Nike "Easter" Basketball shoes released for Easter 2013. (LeBron's, Kobe's and KD's)
Nike typically comes out with a new product(s) every year and release certain products every few months such as basketball sneakers. Nike like most successful companies do, plans ahead and plans well for products. Nike is very good at this, as they usually plan releases and completion of new products anywhere from 6-10 months in advance of the release date and make the consumer more anxious to buy the new thing by releasing info on it little by little. When Nike usually releases a product, they will already have the next one planned out at the same time they release this first product. Nike always has the next series or improved version of that product planned out as well. Innovation is constant at Nike and is an everyday ideal in the Nike Inc game plan. Nike is one company for example that usually practices simultaneous product development, specifically with their sneakers. Nike will usually release anywhere up to 3 different types of their basketball sneakers at the same time and anywhere from 5-7 different athletic/casual sneakers at one time, and even do this based on seasons, holidays, and even schedules of the professional/amateur sports involved, for example releasing numerous shoes inspired by the upcoming NBA playoffs. Nike also does holiday inspired products and releases them in time for the holidays, mostly Easter and Christmas seasons.
Nike "Elite" Basketball Series sneakers released in time for the NBA Playoffs of the 2012-2013 Season. (LeBrons, Kobe's and KD's)
One thing Nike does well in terms of product development and management is the use of Test Marketing its products. I personally was apart of a Nike test market when a father of a team mate of mine who worked for Nike as a sales rep at the time was chosen to test market 2 different types of baseball cleats and batting gloves that they had been deciding on on our team. We were each given a mix of the two pairs of cleats and batting gloves, got to use them for the better part of our season and at the end were asked to and offered our feedback and experience in testing them with him to give to the company for further study on which ones to release. It was a real good experience for us and a good way for a consumer to experience how Nike does its business and gathers valuable information on a product.
Nike Inc being a large brand on the market understands the importance of a lot of things that contribute to the companies success such as customer service, product concept and retailing, but not to be forgotten, Nike is a brand that fully understands the importance of using Social Media to market themselves. Nike brand has done a great job with creating an outlet in social media for themselves. Nike has teamed up with social media mega sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others to make themselves more well known and recognizable throughout the entire world. One thing Nike does is that they don't only have one single Nike page available to people on social media on each site, but they have multiple ones that represent a different aspect or sport in the Nike brand. Nike has the general Nike page and then gives the consumer an array of more specific and targeted pages on these Social Media sites such as Nike Football, Baseball, Basketball and Running pages, which helps them communicate specifically with the consumers and athletes of that given sport. You as the consumer are able to find out new information and up to date news on a specific product made by Nike for whichever sport you play or buy products for. Nike on these pages also offers information on upcoming events, product releases and even contests for customers. Through this, Nike allows their consumers to collect and gather specific information about their products, and also is able to allow the consumer to give feedback to them directly through communication on the page(s) Nike has to offer.
LeBron James posing with his newly released "LeBron XI".
Nike Inc. has been apart of the athletic apparel market ever since its inception as Nike Inc. on May 30th, 1971, and has always been known for innovating and making better a product that exists. Bill Bowerman the co-founder of Nike started his run of product concepts back when he would pull apart the then modern running shoes of his day and try and see how he could make them lighter while at the same time not losing the durability and flexibility that a running shoe has to offer the athlete. Bowerman was always striving to make the current running shoe better in his day, and had that attitude to make better and innovate an existing product throughout his company. Innovation is a very important factor, probably the most important when it comes to Nike's product concept approach. Personalized collections lie in that field of their concepts as well, having athletes from various sports custom design products for Nike to sell to consumers.
Kobe Bryant discussing design concepts with Nike a design team member.
Nike through its sale of sneakers is probably the biggest of products for them, as they draw the most attention and bring in the most revenue for the company. Nike preaching innovation is well applied as Nike is able to instill and put forth the best and latest fashionable, technological and design trends and patterns and directions that are "in" in today's world and today's consumer base. One thing Nike does well is having a series of numerous top athletes being represented by them, and having them design apparel and especially sneakers for them to sell. The Nike basketball shoes sold by them that are designed by and represent stars such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant sell especially well. They have these super star athletes sit down with a designer and they then go ahead and design the sneaker and select the color ways and everything from the laces to the sole of the sneaker and put it out for the concumer. The fact that Nike has these athletes design these sneakers personally not only makes the sneaker more appealing to consumers, but gives it more reason to be purchased.
The designs of these players are very unique as most of their designs have a story or a meaning behind them as well as a direction for the consumers, which most other athletes from other companies do not have or really apply. The personal ties and stories and the personalization done by them is huge for Nike's product concepts. Kevin Durant especially always has a personal tie and a back story and a direction for the consumer's feeling to why and how he designed a certain sneaker and gave it certain colors and features, and offers his personal story to it. As all these factors play in, Nike's shoes I would consider to be a shopping product, as consumers are constantly looking up info on them and are willing to spend more on them, as these products are more expensive than others and are not found in all stores or are hard to find or only have limited availability. Nike is always updating and modifying and improving their products on a regular basis, and releasing new sneakers as often as possible. For example,every winter Nike will release a newly designed line of sneakers for the winter season, and does the same for the summer season as well. They are constantly making new and improved designs available for a consumer. As well as the actual design of the shoe Nike keeps intact the idea of using environmentally safe and beneficiary materials when making sneakers, as most of the materials they use in the designing are from recycled sneakers.
As most of the top companies in a market would act, Nike Inc. does all it can possibly to maximize and expand its sales in their market and through their numerous retailers. Through Personal Selling, Nike is able to go the less expensive route (in comparison to advertisement) and the more direct and convincing route when dealing with customers and trying to sell their brand products to consumers. Nike generally makes most of its money from selling its products to many retailers to go and sell in their stores, such as Foot Locker, Modell's, Champs, Finish Line and other large athletic sneaker and apparel stores. These retailers are all usually very well knowledgeable in Nike products and really help sell the product to a customer based on their employees' impressive knowledge of the products rather than just the actual consumers loyalty to the Nike brand. Besides the in person, in store impact, the websites of Nike and their retailers offer a very well presented and put together place for the consumer to research and look at what they may want to purchase before actually entering a store in person and being taught about the product. This is very important in today's world since most people go online and shop around and look at different retailers and websites for information on a specific product rather than go to numerous stores in person to conduct research. Online options offer these customers more of a variety and size of stock to look at and consider purchasing. Nike's brand and its "Swoosh" logo is the way how Personal Sales emphasizes to the customer of Nike products. Nike does this through its own website as mentioned above, but most importantly through its employees in their stores and the other employees at various retailers of theirs. Whether in the Nike store or in a Nike retailers, these employees are always available and are always able to offer the best and quickest information of a product. There is always someone available to personally and correctly inform you as a customer of the product you are interested in, whether it be an actual sales representative in the stores/retailers, an online chat operator or a telephone operator. Nike being able to offer all of these different types of personal sales tactics, not only saves money for them, but also helps sell more products of theirs and makes the consumer feel good about their purchase, as a consumer is usually more willing to buy a product if they are well informed of the product by a representative or expert before they go to purchase it.
Nike billboard in Times Square featuring Kobe Bryant
Nike Inc. being the powerhouse and the number one brand in its market which it controls a majority of, obviously spends a lot of money, time and resources on advertisements and the different channels of advertisement they use. As of this July, Nike has been projected to have spent about $2.8 million on marketing. In a further mathematical breakdown of the numbers spent, Nike spends about $8 million a day, $300,000 per hour, $100 a second in advertising. Nike goes far beyond your traditional type of advertising as it not only spends a large amount of money on it, but it uses many types of advertising such as billboard and print advertising, social media and television commercials. Nike posts billboards all over cities such as in train stations, on buildings and buses and even on park benches in towns across the country. On social media, Nike has its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram profiles available for consumers to follow and be a part of on that form of social media, and even has its own separate accounts for several of the categories of Nike brand products such as Nike Basketball, Nike Football and Nike Baseball. These pages that they have made available on social media are used to constantly inform consumers of new products, release dates and any information on current or upcoming Nike products. The fact that in today's world, most people get information from the internet through social media is considered key as to how Nike has continued to take advantage of that situation. But it is mainly in television ads and commercials is where Nike does its best work. As many people in today's world watch television, it is almost guaranteed that a person can't go sit through a single program on television without seeing a Nike advertisement on their screens. Nike generates its consumer interest through commercials and the people that are used in them. Nike is very good at using their top superstar athletes and celebrities in their ads and commercials such as NBA players and Pro Golfers to further show how the Super Star athlete model that they run by is very successful and continues to draw the interest of the consumers
As the Super Star athlete technique comes into play, Nike has been able to utilize its Super Star athletes into their advertising schemes no matter what type of scrutiny that athlete may be under in the eyes of the public.That alone is rather impressive in Nike's continued ventures in advertising with Super Star athletes. For example, Tiger Woods' affair scandal that lit up the media a few years back saw the threat of Nike possibly considering dumping Woods based on his conduct being detrimental and inappropriate to the consumer world, much like when they dumped football star Michael Vick following his arrest. Nike however decided to hold onto and stick by Tiger Woods and today he continues to be a successful super star athlete advertising model for the company. Following the speculation of his affair and during the inception of Tiger Woods' return to golf after his brief hiatus, Nike released a much controversial commercial featuring Woods listening to his deceased father's voice questioning him about his return and his hiatus in the commercial.
As the use of the Super Star athlete continues to play as an advantage in their advertising schemes, Nike continues to find new ways to make great commercials that lead to successful consumer reactions. The most recent commercial came from the hands of the Nike Basketball group. Nike in the past has done very well with the basketball marketing and advertising schemes they implement in their commercials, print and billboard ads, and the most recent one featuring LeBron James is another big hit for the advertising department at Nike Inc. They were able to shoot this commercial of LeBron and fans biking, swimming and running freely through the city of Miami, and in the background were able to sample a new song by artist John Legend that hasn't even been released to the public yet, as it has only been made available through the bits and pieces that play in the background of this single commercial. Nike yet again has successfully made a much criticized, hated and controversial super star athlete look like a very likable and adored figure in the city he or she represents. Nike not only preaches innovation in its product development but implements it and preaches it in its advertising schemes, leading to successful advertisements with great consumer reaction.
