Nikes Just Do It Campaign - Dissertation Example

Nike’s Just Do It Campaign Introduction Nike’s ‘Just do it’ advertisement campaign is one of the most successful advertisement campaigns of all time. Nike became the company it is today because of its ‘Just do it’ campaign. From timing of the advertisement campaign to the market environment, everything went in favor of the company and played a role in the success of the company. The company got a huge boost in its sales after the launch of its famous campaign. Also, the success of the advertisement campaign is depicted from the fact that Nike is still using its famous advertisement campaign and tag line for marketing purposes. In this paper, Nike’s ‘Just do it’ campaign will be discussed in detail. A brief history of the campaign will be presented alongside with the target market that is being aimed in the campaign. The focus of this paper will be on the buying process. Brand positioning of Nike, nature of campaign, risk perception, and marketing mix element will also be discussed in the paper. Nike’s ‘Just do it’ Campaign Nike first came up with its brilliant advertisement campaign way back in the 1980s and since then the campaign has been a huge hit. The title of the ad campaign has now become the tag line for the company which is known all over the world. The campaign was initiated in 1988 and the company has since then continued on with this campaign. The campaign was titled ‘Just do it’ and sport stars were featured in the campaign. The advertisement campaign became such a huge hit that the company continued using this tag line in all of its future campaign. The company regularly comes up with advertisement using the same tagline and uses sports celebrities to market itself. This particular trend started way back in 1988 from the first “Just do it’ campaign of Nike. The positive effects of the ‘Just do it’ campaign were amazing. The company got a huge boost in its sales after the advertisement campaign went on air. The advertisement campaign still continues to attract customers all over the world. Sports celebrities from all over the globe feature in the Nike advertisements. They all inform consumers to just go ahead and buy Nike products. The message of the campaign was so strong that it led to a phenomenal sale increase from $877 million in 1988 to $9.2 billion in 1998 (CFAR, 2010). The financial returns from the advertisement campaign make the ‘Just do it’ campaign one of the most successful advertisement campaigns of all time. Target Market The main target market of the ‘Just do it’ campaign was young people. The company wanted to attract the youth all over the world and this is why the ‘Just do it’ tagline was used. The advertisement campaign over a long period of time employed sports celebrities that had a global appeal in its advertisements. This also shows that the company was mainly targeting the young population in the advertisement. Younger generation was shown spirited messages and advertisements in order to induce them to buy Nike products. The attention of Nike in the advertisement campaign was on young people. The ‘Just do it’ campaign was designed keeping in mind the sporting youths. The slogan ‘Just do it’ is individualistic in nature and appeals to individuals more than the collective group (Rubini, 2010). This is another evidence of the fact that Nike is targeting young people in its ‘Just do it’ advertisement campaigns. Nike launched its campaign at a time when it was losing its market share to other competitor firms like Rebook. The company used the fitness and jogging as a main theme in its ‘Just do it’ campaign and focused on younger generation (CFAR, 2010). This advertisement campaign not only increased the market share of Nike but also allowed Nike to capture the young people’s market. The Brand of Nike Nike built its brand around sports celebrities and popular sports stars using its ‘Just do it’ campaign. The company was so successful in attracting customers that it started to use it as a tagline for many decades. The brand of Nike spoke to the people directly in a way no other did at the time. The personalized messages given to the customers played a huge role in building the brand of Nike. It is because of Nike’s brand value that people are willing to pay higher prices for Nike products even though cheaper alternatives are available in the market. The ‘Just do it’ campaign featuring celebrities like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Wayne Rooney etc played a huge role in building the brand of Nike. The best part of the ‘Just do it’ campaign was that it pushed consumers to buy Nike products. People were aware of the Nike brand but these advertisements made the go and buy Nike shoes. All of it was possible because of the brand value of Nike, and it was built by the ‘Just do it’ Nike campaign. Brand Positioning The brand positioning of Nike plays a great role in making the company a huge success. Nike has positioned its brand in such a way that it targets young people all over the world of ages 14 to 30. Nike has positioned itself in such a market that is ever expanding globally which allowed Nike to increase sale revenues all over the globe. The brand positioning of Nike was also successful because of the nature of its ‘Just do it’ advertisement campaign. The company used global celebrities that had a global appeal. This allowed the company to attract customers globally all over the world. Sports like tennis, football, and Basketball are followed all over the world and therefore using sports celebrities allowed the company to attract customers globally in a market that was looking to buy shoes and sports merchandise. Nike positioned its products globally in such a manner that it allowed the company to expand globally. Young people all over the world were inspired by sports celebrities that Nike was using in its advertisement campaigns and therefore the company was able to attract the younger population all over the world. Nature of the Campaign (Informing or Selling) The ‘Just do it’ campaign was mainly aimed at selling Nike items. The advertisement campaign was not meant to increase awareness of the brand. The advertisement campaign was designed to communicate to the consumers that they must just do it. The success of this particular ad campaign was that it made people do things they thought they would never have done in their lives. The nature of the campaign was such that it made consumers go out and purchase the product. Nike was already an established brand name and therefore the company didn’t had to focus on brand awareness that much. Source: More about Advertising. (2010) The above advertisement shows the nature of the ‘Just do it’ campaign. The tennis star, Maria Sharapova, is known globally and she is shown determined to just do it. The nature of this advertisement campaign is such that it makes people come out of their shells and do what they have to do without thinking or contemplating about it anymore. The advertisement campaign of Nike had a message that strikes people in the heart (Hunsberger, 2008) and this is the main reason of the success of the ‘Just do it’ advertisement campaign. Perception of the Campaign The perception of the campaign on the consumers was the main reason of the sales hike Nike experienced after the launch of its ‘Just do it’ campaign. Consumers perceived the message from Nike as signal to do things they had not imagined to do before. The message of Nike went not only across to the younger generation or fitness freaks but to other segments of the society as well. People who were fed up of their lives also connected to the advertisement campaign and therefore responded to it. Young generation was also inspired by the ‘Just do it’ campaign and these words became a part of people’s life. The projection of sports stars trying to try as hard as possible touched customer hearts. People all over the world were impressed and wanted to get Nike shoes and merchandise themselves. The campaign acted as a last push for consumers to go and buy Nike products. Consumers made an instant connection between trying hard to succeed and Nike, and this association made increased sales possible. The campaign was able to successfully attract not only people who liked sports but also people who were dissatisfied with their lives. They perceived the advertisement campaign as an answer to their worries and acted upon the message of the campaign. Buyer Process Nike advertisement campaign was not aimed to increase awareness, rather it was meant to make people go and buy Nike products. The advertisement campaign of Nike was targeting the purchase stage of buyer decision process. The advertisement campaign was designed to persuade buyers to go and purchase the product. Nike’s message was very clear and asked customers to ‘Just do it’ without waiting or anyone stopping them. Nike was already a well known brand when the advertisement campaign launched and therefore Nike did not need to increase brand awareness. This is why the buyer process that the advertisement targeted was the purchase phase. No information of any kind is given in the advertisement campaign. Also there is no information regarding prices or discounts in the ‘Just do it’ campaign. All these points to the fact that the campaign was aimed at the purchase phase. Also in the Nike ‘Just do it’ advertisement campaign, sports celebrities are used but the messages are not given in a very explicit way. Nike relies on implicit messaging in the campaign which also is evidence of the fact that the company is targeting this campaign on consumers that are in the purchase phase of the buyer’s process. Involvement Levels and Risk Perception The risk perception of Nike advertisement campaign is not a great because ‘Just do it’ campaign does not rely on adventure and thrill. Sports celebrities are used in the advertisement campaign but they are shown to play sports. Sport stars are not playing extreme sports like in advertisements of soft drink Dew. The sport stars are playing normal sports and therefore risk perception is relatively low. The involvement level of consumers is usually low because the products Nike is selling are low involvement products and one does not have to think too much before buying them. Also Nike relies on low involvement decision because there aim is to make buyers purchase Nike products without thinking too much. The tag line ‘Just do it’ is representative of the fact that the company does not want consumers to think too much and just go ahead of the purchase. This was the main aim of the ‘Just do it’ campaign. Marketing Mix Elements The marketing mix elements of the Nike products will be discussed below. Product The features and benefits of the product are very clear in the advertisement because established and successful sport stars are shown wearing Nike products. This gives consumers an idea about the strengths of the product. The advertisement campaign effectively communicates the Nike brands to the consumers by calling people to stop procrastinating and doing things without thinking too much (Brinckman, 2008). Nike advertises its products by associating it with sports celebrities, exercise, and athletics. Pricing It is important to understand that consumers are willing to pay to higher prices for Nike products even though there are cheap substitutes available (Deng, 2009). This shows the overall power of the brand. It also shows that Nike products are sold at a premium and usually firms selling premium products do not focus on pricing in their advertisements. This is why Nike does not have pricing details in its advertisement campaigns. Pricing is not the unique selling proposition the company is offering and this is why pricing does not appear in Nike advertisements. Nike builds its brand around celebrities and athletes, who portray a healthy and fit image of Nike, and therefore sport celebrities are featured in the advertisement campaign, (Holding, 2012) and pricing is not even touched upon. Place Nike advertisement doesn’t inform anything regarding the distribution channels used by the company. This is done intentionally because Nike is a household name all over the world and everyone is well aware of the brand Nike. This is why there is no need for the company to advertise about the distribution channels. Physical stores and online stores are used in the in the industry for distribution purposes and Nike also uses the same channels. Promotion The promotional objectives of the company are to build the brand of Nike and increase its sales. These objectives are achieved successfully by the company because the ‘Just do it’ campaign has played a tremendous role in increasing the sales of the company globally. The objectives of Nike are achieved from the campaign and this is depicted by the fact that the company used this campaign for many years. The choice of media tells that the company is interested in promoting its brand to a wide range of customers. Internet, television advertisements, print advertisement, billboards etc are used by the company to promote its products. The company used a heavy budget to make sure that the Nike is promoted across many channels (Reece, 2004). Critique and Recommendation Nike advertisement has touched many hearts all over the world and its ‘Just do it’ campaign has made people do things they would not have done before. This is evidence of the fact that without a doubt, Nike’s ‘Just do it’ campaign was extremely successful. There is nothing Nike could have done differently in this advertisement campaign because people all across the globe just loved it. Also the financial success of the campaign is not hidden from anyone. Consumers are quick to associate the brand of Nike with a certain ‘coolness’ and therefore people are instantly attracted to Nike products (Tracey, 2008). There is also no doubt that Nike products are associated with superior quality by consumers and this also shows the strengths of Nike’s advertisement campaign (Armstrong & Kotler, 2000). The main strength of the campaign was that it made people associate Nike with many good things and this association has not ceased to exist even today. Even today the ‘Just do it’ campaign is forcing people to buy Nike products all over the world which is representative of the campaign’s success. Conclusion Nike’s ‘Just do it’ campaign is known all over the world and has played a huge role in making Nike what it is today. The company has grown many folds because of its advertisements and people have associated Nike with high quality products. The campaign was aimed at targeting people who are in the purchase stage of buyer process. People were directed to ‘Just do it’ without thinking or procrastinating anymore. The message of Nike went straight to the heart and therefore this campaign was a huge success. Bibliography Armstrong, G, & Kotler, P. 2000. Marketing: An Introduction 5th edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Brinckman, J. 2008. Nike's 'Just Do It' slogan celebrates 20 years. 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