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Nike: Maintaining a Promotional Edge
Nike’s initial product advertising strategy of using professional athletes for raising
demand through word-of-mouth provided good publicity. However, its selective-demand
advertising was mainly focused on high-priced shoes for traditional sports, and ignored
newly developed market segments such as aerobics and extreme sports, and new trends
such as brown shoes and casual footwear (Etzel, Walker, and Stanton).
Nike launched a successful advertising campaign around its “Just Do It” catch
phrase and “swoosh” logo. Nike increased its visibility through vertical cooperative
advertising; expanding its product line to include apparel, equipment, and accessories,
which led retailers to use the Nike brand to attract customers to their stores. Nike gained
a high level of publicity and increased its appeal to both men and women when it signed
famous athletes like Michael Jordan and Venus Williams (Etzel, Walker, and Stanton).
Further exposure was gained when Nike promoted its brand near major events,
giving the impression that it partly sponsored the events. It also increased its sales
promotion through the sponsorship of sporting events and collegiate teams. It gained
exposure in extreme sports through cooperative advertising when it partnered with a
skateboard manufacturer for the purpose of developing skate shoes (Etzel, Walker, and
Stanton).
Public relations were negatively affected by allegations of child labor in third-
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world factories. However, the subsequent negative publicity increased the exposure for
its online NIKEiD shoe personalization service. Nike is generating more selectivedeman ...