Consider any product for which you are a very brand loyal user. What brand strategies would you recommend to the marketer of a competing product to convince you to try his brand? Explain why you believe such a strategy would be successful.
I'm a very loyal user of Nike products. Nike's distinctive brand strategies are found in the area of marketing, specifically in consumer brand awareness and brand power. To be able to know how to compete with Nike effectively, it is important to delve into the different strategies Nike imposed that make them unique. For one, catch phrases like, "Just Do It," and symbols like the Nike "Swoosh," are reminders of the Nike empire.
This brand strategy is effective because it could not be easily replicated and it offers value or benefit to consumers. Nike is becoming a part of American and world culture, the brand power becomes more difficult to replicate. The trademark and a slogan serves as the company's fingerprints. Nike is able to capitalize the unique identity because of its financial strength. Nike reaches millions of consumers through large-scale marketing campaigns. The public benefits from the strength of Nike's image when they make a purchase. Consumers often associate Nike image with quality products. By associating
star athletes and motivational slogans like, "Just Do It," consumers identify their purchases with the prospect of achieving greatness. This image they create forms a tactic
that competing companies can not easily duplicate by simply improving their products.
PRODUCT
Is the current product line appropriate? What changes should be made in how products are being handled?
Competitors should do what Nike does like sell a huge variety of products, including shoes for running, basketball, cross training, women and children. All of which are currently its top-selling product categories. They should also sell shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, football, bicycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheer leading, aquatic activities, auto racing and other athletic and recreational uses.
Competitors should also look into selling active sports apparel as well as athletic bags and accessory items. The competitor like Nike should sell a line of performance equipment under their brand name, such as sport balls, timepieces, eyewear, skates, bats and other equipment. They should also sell a line of dress and casual footwear and accessories for men, women and children just like Nike under the brand name Cole Haan. The company markets headwear under the brand name Sports Specialties, through Nike Team Sports, Inc. They also sell small amounts of various plastic products to other manufacturers through Nike IHM, Inc. They could also venture to manufacturing and distributing ice skates, skate blades, in-roller skates, protective gear, hockey sticks and hockey jerseys and accessories like Bauer Nike Hockey Inc. brand names.
Pricing strategies
Competitors should use vertical integration in pricing just like Nike wherein they own participants at differing channel levels or engage in more than one channel level operations. This is also an attempt to control costs and influence pricing practices.
PLACE
Distribution channels and policy. Should additional channels be added, why?
Nike sells its product to about 20,000 retail accounts in the U.S. and in approximately 110 countries around the world. Nike sells its products in international markets through independent distributors, licensees and subsidiaries. Independent distributors has little or no pressure for local adaptation because the 4Ps of marketing are managed by distributors.
PROMOTION
Are both advertising and promotion strategies in place? Succeeded?
Nike has been one of the top retail industries for quite along time. This is because they sell quality products, customer loyalty, but most of all, its great marketing techniques.
Nike has a number of famous athletes to create a great deal of attention to their products. Competitors should sign up the top athletes in many different sports like what Nike did with the Brazilian Soccer Team (especially Ronaldino, Renaldo, and Roberto Carlos), Lebron James and Jermane O'Neal for basketball, Lance Armstrong for cycling, and Tiger Woods for Golf.
Sponsoring of events is another great promotional strategy that should be adopted by Nike's competitors. It brings attention to their products. Web sites are a great promotional tool as they cover these events. Such events include Hoop It Up and The Golden West Invitational. Competitors should also personalize websites by making the websites exclusively for a sport such as what Nike did in nikebasketball.com
, nikefootball.com
, and nikegolf.com.
