Nike Case Study

Nike was founded by Philip Knight in 1962 originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports mainly dealing in sportswear, footwear and sports equipment’s for basketball, football, tennis and golf to name a few, based in the US.   Nike believed in designing innovative footwear for serious athletes, which helped in building the brand among the US consumers. It also believed in “Pyramid of Influence” that the preferences of a small percentage of top athletes influenced the product and brand choice of others. Therefore Nike contracted with athletes like Steve Prefontaine and Michael Jordan, professional teams in Europe during the football world cup to advertise and promote their products. After a successful start and rage in the US, Nike ventured into the Europe and transformed from a sneaker company into a brand that represented emotion, allegiance and identification as the team that it sponsored won the World Cup. This win by the Brazilian team it had sponsored in the world cup helped Nike get a good start in the international markets and by 2003 it had surpassed US revenue. In order to increase its revenue in Europe it acquired Umbro, the only supplier of uniforms to over 100 soccer teams around the world, which helped, boost Nike’s presence in soccer. Nike also recently teamed up with apple to produce Nike+ products that includes a sensor that helps capture the athlete’s mileage, calories burned and pace. This information can be stored until deleted.

Nike invested huge sums in their marketing strategies and product designs and to sustain their dominance in the industry it actively responds to the market trends and changed in consumer preference by adjusting their marketing strategies. Nike does investment in advertising and promotions on a huge scale. Therefore it makes contracts with famous athletes in order to draw attention to their products. This has made Nike very popular among the consumers. Their aggressive advertising campaigns, celebrity endorsement enhances their...