Selecciones - Webs

Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
Nike Targets Women
8. Creative Strategy:
Planning and Development
Perhaps no company in the world has been as
successful in capitalizing on the fitness boom of
the past few decades as Nike. Since its inception
Nike has been a leader in the high-performance
athletic-shoe market and has become one of the
world’s great brand names. The company ran
past all its competitors to become the largest
seller of athletic footwear and apparel in the
world, with sales of nearly $10 billion in 2002.
The Nike ethos of pure, brash performance is
captured in the “Just Do It” slogan, which has
become a catchphrase for the sports world and
has been personified in advertising featuring
some of the world’s greatest athletes.
Nike is the overall leader in the $15.6 billion
market for athletic shoes and apparel in the
United States. However, the industry has been
stagnant for years, and Nike, along with its com-
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
petitors, is looking for new growth opportunities
and areas where the company can gain market
share and attract first-time customers. One of the
areas Nike is targeting is the women’s market,
which has been experiencing strong sales growth
but has been the company’s Achilles’ heel.
Women’s athletic footwear accounts for one-third
of the total industry sales and apparel for more
than 50 percent, but women’s products account
for only 20 percent of Nike’s revenue. Although
the company has been selling shoes and apparel
to women for years, Nike has been better known
as a brand catering to male athletes and building
its image around superstars such as Michael Jordan,
Pete Sampras, Lance Armstrong, and Tiger
Woods. These efforts have resulted in Nike’s dominance
of the male market, where the company
has a 50 percent market share.
For much of its 30-year history, Nike has been
about men and either treated women like men or
didn’t give them much attention. However, sometimes
Nike did get it right in communicating with
women. In 1995 the company ran a campaign
titled “If You Let Me Play” that struck a responsive
chord with many women. The campaign featured
ads showing female athletes talking about
how sports could change women’s lives, from
reducing teen pregnancy to increasing the
chances of getting a college education. The campaign,
along with subsequent ads featuring top
female athletes such as sprinter Marion Jones,
helped make Nike the market leader, but it was
focused primarily on the high-performance segment
of the female market.
In 2001 Nike launched a new strategic initiative
termed “Nike Goddess,” which is a companywide,
grassroots effort that has the goal of changing
how the company does business with women. The
235