Nike Case Study

Is Nike wrong to try to leverage its American rebel image to build brand awareness in the global market for soccer footwear and apparel? What are the potential drawbacks of this approach?

Standardizing promotional activities has three big reasons. First, it has significant economic advantages. It lowers the cost because it can be spread over many countries. Second, one large effort to develop a campaign will produce better results than several smaller efforts. A third reason is that many brand names are global. A projection of a single brand image avoids confusion caused by local campaigns.

The two main arguments that indicate the drawbacks of this approach of global imaging are cultural differences and local laws. Not in every culture can be expected to be open for this kind of marketing. A negative image on the home country can contribute to a negative image of the brand. Also local laws and regulations can cause problems. Some part of the global marketing can not be done because countries have laws against using or saying certain things in the ads.

In the case of Nike it is my opinion that it is not wrong to try to leverage its American rebel image to build brand awareness. For that, there are three main reasons. One, differentiating from its competitors. Second, to build one image and third, the effort to gain the interest of the youth.

It is very important to differentiate from you competitors by a clear marketing strategy. Nike does this in one single act. Nike does not create different strategies that would imply more cost, less results and confusion in a globalizing world.

In addition, building one image is helping Nike effectively to differentiate from it competitors. Now the difficult question is whether Nike can use its rebel image. And I say: “Why not?” Despite the feeling of some people that it is ethically wrong, the rebels that Nike uses are still great players. Mr. Eric Cantona was indeed a difficult person, but he was such a great player that most people forgave him his stupidities. I for one do not remember Cantona as a bad man, I remember him to be a great soccer player.

The third is attracting the youth to your product with your image. It is not wrong to use idols for that. Again, Mr. Eric Cantona was and is a idol for a lot of European soccer fans. Nike adopted this very well. Nowadays they use the best players of the European leagues. Edgar Davids, Luis Figo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and others are huge idols of today’s youth.

Is Nike’s promotional strategy for soccer an example of the ugly American abroad, or clever marketing by one of the shrewdest promoters in the world?

Europeans do not associate the Nike brand with an American image. Nike has evolved from being a American brand to just a sport brand. This is therefore not an example of the ugly American abroad but just clever marketing of the Nike Company. Only the biggest multi nationals are able