bran d reputation is enhancing year to year. the company serve across the globe and the products of the organisation are athletic footwear and apparel, sports equipment and athletic and recreation products (Nike, 2018).

The revenue of the organisation in the last year was $34.35 billion in 2017 and net income of the company in 2017 was approximately $ 4.24 billion where the brand is successful in retaining the customers and enhance their performance in the market (Nike, 2018). Total numbers of employees in Nike in the recent years is approximately 74400 where the staff members are also skilled to serve the customers with quality products and efficient services (Nike, 2018).

The mission of the company is to drive the people to do everything possible to expand human potential. the brand focuses on ground breaking sport innovations, manufacturing sustainable products, building creative and diverse global team by making positive impacts in the soil communities. The mission and statement are considering as inspiring for the people mainly for the individuals who are athletes or engaged with sports (Nike, 2018). Quality of the products as well as the innovative design and comfortable products are the main success factors of the brand in retaining the customers across the globe through which the company becomes successful. Nike Inc. includes Nike, Hurley, Converse and Jordan brands where the conglomerate is successful in serving the customers and inspiring the people across the world (Nike, 2018).

Branding strategy

Excellent business depends on the branding strategy of the company and in this regard the company Nike is known for the best athlete’s product across the globe with large market share as compared to Adidas and Puma. The brand was founded in the year of 1964 and it depends in the product quality and innovative design for its growth and success. the company focuses on emotional branding and the slogan “Just Do It” is effective to inspire the athletes across the globe which further influences the athletes to improve engagement with the brand Nike and make effective purchase decision for the quality products of the company. emotional benefit of the customers as well as brand logo through extensive marketing investment are helpful for successful branding of Nike. Nike manly focuses on the quality of the products as well as creating innovative products that help the athletes to perform better and in this regard the organisation focuses at technological innovation and creativity in design so that the comfort level of the customers during performing sports can be maximised. The advertisement for emotional branding of the company further helps to improve customers loyalty which is effective for improving engagement with the customers (Burgelman, 2017). Creating compelling tagline for the past years resonates with about everyone. It connects the individuals across the world allowing everyone to come up with their inspirational activities and innovative products. it further helps to create relationship between the brand and the individuals mainly the athletes.

Additionally, empowering the target audiences especially the women for improving connection with the audiences in the market (Krisnawati et al., 2016). The company aims at building strong relationship with the customers through delivering the best quality products and efficient services to the consumers so that it is easy to retain more individuals and inspire the athletes successfully. In additional to these, social media is one of the effective platforms for successful branding of the company Nike where it is possible for the brand to provide proper information and connect with the audiences across the international markets. In this regard, hashtags and theme is another inspiring way to motivate the athletes where #Just Do It and #Nike Women are effective program through which it is easy to inspire the social communities and improve engagement with the individuals across the world. the organisation Nike optimises and dominates social media by creating a sense of community and connection with its fans.

As per the above figure, it can be seen that, the company Nike has the highest followers in the social media as compared to other competitors Adidas and New Balance. the company is successful for its branding strategy through social media post where all the individuals including athletes are engaged through social media. Creating amazing content as well as empowering the customers through social media for developing two-way communication between the brand and the audiences (Pratap, 2017). Brand value of Nike includes innovation, creativity, determination and perseverance where the company focuses at inspiring the whole world through encouraging the athletes with innovation and creativity. Continuous innovative actions and creativity in their organisational products are also the successful branding strategy through which the company Nike is successful in expanding their business across the globe by improving engagement with the individuals in the social communities mainly the athletes.

As per the above figure, it can be seen that, the company Nike has the highest followers in the social media as compared to other competitors Adidas and New Balance. the company is successful for its branding strategy through social media post where all the individuals including athletes are engaged through social media. Creating amazing content as well as empowering the customers through social media for developing two-way communication between the brand and the audiences (Pratap, 2017). Brand value of Nike includes innovation, creativity, determination and perseverance where the company focuses at inspiring the whole world through encouraging the athletes with innovation and creativity. Continuous innovative actions and creativity in their organisational products are also the successful branding strategy through which the company Nike is successful in expanding their business across the globe by improving engagement with the individuals in the social communities mainly the athletes.

Apart from the taglines. the company also focuses at the social campaign for inspiring different social communities and motivate the athletes to perform better. ‘Dream Crazy’ 2018 is one of the innovative campaigns for inspiring the athletes to fulfil their dream by performing better. Moreover, there are other social campaign such as ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’ (UK, 2018), ‘Want It All’ (2017), ‘Voices’ (2012) and also ‘Just Do It’ (1998). Nike also focuses at cobranding with various sports such as Nike and Olympics, Nike and FIFA, NFL and Nike as well as NBA and Nike are effective and provides a scope to the organisation for successful branding where brand reputation and identity are maximised through various sports (Nike, 2018). Hereby, the company mainly aim at branding strategy of digital marketing, sports sponsorship, improving customer relationship management and emotional branding (Keller, 2017).

In order to have successful branding, the company utilises social media as well as point of sale, celebrity endorsement, television advertisement for creating media relation. In this context, celebrity endorsement is also another strategy of Nike for effective branding where Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo and Maria Sharapova are efficient to endorse the brand across the globe (Nike, 2018). The kids as well as the athletes follow the sporting heroes and they seek to wear clothing and shoes of their role models and celebrity endorsement is therefore on of the best strategic planning for successful branding of the company Nike. Innovative and stylish products further attract the audiences where the products of Nike further inspire the customers and improve their level of confidence during their performance (Leary, 2017). Hereby, the products quality and innovative design are also effective for branding of Nike. These are the major strategies of Nike for their branding where the brand is successful in strengthening their customer’s base by creating consumer loyalty and inspiring the individuals across the social communities.

Marketing communication strategy

The above-mentioned branding strategic planning are beneficial for the company Nike for marketing communication where the company is efficient to build strong relationship with the customers through two-way communication where brand loyalty and identify are maximised. The integration of marketing communication can be posisbel for Nike through social media involvement, digital media marketing strategy as well as customers involvement where the company becomes famous in the sport world for their inspiration to the athletes. The Brading strategy further strengthen the company’s reputation in the market where Nike is efficient to retain more audiences and attract them with their continuous innovation and creativity where the company tries to deliver high quality and creative designed shoes and sport apparels to the individuals across different social communication over the world. The communication strategy is beneficial for the organisation as it provides an opportunity to the brand to make effective branding and build strong connection with the individual across the globe. Moreover, the banding strategies are also helpful for Nike to improve brand identity and brand image in the social communities where the people preferences for the organisational products and services is higher.

Marketing communication tactics of Nike is effective for the brand where the company is successful in retaining more clients and followers for their quality products. Website of Nike is effective to share effective information online and manage the online stores. Social media is another platform where Nike focuses at branding and enhance the numbers of followers through digital marketing. sharing videos in YouTube and social media posts on Facebook, Twitter as well as photos in Instagram are beneficial for the company where it is successful to strengthen their customer’s base through ensuring customer loyalty and engagement (Islam, 2017). In addition to these, higher profitability volume and increasing interest and brand preferences for Nike among the customers are also the benefits of using effective branding strategy. bran reputation and loyalty are also increased across the overseas where the individuals prefer the products and services of Nike which is the great success factors of the brand.

Sustaining strategy of the brand

In order to sustain in the business, the outlook of the brand Nike is to create sustainable business so that it is easy for them to run the operational activities sustainably and secure further development in near future without any harm. In this regard, the company tries to create clean and safe environment where the individuals can stay safe. Moreover, investment for sustainable manufacturing and innovation are also beneficial for the brand to inspire the athletes across the overseas (Pride, 2018). The social campaign program as well as the empowering the customers in the business are also the outlook of the brand where Nike can engage with the customers and build strong relationship and trust among the consumers. Protecting playing field and respecting human rights are also some innovation of Nike through which they try to make their business sustainable. The outlook of the company is to enhance sustainable innovation so that the business can maintain sustainability as well as ensure innovation and creativity.

Brand portfolio

Brand portfolio refers the collection of brands under the control of the company where the company operates in the market through the underlying brands in order to sustain in the business and attract the audiences with innovative products and creative services.

Under the brand portfolio of Nike, there are Cole Haan, Converse, Hurley, Nike Golf and Umbro. Ltd. through which the company is successful in managing their market position and market share across the globe where quality products and services of the company provides a scope to strengthen their customers base by improving engagement with the customers.

Through the brand portfolio management, the company tries to deliver the products like footwear, sports apparels, equipment, national team gear and club gear which are beneficial to inspire the individuals mainly the athletes and, in this regard, Nike is successful in motivating the athletes to perform better and achieve success.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned branding strategy as well as communication practice of Nike are beneficial for the brand to establish the company in the market and improve brand reputation and identity over the overseas. Digital marketing strategy, tagline of the company Nike and social campaigning are the main success factors of branding Nike across the world where the company aims at building strong relationship with the customers as well as creating trust md loyalty among the consumers. The communication planning through branding Nike is also possible where the company enhances their profitability and sales volume year to year. there are positive impacts of such branding strategic planning such as the company is successful in increasing the numbers of followers as well as retaining more audiences across the international markets through which Nike tries to engage with the customers. Apart from that, the company tries to utilise social media such as Facebook, Twitter Instagram and YouTube in order to provide and share information regarding the brand portfolio and product line where they try to retain more individuals mainly the athletes in order to inspire them and encourage them to achieve their aims by performing efficiently. Proper inspiration, quality products and efficient services as well a sustainable innovation and creative design of the products mainly attract the individuals in different social communities across the overseas where Nike is a successful brand with strong customer base ad fan followers.

Recommendations

In order to imporve branding and increase brand visibility in the market, Nike needs to focus more on social campaign by arranging different programs which are useful to inspire the athletes in different countries. Moreover, the organisation needs to improve two-way communication through empowering the customers and gather their feedback about the products and services delivered by Nike. Through developing personal relationship with the individuals as well as word of mouth, the company can expand their business across the overseas and strengthen their customers’ base by ensuring high communication. Hereby, branding strategy is useful for the brand Nike to sustain in the business and fulfil the aim of the company which is to inspire the individuals mainly the athletes with sustainable innovation and creativity in their products line and services which can meet the customer’s expectations in near future. The above-mentioned recommendations will help the company to increase brand visibility and encourage the individuals for preferring the quality products of Nike which will inspire the athletes to perform better and achieve their aims efficiently.

Reference List

  • Burgelman, R.A., 2017. 9. Complex strategic integration at Nike: Strategy process and strategy-as-practice. Handbook of Middle Management Strategy Process Research, p.197.
  • Islam, Z., 2017. Nike’s Brilliant Marketing Strategy – Why You Should Be (Just) Doing it Too.
  • [online] Available at: https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/nike-marketing-strategy/ [Accessed 17th November 2018]
  • Keller, C. R., 2017. How Nike become successful and the leader in the sports product market. [online] Available at: https://profitworks.ca/blog/marketing-strategy/545-nike-strategy-how-nike-became-successful-and-the-leader-in-the-sports-product-market.html [Accessed 17th November 2018]
  • Keller, K.L., 2015. Brand development processes and planning. The future of branding, pp.149-176.
  • Krisnawati, N., Sule, E.T., Febrian, E. and Hassan, M., 2016. DO THE BRAND IMAGE AND CUSTOMER LOYALTY DETERMINE THE COMPETITIVE STRATEGY OF CHAIN HOTELS. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 15.
  • Leary, K. O., 2017. The Successful Marketing & Branding Strategies behind Nike’s Evolution. [online] Available at: http://bxtvisuals.com/the-marketing-branding-strategies-nikes-success/ [Accessed 17th November 2018]
  • Nike, 2018. About Us. [online] Available at: https://about.nike.com/ [Accessed 17th November 2018]
  • Pratap, A., 2017. Marketing strategy of Nike. [online] Available at: https://www.cheshnotes.com/nike-marketing-strategy/ [Accessed 17th November 2018]
  • Pride, A., 2018. What can you learn from Nike branding strategy. [online] Available at: https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/nike-branding-strategy/ [Accessed 17th November 2018]
  • Roll, M., 2015. Asian brand strategy. In Asian Brand Strategy (Revised and Updated) (pp. 107-140). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
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