Q) Pick a Brand.

Identify all its Brand Elements and asses their ability to contribute to Brand
Equity according to the choice of criteria identified. ( E.g – Memorability, Meaningfullness,
Likebility )

Ans – The Brand I have chosen is NIKE – Just Do It.

NIKE
Nike, Inc., formerly Blue Ribbon Sports, American sportswear company headquartered
in Beaverton, Oregon. It was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman, a track-
and-field coach at the University of Oregon, and his former student Phil Knight. They opened their
first retail outlet in 1966 and launched the Nike brand shoe in 1972. The company was renamed
Nike, Inc., in 1978 and went public two years later. By the early 21st century, Nike had retail
outlets and distributors in more than 170 countries, and its logo—a curved check mark called the
“swoosh”—was recognized throughout the world. Nike is engaged in the design, development,
manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories,
and services. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major
manufacturer of sports equipment. Nike ranked No. 89 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest
United States corporations by total revenue. The company takes its name from Nike, the Greek
goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand, as well as Nike Golf, Nike
Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Blazers, Air Force 1, Nike Dunk, Air Max, Foamposite, Nike
Skateboarding, Nike CR7, and subsidiaries including Brand Jordan, Hurley
International and Converse. In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company
operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and
sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of "Just Do It" and
the Swoosh logo.
Criteria for Brand Elements of Nike
The criteria the brand identity elements have to meet are the following –
Brand elements have to be:
• Memorable; elements must be easily recognized and easy recalled
• Meaningful; elements must be descriptive and persuasive
• Likable; elements must be fun and interesting, rich visual and verbal imagery and
aesthetically pleasing
• Transferable; elements must be within and across product categories
• Adaptable; elements must be flexible and uptable
• Protectable; elements must be legally and competitively
 1) Memorability is the recognition and recall of the brand.
Nike - The brand was launched after the brand “Blue ribbon sports ”The meaning of Nike' is
“The Greek goddess of victory' which associated with sports by Nike. In addition the brand is
also recognized with its simple logo which promotes victory and winning.
2) Meaningfulness is awareness, descriptive and recognition of the brand .
Nike - In the sports competition is one of the most important things between the athletes and the
brands. That is why a sport company Nike has used meaningful objects as a brand name and brand
symbol. The brand name means the “Greek goddess of victory” and the symbol is a wing which
promotes victory.
3) Likability is how much the customers find the brand aesthetically.
Nike - The symbol of the brand reminds the minds the sign of “ok ”. In addition it is associated
with victory and winning. These all have positive effects in people”s view. This is why the brand
name and logo are likeable in all over the world.

The above 3 criteria constitute the “ Offensive Strategy ” towards building Brand Equity.

4) Transferability is the capability of the brand to add new products in the line extensions
for Brand Equity .
Nike - When we look at the brand Nike always increases its portfolio with the same name. This
is why we can easily say that Nike is using transferability successfully. It also changes its logo
according to gender, product etc. As can be seen below –
 5) Adaptability is how faster the brand responses to the changes in the environment.
Nike – As can be seen below, the logo of the brand has changed many times in the years which
shows us how Nike uses adaptability for Brand Equity.

6) Protectability is the last element of Brand Equity which is about protection and
registration legally.
Nike – The brand has protected their brand elements through registering their trademark and
copyrighting their brand name, logo, and associations.
The above 3 criteria constitute the “ Defensive Strategy ” towards leveraging and maintaining
Brand Equity.

To show you how well Nike scored on the different criteria in my opinion I have made the
following table.
Brand name & logo: Everybody knows Nike and their logo. Nike is a worldwide concept. So
Nike is doing a really great job on their name and logo. The brand awareness is great in the mind
of their customers. The brand is named after the Greek goddess of Victory. Some people associate
the Nike logo (the swoosh) with the goddess as well. The believe the swoosh is one of the wings
of the goddess. Others thinks the swoosh refers to the movements of an athlete or the sound of a
whip. But the logo could be a sign of speed and elegance as well. One thing is certain, all the
guesses have to do with sport.
Slogan: The slogan of Nike is really strong. They want to communicate that sport is for everybody.
You just have to do it. Nike not only uses the slogan ‘Just do it’. They use some other ‘sub-slogans’
as well. For instance: “If you have a body, you’re an athlete” or “If you can control the cage,
control the pitch”. Nike is for everybody. Just do it.
Celebrity/Athlete: Nike uses different athletes in their ads. For example Roger Federer and
Ronaldo. They show these athletes making their way towards victory. This makes most of us to
believe, that when it comes to buying sport shoes, clothes or equipments, we just have to step into
one of Nike’s shoes to become an athlete as well. Nike uses not only one athlete, like Espresso
only uses George Clooney fort heir ad. Nike uses different athletes of different sports.
Packaging: Nike uses their brand name and slogan on their packaging. They use these elements
for example on bags or shoe boxes. But they use different colors for their packaging. For
instance, some of their shoe boxes are red, some of them are brown. They use the name and color
all the time, but the colors differ.