Analysis Of Nike’s Product Life Cycle And Advertising

Spiral Stages
Product Life Cycle
Introduction

Nike was first known as BRS which is short for Blue Ribbon Sports. It was founded by Phil
Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman. Phil was a track athlete in the University of Oregon. The
company was first established as a distributor for a japanese shoemaker called Onitsuka Tiger.
Later, BRS had made its own company and its relationship with Nike had ended. Nike went on
and made itself a leading brand in the United States athletes market as it had covered half of
the market share alone. Nike’s first ever commercial was a TV ad introducing their running
shoes. It was showing how it would make athletes run faster if they wear them. It had graphics
to help attract more consumers.
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Nike is famously known for its “swoosh” symbol. It is also widely recognizable for its famous
motivational slogan “Just Do It” which was implemented in many of marketing campaigns
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encouraging athletes. The slogan alone had helped Nike reach a high level against competitors.
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Growth
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Nike has been building a good relationship with customers from the start which helped their
sales a lot. They used persuasive techniques to get to consumers to make them feel good when
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buying a shoe. They have also been doing promotions and discounts to attract more people to
buy their shoes. Nike knew from the beginning that even though their product was higher in
price than the average shoe, that people would still buy them as they present high quality
products.

Nike’s shoes vary in prices which makes it an A and B class company. It’s success has proven
the famous saying “quality over quantity. Nike’s huge success falls down to it’s marketing
techniques by using celebrities to promote their products, their all time famous slogan “Just Do
It”, and their good relationship with the consumers.

Maturity

Nike at this time is one of the largest shoe manufacturers worldwide. There is a continuity in the
increment of its market share. Nike’s net worth is now more than 30 billion US dollars and
increasing.

They had strong marketing campaigns as well as the endorsement of different products. They
started creating different segments of footwear such as shoes for specific sports. They would
make shoes for football, basketball, baseball, tennis, etc. Which helped widen its market. Nike
started introducing apparel and other sports goods after their huge success with footwear,
however, they are highly dependent on footwear for their sales to this point.
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Decline

Nike has never experienced a decline in their profits or success. The only problem Nike has
faced in the past was that consumers were not completely satisfied with their prices as they
thought their shoes were a bit overpriced which Nike quickly solved by decreasing their prices to
a suitable price for the quality that they provide.

Advertising Spiral
Pioneering Stage

Nike’s first campaign was a TV ad in 1982 showing men in historic times running in an open
field with a narrator explaining how running has always been a sport that mankind took
seriously. The campaign wasn’t promoting a certain shoe, but was rather promoting Nike’s
company name and reaching out for more people to raise awareness about it’s products. It was
a successful ad as it showed that by having Nike’s products you will be able to run faster than
normal.
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Competitive Stage
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Nike has always had two main competitors which are Reebok and Adidas with a lot of
similarities in products. All 3 companies make shoes for athletes with different designs. They all
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use the same marketing strategies and target the same audience.
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Retentive Stage
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Nike differs from competitors and it has created for itself a position that cannot be overtaken
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with their famous campaign in 1988 that introduced the “Just Do It” slogan and the “swoosh”
logo which made their products recognizable for target audience.

Newer Pioneering Stage

Nike has been creating and developing new shoes such as the self lacing shoes called
HyperAdapt which were featured in the famous movie Back to the Future which helped the
success of the campaign despite its high price tag of more than 700 US dollars. They’ve also
been collaborating with other famous companies such as Apple and coming up with a product
called Apple Watch Nike+.

Newer Competitive Stage

Nike is still using celebrities heavily for their advertising campaigns and is considered to be the
highest celebrity paying company of all time for ads. It has spent around 10 billion US dollars
alone in celebrity endorsements.

Newer Retentive Stage

Nike’s aim is to always create and develop new and innovative shoe designs. They’ve created

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 a campaign with Colin Kaepernick which is a famous American football player than made their
sales jump up by 31%.

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