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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
new strategy appeals to a broader segment of the
female market and is designed to take advantage
of the differences between women and men in how
they conceive of sport, how they shop for clothing
and shoes, and even how they view celebrity athletes.
Nike wants to appeal more to women’s desire
for an active lifestyle than to any image they have
of themselves as hard-core athletes.
Nike began its new women’s movement by
spending time listening to women and learning
how they balance their lives, what they like to
wear, where and how they shop, and what moves
them. Nike designers and researchers spent time
scouring trendy workout spots like London’s Third
Space to pick up on new fitness trends. One key
insight that emerged from the research is that for
most women, high performance isn’t about sports;
it’s about fitness fitting in with their active
lifestyles. Nike stepped up its product development
and introduced flashier shoe designs such as the
Air Max Craze, which has a strap for a heel and a
zipper over the lace. Another new line, the Air Visi
Havoc, features materials not normally seen on a
playing field, such as a faux snakeskin look, babyblue
satin, and red mesh.
Nike Goddess also includes new ways to reach
women and communicate better with them. A new
ad campaign takes a different look at women and
sports and veers away from Nike’s traditional strategy
of relying on big-name endorsers and producing
product lines named after them. Jackie
Thomas, Nike’s U.S. brand marketing director for
women, notes: “Women love that Nike is aggressive,
that it is competitive. The difference between
women and men is that women don’t treat athletes
like heroes. No woman thinks that she’ll be
able to run like Marion Jones because she wears
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8. Creative Strategy:
Planning and Development
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
shoes that are named after her.” Rather than dwell
on superstars, the new advertising campaign consists
of print and TV ads that show ordinary women
taking part in sport—from a swimmer to a young
fencer to the “Yogini,” a yoga instructor who
stands on her hands on a hardwood floor and
arches her back until her feet touch her head.
Nike has also launched a new website for
women: nikegoddess.com. The site offers profiles
of both famous athletes and everyday women who
are trying to meet the challenges of balancing
their hectic lives. It includes product information,
health and fitness tips, city profiles to help women
find fitness and fun when they are traveling, links
to other sites, and online shopping for Nike products.
Nike also launched NikeGoddess, the company’s
first “magalog” (a cross between a
magazine and a catalog), to help roll out the name
and communicate with today’s active women.
One analyst noted that for many years, even
within Nike there was a “general sense that it’s by
guys for guys.” However, if Nike is to continue to
grow, a company built on brash ads and male athletic
fantasies is going to have to connect with
female customers as well. The goal for the Nike
Goddess initiative is to double Nike’s sales to
women by mid-decade. This will require that Nike
change the way it sells to, designs for, and communicates
with women. However, it appears that Nike
is rising to the challenge. And lest anyone forget,
Nike is named after a woman—the Greek goddess
of victory.
Sources: Fara Warner, “Nike’s Women’s Movement,” Fast Company,
August 2002, pp. 70–75; Edward Wong, “Nike Trying New
Strategies for Women,” The New York Times, June 19, 2001,
p. C1; Hillary Cassidy, “Hail the Goddess,” Brandweek, Feb. 5,
2001, p. 42.
One of the most important components of an integrated marketing communications
program is the advertising message. While the fundamental role of an advertising
message is to communicate information, it does much more. The commercials we
watch on TV or hear on radio and the print ads we see in magazines and newspapers
are a source of entertainment, motivation, fascination, fantasy, and sometimes irrita-