Nike Case
Abstract: The purpose of this report is to critically evaluate the strategies that Nike has created in tandem with the Football World Cup. The report examines the performance of Nike in relation with the Football World Cup and also tried to find out whether there were any alternatives to get an even better result. In this report I also compared Nike with its closest competitor, Adidas and evaluated the critical differences between these two organizations based on the marketing strategies that they have adopted to become successful.
1. Introduction
Nike is the leading manufacturer of Sportswear in the world. It has acquired the leading position in a short span of time. Nike is offering a wide range of products. The company started as a running shoe manufacturer and gradually expanded into other product lines such as Basketball and Cross training shoes and apparels. But the biggest challenge for the company was to enter the Football market previously dominated by Adidas. Nike has eventually taken the dominant position from Adidas by product innovation and creative use of alternative media like Internet. The chronological history of Nike is given below: Year | Key Events | 1962 | * Nike’s precursor, Blue Ribbon Sports was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman * Started working with Japanese shoe manufacturer Onitsuka as a US distributor of Tiger shoes | 1971 | * Ended relationship with Onitsuka * Knight and Bowerman decided to design and manufacture their own brand of athletic footwear | 1972 | * Company’s name was changed to Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory * Designed and started using the “swoosh” logo * Bowerman developed the waffle outsole, one of the most iconic innovation of Nike | 1975 | * Signed its first big name athlete, Steve Prefontaine to endorse Nike shoes | 1979 | * Captured 50% of US running shoe market | 1980 | * Went public | 1985 | * Began expanding into other sports outside running *
1. Introduction
Nike is the leading manufacturer of Sportswear in the world. It has acquired the leading position in a short span of time. Nike is offering a wide range of products. The company started as a running shoe manufacturer and gradually expanded into other product lines such as Basketball and Cross training shoes and apparels. But the biggest challenge for the company was to enter the Football market previously dominated by Adidas. Nike has eventually taken the dominant position from Adidas by product innovation and creative use of alternative media like Internet. The chronological history of Nike is given below: Year | Key Events | 1962 | * Nike’s precursor, Blue Ribbon Sports was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman * Started working with Japanese shoe manufacturer Onitsuka as a US distributor of Tiger shoes | 1971 | * Ended relationship with Onitsuka * Knight and Bowerman decided to design and manufacture their own brand of athletic footwear | 1972 | * Company’s name was changed to Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory * Designed and started using the “swoosh” logo * Bowerman developed the waffle outsole, one of the most iconic innovation of Nike | 1975 | * Signed its first big name athlete, Steve Prefontaine to endorse Nike shoes | 1979 | * Captured 50% of US running shoe market | 1980 | * Went public | 1985 | * Began expanding into other sports outside running *
References: Adidas Group (2012) SUSTAINABILITY [online] available from <http://www.adidas-group.com/en/sustainability/welcome.aspx> [Accessed 19 June 2012]