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Campaign Task
NIKE
Brittany Bardo, Desean Humbert
Prof. Hunt
May 5, 2014
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Executive Summary
In honor of the 25th anniversary of Nike’s iconic, “Just Do It” tagline, the “Possibilities”
campaign was introduced in August 2013. The 90 second advertisement inspires viewers to push
their limits and strive to reach new goals through a variety of playful scenarios featuring athletes
like LeBron James and Serena Williams who are the subject of this challenge. This campaign
encompasses all that Nike is about from running shoes to all-star athletes. Throughout the
advertisement, the audience is exposed to various Nike products such as Flyknit running trainers
to the Nike+ sports watch. The ultimate goal of this advert is for consumers to explore their own
endless ‘possibilities’ using Nike+ products and services. Therefore, this campaign is an
inexplicit promotion for the brand extension from clothing to Nike+ services. The advert
ultimately aims to strengthen Nike’s brand image of passion and aspiration.
The target market for this campaign is not limited by age, gender, or other demographics
because it focuses solely on lifestyle and interests. As shown in the campaign, Nike manages to
successfully influence consumers, both those who play sports and do not play sports. In the
“Possibilities” campaign, Nike continues to instill the associations of courage, willpower and
fearlessness with the slogan “Just Do It” into its consumers’ minds. Nike also continues to
communicate its position as “the” athletic wear for serious sports and fitness. It is also shown
through this campaign that Nike has created superior value by utilizing celebrity endorsers to
represent the brand.
Overall, the “Possibilities” campaign was very effective in achieving its goals to inspire
its audience and connect with viewers on an emotional level. It had the ability to effectively
reach Nike’s target audience as well as beyond that and received a positive reaction from them.
By analyzing YouTube, social media, and revenue metrics, consumers thought the commercial
was very inspirational and afterwards they felt like there were endless possibilities to succeed
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and resulted in impulse purchases. By using celebrity endorsers, professional athletes, and a wide
variety of products in the ad, Nike was able to get the audience’s attention, connect with them,
and leave a lasting impression.
Campaign Description
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Nike takes the iconic “Just Do It” tagline a step further
with the introduction of the new “Possibilities” campaign. The 90 second advert for the
campaign instils feelings of inspiration and aspiration in the viewers. The “Possibilities”
campaign inspires viewers to push their limits and strive to reach new goals through a variety of
playful scenarios featuring an all-star cast of athletes and guest stars. The ad tests the will of
athletes worldwide placing them in scenarios with sports best players. LeBron James, Andre
Ward, Serena Williams, and many other professional athletes are the subject of challenge in a
moving visual narrated by actor Bradley Cooper. Digital and social media activations help
viewers to “Just Do It” themselves through a series of Nike+ challenges. The film begins with
the line, “If you can run a mile, run a race, run a marathon, outrun a movie star.” From the start
of this inspirational line, different challenges and scenarios emerge, each challenging characters
in the film — and the audience — to push themselves to new limits.
This short film encompasses all that Nike is about from running shoes to amateur sports
teams to all-star athletes. The film makes this link with fast-paced, slick cinematography,
effortlessly moving from one sporting scenario to another. In almost every frame of the advert,
the audience will be exposed to Nike products, ranging from Flyknit running trainers to the
Nike+ sports watch. This represents a subtle form of product placement is known as branded
entertainment (Hudson & Hudson, 2006). Branded entertainment extends upon product
placement by allowing the product to be prominent in the story line. In this campaign, the Nike
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products are intrinsic elements of the campaign, which centers on a motivational story of athletic
success. Nike has been inspiring people to “Just Do It” for 25 years now, but the inspirational
message doesn’t stop with the film. The film is a challenge to the audience as they can physically
take part in the film’s concept through a series of Nike+ challenges. At the end of the advert, a
website URL is provided, which allows viewers to satisfy the need for information by further
exploring the brand and the challenges available with Nike+.
In conclusion, this ad is successful in capturing consumer attention through the use of
celebrity endorsement and a meaningful context. The advert wants consumers to explore their
own endless ‘possibilities’ using Nike+ products and services. Therefore, this campaign is an
inexplicit promotion for its brand extension from clothing to Nike+ services. The advert
ultimately aims to strengthen the brand image of passion and aspiration. The advert focuses on
motivating consumers to set themselves sports challenges, but it fails to explicitly generate
awareness of the available Nike+ services through which to complete challenges.
Target Market
The target market for this advertisement is people who are passionate about sports and
want to push themselves to achieve more. The majority of Nike’s consumers are usually athletes,
sports enthusiasts, and active individuals who identify with sports and fitness as a lifestyle.
Nike’s consumers also include individuals who look to Nike products for style and functionality.
The target market has a common interest of high performance sporting goods and product
innovation. By focusing on lifestyle and interests, the target market is not limited by age, gender,
ethnicity, or other demographic variables. Although the typical consumers for the Nike brand are
young males and females between the ages of 18 and 35 years old, this advert appeals to any age
group. Furthermore, the target market will attend to the advertisement due to their desire to
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identify with the athletic prowess of the celebrity endorsers used. The consumers of this target
market will believe that their attractiveness will be enhanced if they use a brand represented by a
desirable celebrity or professional athlete. The consumers may believe that the use of Nike
products will enhance their sports performance. Furthermore, because these consumers are brand
conscious, they look at the Nike brand as a status symbol and an image for themselves as the
brand strives to uphold high pricing and premier status.
Using the MRI tool, Nike’s target market is shown to be adults ages 18-49. The research
shows that 133,798 consumers in that age range purchased Nike products in the fall of 2012 so
Nike should continue to build on that buying success. Those same studies show that 232,469
men and women purchased Nike products in the fall of 2012 so Nike should continue to market
its products towards both men and women. Nike will also target consumers who have attended
college because the MRI reports show that this education level has the highest index. With a
heavily educated target market, Nike promotes self-achievement and it wants consumers to be as
successful as possible when using its products. Geographically, Nike should market products
towards the suburban region because research shows that the majority of its consumers in that
region live in areas with expensive homes and have a household income above $75,000.
Using the VALS site, it allowed us to easily identify the lifestyle of Nike’s target
audience. Nike’s consumers’ hobbies consist of exercising, training, and watching sports. The
target audience are supporters of sports such as basketball, football, and soccer and they really
admire the professional athletes that play these sports and wear Nike. Nike’s target audience’s
interests include school, hanging out with friends, working, and going to the gym. Since the
consumers’ interests involve being active and social, they value comfort, functionality, and
effectiveness. They like having a product that fulfills all their needs and enables them to be
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stylish and part of an elite class at the same time. Nike consumers have a high comfort level with
technology. The majority of Nike’s consumers have attended college, have jobs that require use
of technology, and have also been exposed to the technology that Nike has to offer. The VALS
survey also suggests that Nike is targeting innovators along with experiencers. Innovators are
successful, sophisticated, take-charge people with high self-esteem. These groups of consumers
have such abundant resources that they exhibit all three primary motivations in varying degrees.
They are change leaders and are the most receptive to new ideas and technologies. They are
usually young, enthusiastic, and impulsive consumers. Experiencers quickly become enthusiastic
about new possibilities but are equally quick to cool. They seek variety and excitement, savoring
the new, the offbeat, and the risky. Their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor
recreation, and social activities. In addition, the VALS survey also showed us that Nike
consumers are very social media friendly. The consumers are active users of social media
platforms such as Twitter and Instagram that they use to show off their new Nike products and
let their friends and social groups know how great Nike’s products are.
Positioning Objectives, Deep Motivations, & Brand Personality
Nike positions itself as the market leader of sports footwear and uses the greatest athletes
and the record of their achievements in advertising which is shown in its latest “Possibilities”
campaign. With this campaign, Nike instills the associations of courage, willpower and
fearlessness with the slogan “Just Do It” into its consumers’ minds. Nike’s redesigned “Just Do
It” campaign continues to communicate Nike’s position as “the” athletic wear for serious sports
and fitness. Using the same “Just Do It” slogan and revamping the idea, this advert still
communicates the feeling for competition using its most popular sporting categories. Nike has
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created superior value by utilizing celebrity endorsers to represent the brand and it continues to
do so by incorporating them into advertising campaigns and commercials. The idea is that the
celebrity image is embedded into the consumer’s mind and will cause the consumer to associate
the endorser with Nike’s products, making the brand more desirable, credible, and valuable. The
sports celebrities convey the idea of athleticism and become an almost heroic, iconic symbol that
people strive to become. When consumers see celebrities in the Nike advertisements, it also
allows them to feel more connected and relate better to the product and brand.
Nike positions its products to be the best on the market, outcompeting other brands such
as Adidas, Puma, and New Balance. It aims at offering the best products on the market by using
new and innovative technology to catch the consumer’s attention. As shown on the positioning
map, Nike is shown to offer products specifically for serious sports and fitness lifestyles with a
higher price expected. In contrast, brands like Sketchers offer products more specifically for
lifestyle and every day wear that has relatively lower pricing. By fulfilling its specific
consumers’ needs for high quality fitness and sports products, Nike is able to gain a competitive
edge on other brands while maintaining a higher price.
The important buying motivators by consumers of the Nike brand is picking up the habit of
exercise and being active. As shown in the “Possibilities” campaign, Nike manages to successfully
influence consumers, both those who play sports and do not play sports. Individuals consume Nike
products for many functional and emotional benefits too. According to Nike’s means-end chain
diagram, its consumers want a product that is comfortable, safe, reliable, stylish, functional, and
effective. Functional benefits from the brand are comfort, durability, high performance, and
personalization. Emotional benefits from the Nike brand would be the exhilaration of athletic
performance excellence; feeling engaged, active, and healthy and also the exhilaration from admiring
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professional athletes wearing the Nike brand because of the thought it creates in consumers’ minds
that “when they win, you win too". Nike also likes to help its consumers reach their goals which is
successfully shown through the “Possibilities” campaign and that they can achieve them with the help
of Nike products such as Nike+.
By offering these high quality products, Nike gives consumers a chance to be part of an
elite class. There’s no hiding that Nike charges high prices for its products because it targets high
class consumers. Thus, it makes consumers feel part of an elite class because other people don’t
have the access to these high quality products. Having new, “hip” products that other people
don’t have given consumers a sense of pride; it makes them feel like have the best products in
the world and they are elite for having them.
Route to Persuasion
Nike’s “Possibilities” campaign uses the peripheral route to persuasion. The peripheral
route to persuasion involves being persuaded in a manner that is not based on the arguments or
the message content but instead on superficial cues such as the attractiveness of a celebrity or
symbols. Nowhere in the advertisement does Nike tell its audience why its products are of high
quality, or why athletes prefer them over other athletic shoes. Nike also does not tell consumers
if its shoes are less costly than competitors. Nike relies solely on what they portray as the ideal
image and personality of someone who uses its products, and it is that desire that they hope will
persuade consumers to choose Nike products over others. In the “Possibilities” campaign, Nike
effectively uses peripheral persuasion to unconsciously develop emotion of inspiration, respect,
and passion into its consumers’ minds when viewing the ad. Nike knows its consumer’s lifestyle
interests so it utilized many different sports categories into this campaign and displayed the
various lines of Nike apparel, footwear, and equipment without them being “right in the
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consumer’s face”. Nike utilizes celebrity endorsements and professional athletes into this
advertisement also as a means of persuasion. Consumers will believe that the brand is credible
and trustworthy because of the professionals who are using and wearing the products. As a
result of this emotional connection and celebrity endorsements that this advertisement gives, it
can lead to spur of the moment purchases. Nike’s strategy is to hope that consumers will buy its
products solely on the basis of how the commercial made them feel. By the end of the
advertisement, consumers have no idea that this was actually a campaign for the promotion of
Nike+ products with use in any of the Nike categories. The last second of the advertisement
displays a website URL is which allows viewers to satisfy this need for information by further
exploring the brand and the challenges available with Nike+.
Metrics & Effectiveness
Nike can use many different metrics to determine the success of this campaign. The first
set of metrics will be retrieved from Nike’s YouTube channel. One metric YouTube will provide
is the number of views and hits this ad has. Since the ad was posted on YouTube’s site, it has
been viewed 12,161,122 times. That is a huge indicator that Nike consumers are avidly viewing
this ad and are having a connection to it. Other metrics that YouTube provides is likes, dislikes,
comments, and shares. Since the ad was posted on August 21, 2013 it has been liked 32,730
times, disliked 1,136 times, and has been shared 12,671 times. This information tells us that the
audience really connects with this ad and that they like it enough to share it with their friends.
There are over 4,744 comments of viewers talking about the content of the advertisement, the
celebrity endorsements, and more importantly how inspirational it was to them. These comments
are another factor that let us know how well the advertisement connected with viewers and the
success of making viewers feel the emotion of inspiration and that they can “Just Do It” like
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those in the video. An additional metric that YouTube provides is the number of subscriptions
the Nike channel has and how many were gained from this ad. The “Possibilities” campaign is
responsible for 7,395 of the 207,164 subscribers the Nike channel has. That means that this
campaign alone bought in 3.6% of Nike’s subscribers which is a big factor in this campaign
being successful. We’ll label the campaign being on YouTube effective as the ratio of likes to
dislikes is 29.8 to 1. There is huge difference in the number of people that feel a connection to
Nike’s campaign and the number of people that don’t.
The second set of metrics for measuring the success will come from surveys distributed
to determine the effectiveness of the campaign. The first thing we would want to get from the
survey is the number of consumers that felt a connection with Nike’s campaign. The campaign
was designed to reach something in the consumers that will make them feel like anything is
possible and that they are invincible. That is why it is named the “Possibilities” campaign; Nike
wants its consumers to feel like no obstacle is too big to overcome. The second thing the survey
will tell us is the number of customers that are athletes or fitness enthusiasts and how many
athletes from different sports use its products. Nike offers a wide variety of products and it aims
to offer a variety of products that can effectively reaching its target audience. Nike wants its
products to reach athletes, people who live healthy lifestyles, and people who are sports
enthusiasts.
The third set of metrics is sales and revenue. Overall, we want to see if sales and revenue
increased after this campaign. Judging from all the other metrics, this should be the case because
usually when a consumer sees an intriguing ad that connects with them emotionally, they want to
go out and buy the product on impulse and share the word.. For example, we are able to see
Nike’s earnings in quarter 1 in the fiscal 2014 year. Since this campaign was created in August
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2013, these numbers can show the effect of its latest marketing efforts which would be the
“Possibilities” campaign. From these earnings, revenues from continuing operations increased 8
percent to $7.0 billion, earnings per share from continuing operations went up 37 percent to
$0.86 and inventories as of August 31, 2013 (a week after the campaign aired) went up 6 percent.
After reviewing the other metrics it is clear that this increase in earnings shows that this
campaign was effective and had an impact on the increase in earnings for 2014.
Overall the “Possibilities” campaign was very effective in achieving its goals to inspire
its audience and connect with viewers on an emotional level. It had the ability to effectively
reach Nike’s target audience and get a positive reaction from them. The comments on the
YouTube commercial page show mostly positive feedback. Consumers thought the commercial
was very inspirational and afterwards they felt like there were endless possibilities to succeed
and could result in impulse purchases. Judging by the number of views, shares and likes on the
ad it is clear to see the campaign on YouTube was effective. 12 million views on just one
YouTube ad is large compared to other competitors in the industry and that is what Nike aims
for--being number one in the sportswear industry. Nike has an advantage utilizing its YouTube
channel to promote marketing campaigns because in addition to its award-winning television
advertisements, it offers training videos, inspirational videos, and the different ways that Nike+
products can improve its consumers’ lives. Nike aims to reach its target audience while gaining
an edge on competitors and this marketing campaign was able to help it do that. By using
celebrity endorsers, professional athletes, and a wide variety of products in the ad, Nike was able
to get the audience’s attention, connect with them, and leave a lasting impression. All of those
lead to brand loyalty, increase in sales, and a lead over competing brands.
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Campaign and Website Convergence
The convergence between the advertising campaign and the Nike website is
relatively strong. First reason being is that if someone were to search the website on information
on the “Possibilities” campaign or keywords about it in the search box, they could be directed to
the “news” post that talks about the new campaign. You are able to see the most popular tags that
directed consumers to the blog post: Lebron James, Serena Williams, Just Do It, and
Possibilities. The second reason there is strong convergence between the two is that as soon as
the campaign was released on August 21, 2013, there was a blog post in the Nike “news” section
explaining the campaign with a video embedded in that post immediately that day. Not only does
the campaign do an excellent job at integrating the Nike website into it but it also integrates its
social media pages such as its YouTube channel. On the YouTube channel it links back to the
Nike U.S. website and on the website it links back to the YouTube channel. In addition, the blog
post about the campaign further directs readers and viewers of the ad to the official “Just Do It”
page on the Nike Website. At the end of the commercial there was a link for viewers to learn
more about the Nike+ products and challenges and this link is given in the blog post on the
website as well as in the description of the YouTube video. This link is a strategy to get people to
now check out the products seen in the advertisement and allows them to participate in the Nike+
challenges. In short, there is successful synergy between the online and offline message of this
advertising campaign because the television advertisement leads to viewers checking out the
“Just Do It” webpage on the Nike website where they can learn more about the Nike+ products
and challenges; while also being able to go online and learn about this campaign via YouTube
and going out to the physical stores and learning more about the products and participating in
physical Nike+ challenges.
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Improving Convergence: Social Media Strategies
A way that this campaign could improve its convergence of the campaign through IMC is
by utilizing social media more. One strategy is to use retweets and a trending hashtag for the
campaign on Twitter. At the end of the advertisement, there could be information on the Twitter
hashtag across the screen that directs them to go on Twitter and hashtag #Possibilities for more
ways to get inspired and be entered to win Nike performance gear. For example, a consumer can
tweet what they thought of the commercial and how it impacted them followed by
“#Possibilities” directly to Nike and that automatically enters them into a competition for a
chance to win free new Nike apparel. This would hopefully get a reaction from the consumer
after seeing the ad engage them to respond to Nike. Not only could viewers feel a connection
from the advertisement but this can be further shown through direct interaction and engagement
with the Nike Twitter page. The best responses would get picked then Twitter direct message
would the an easy way collect their information so they can receive their free apparel and will
also be put on an email list for the apparel line they chose.
Another way the campaign could employ social media is using Vine videos. The
audience can record their reaction to the ad in a six second video, tag Nike’s official account, and
post it on Vine. The best reactions would be selected and incorporated into our next commercial.
This would give our consumers a chance to really connect with us as a brand and develop brand
loyalty. Ultimately, the point of this contest would be to leave a lasting impact on consumers
because they got to experience being in one of our commercials and it also shows that the
customers are actually important to the brand not just their money.
The last way Nike could employ social media is to encourage consumers to make their
own “Possibilities” commercial on Instagram and use the hashtag “#Possibilities”. The best
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commercial would be chosen and posted to Nike’s official YouTube channel as well as the Nike
website. The 15 second video would allow consumers to show off their Nike products as well as
their personalities. The commercial would show how Nike has brought inspiration and passion
into their lives. Employing this Instagram strategy would give Nike a better understanding of its
consumer’s lifestyles and how the brand personally impacts their lives so it can develop better
marketing tactics to reach those customers. In short, Nike wants to leave a lasting impression on
its consumers so giving them the opportunity to engage in these experiences will ensure these
customers have a “one in a life time” opportunity to be a part of the Nike team and show Nike
how important the brand truly is to them.
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Appendix
1. Positioning Map
2. Means-end Chain Diagram
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Attributes
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Comfortable
Stylish
Functional
Flexible
Innovative
Cutting Edge
Safe
Reliable
Effective
Needs
MRI
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Comfort
Safety
Reliability
Functionality
Style
Effective
Mediamark Exhibit
Feelings
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Elite
Happy
Satisfied
Safe
Stylish
3.
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4. VALS Survey
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Experiencers: Experiencers are motivated by self-expression. Young, enthusiastic, and
impulsive consumers, Experiencers quickly become enthusiastic about new possibilities
but are equally quick to cool. They seek variety and excitement, savoring the new, the
offbeat, and the risky. Their energy finds an outlet in exercise, sports, outdoor recreation,
and social activities. Experiencers are avid consumers and spend a comparatively high
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proportion of their income on fashion, entertainment, and socializing. Their purchases
reflect the emphasis that they place on looking good and having "cool" stuff. Their favorite
things include: a social-media following, being entertained, being established, and the
ability to purchase.
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Innovators: Innovators are successful, sophisticated, take-charge people with high selfesteem. Because they have such abundant resources, they exhibit all three primary
motivations in varying degrees. They are change leaders and are the most receptive to new
ideas and technologies. Innovators are very active consumers, and their purchases reflect
cultivated tastes for upscale, niche products and services. Image is important to Innovators,
not as evidence of status or power but as an expression of their taste, independence, and
personality. Innovators are among the established and emerging leaders in business and
government, yet they continue to seek challenges. Their lives are characterized by variety.
Their possessions and recreation reflect a cultivated taste for the finer things in life. Their
favorite things include: A rewarding experience, problem solving, personal challenges, and
authentic products.
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5. Snapshot of YouTube Video Metrics
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6. Snapshot of Nike Corporate Communication of Q1 Fiscal Year 2014 Earnings
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Works Cited
Hudson, S., & Hudson, D. (2006). Branded Entertainment: A New Advertising Technique or
Product Placement in Disguise? Journal of Marketing Management, 22(5), 489-504.
"MRI Reporter." MRI Reporter. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.
<http://ureporter.mriplusonline.com/selectdemo.asp>.
"NIKE, INC. Reports Fiscal 2014 First Quarter Results." NIKE, Inc.. N.p., 26 Sept. 2013. Web. 2
May 2014. <http://nikeinc.com/earnings/news/nike-inc-fy14-q1-earnings#/inline/23739>.
"Nike Presents: Just Do It -- Possibilities." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPkyPdubqDs>.
"Nike Redefines "Just Do It" with New Campaign." NIKE, Inc.. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
<http://nikeinc.com/news/nike-evolves-just-do-it-with-new-campaign>.
"VALS Survey." Strategic Business Insights. N.p.. Web. 1 May 2014.
<http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/results/6-1.shtml>.