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Nike’s Brilliant
Marketing Strategy
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By: Brandon Tatera
LLD 100WB
Prof. Judy Harper
San Jose State University
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Nike’s Brilliant Marketing Strategy

Introduction
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Why should you choose Nike? That is the question Nike asks themselves
daily as they seek new ways to innovate and distinguish themselves from
competitors. Nike’s differentiation strategies include its style, quality, and
brand loyalty.
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Nike is admired for the unique styles of its shoes. Nike offers shoes in all
colors,types,and styles, which makes the brand an option for men and
women of all ages. In addition to seemingly every shoe type and style a
person can imagine, Nike appeals to its those who seek something
different through NikeID.com. Nike’s user friendly website gives
consumers the ability to pick a specific shoe and design the shoe and its
colors entirely,from laces to soles. That application feature makes Nike
unique from its competitors and gives customers an avenue to invoke
their creativity and design a product made specifically for them.
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The quality of Nike’s shoes are another reason for why they are the
leading athletic shoe provider in the world by a considerable margin.
Nike’s shoes have the latest technology and last a long time, whether
they are worn daily or rarely. Some shoes can last years. The fact that
consumer’s trust their product and its reliability is a marketing tool by
itself.
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Nike sells 2 billon pairs of shoes on average globally each year. Nike’s
new signature LeBron James1 shoe has all the latest technology, but many
of the critics think that it is not worth $300. Nike plans to sell these
shoes at this price because they believe they are reasonably priced
because it has the newest,cutting edge shoe technology. The Air Jordan2
retro shoes also create the same excitement; a crowd of primarily males
of all ages will wait in lines for days to get that pair of shoes,which shows
their brand loyalty to Nike. Many are shoe collectors that collect shoes for
a hobby and some are just there to buy them and sell them for a higher
price later in the day.

1NBA player who plays for the Miami Heat and has a signature line with
Nike.
2Michel Jordan sinniture shoes that came out in 1980’s but now are
coming back as retro style shoes.

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One reason people wear the Nike brand of clothes and shoes is because
they want to fit-in with a society and the culture that has been created
through brand awareness. The ability to stand out in a crowd of people
because you are wearing expensive branded clothes is a creation of
society, as we superficially believe that makes us better person. Nike fits
into that role because they are and have been the chosen fashion. Brands
have their own specific roles and places in society,such as Gucci and
Prada being notorious with glitz and glamour and higher end society and
their specific events. Nike’s prides themselves on being a brand that can
be worn at all places by any person. Nike’s products are used by
consumer in many ways and settings,which range from simply a person
wearing a Nike shirt,shorts,and running shoes on their morning jog, or to
a person wearing a Nike polo shirt,fleece, and shoes to match with jeans
or slacks for a night out on the town. Nike also offers products in all price
ranges which appeals to all consumers.
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The persuasive advertising and marketing strategies of the Nike Air
Jordan and LeBron James (sneakers) have created a culture of customers
who will go out of their way and sometimes beyond their financial means
to buy these products. The person’s motivation to purchase these shoes
is his or her need to belong within a particular part of society. Nike has
created brand loyalty among its customers to come back for that product
again and again regardless of the price and sacrifices they must make to
afford them. Materialistic things make people happy, from what brand
they wear and how they wear it in everyday lives. Status in our society is
also really important to many people, its important because the way they
viewed in society or within their friends circle is somewhat based on their
look. The need for Nike sneakers is a must because people wait hours in
line for a particular shoe, which they are not even guaranteed to get due
to each specific store’s limited quantity. Nike’s marketing strategy is
amazing they create buzz and excitement for their products based on the
fact they are limited in stores,which adds to the excitement.

Company Profile
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Nike is the worldwide leader in supplying athletic shoes around the
world. Nike supply’s shoes for NBA players that play on the court and
supply’s apparel for almost every major athlete in the world.
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Brand loyalty
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Nike’s Brand Loyalty is amazing because people will wait days just to get
their hands on the new sneakers coming out. Many people go out their
way to get a new pair of Air Jordan’s and people pay outrageous prices
for many different styles of shoes, in all kinds. Brand loyalty is mainly
built on trust and the product that the company comes out with, not
every brand has a brand loyalty like Nike, and they wish they did because
if they did they would be a very successful company. Nike relies on its
customers and the Nike culture of products to ensure sales and
profitability, they know their loyal customers will camp out for days to
buy the product, and they know that they will pay the Nike’s MSRP
without any hesitation.
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Every black Friday there is a Nike Air Jordan release, people wait in lines
all day on Thanksgiving Day to get their hands on the latest Retro Air
Jordan. They are sold out within minutes of the store opening with online
markets selling out faster.Nike has a great marketing strategy as they
capitalize on a the shopping frenzy known as black Friday by creating
interest and excitement for their shoe release. That’s the reason Nike
comes out with limited numbers of shoes because they want people to be
brand loyal saying that Nike only makes the best product that’s why
people wait in line for them. No other shoe company has brand loyalty
like Nike does, such as Adidas or Pumas.

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Materialism
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Buying brand named items so we can blend in to our own society and we
can fit into our friend’s circle, and admire our role model. Many people
get happy with wearing name branded clothes even though they are not
able to afford it, and that’s where the company’s great marketing strategy
comes in such as Nike. Nike uses the celebrity’s such as LeBron James,
Michel Jordan and Tiger Woods to sell its products because when we like
a particular celebrity we look at them as our role model and will do
anything to be like them, if they wear a certain brand we will eventually
get the same brand because we as a society think that if we do that we
are going to be a part of them.
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Many women and men wear designer clothes, one because they can
afford them, and the other reason they wear them to get noticed in the
society and get complements because they are wearing a certain brand. A
great example of that would be is when Nike comes out with the new
shoe many people add those to their collection and many people wear
them and get complements on them wherever they go with them. The
last reason people try to go out their way to fit in and wear high named
brand clothes is because it makes them happy, and they have every right
to wear brands such as Nike, Gucci, Louis Vuiton and many others
because if it makes us happy that’s what we live for.

Status
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Buying Nikes sneakers makes us a part of a large society, it’s a culture we
adapt, its society we accept and it’s the belongings we agree on. Buying
Nike products makes us want to be a part of team Nike, from the many
celebrities they endorse and the great product they come out with. Nike’s
products come with passion and energy, when Nike comes out with
something they want you to be a part of it from the advertising campaign
to the actual product.
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Many people around the world wear Nike products, by creating that Nike
makes its own society and the culture,which is shared by millions of
people worldwide.When people wait in line for the new Air Jordan’s they
wait because they want their status within a society, and they wait
because they want to get noticed with that product when they wear them
and compliments when people see them.
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We buy brand named products to fit in to a society that’s filled with
materialistic things, we buy products because it makes us happy and the
status of how we are looked at in society. Status is a really broad thing,
but it also ties in with Nike, when a person waits for 2 days in line to get
a pair of shoes he does that because he wants to be the one to get the
shoes in his friend’s circle, he wants the right to say that I got the shoes.
Because once if you get the shoes, all the good things will come people
will talk about your new shoes, when you go to a local mall you will get
compliments on your new limited edition sneakers, but behind all these
things is Nike’s brilliant marketing strategy that makes us want that
status in our society that makes us want to buy these expensive Nike
sneakers. Nike has created their own market so these things routinely
happen. Nikes marketing team has done a great job creating
belongingness, brand loyalty and status, within a society.
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Need
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Many people go out their financial needs to buy a particular product, in
this case is the Nike shoes. People wait in lines; pay outrageous prices for
a pair of sneakers that has created the hype. Needing to buy a product is
a luxury, and it’s a luxury to be able to afford Nike shoes. Nike has
decided to come out with the new LeBron James shoes that are priced at
$300 dollars. Nike believes they are reasonably priced because they have
the newest technology and many improvements within the shoes from
last year last year that same new LeBron James shoe was priced at $180
and many people thought that was over priced for a pair of sneakers.
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Many people will not be able to afford the new shoes, but the need
aspects of a human mind will want to buy them even more. In the many
urban areas people will fight each other for a pair of shoes or simply a
riot once they are walking out the mall after purchasing a particular pair
of shoes. Other concern that many people have which is, is it even safe
for a teenager to wear a pair of shoes that are $300 because the media
and Nike have already created the hype for that shoe, but Nike’s mission
statement has always been to come out with the most comfortable and
affordable shoes, is this shoe going to be affordable for every house hold
kid who wants a pair of these.
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