John Leathers & Amanda Wolsborn
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Third floor of the Jerry Rice Building at Nike’s
Headquarters
Engineers and scientists with pedigrees from
MIT and Apple.
Leaks are tightly controlled – a PR man jumps
in front of a visitor who gazes at the
computer screens for a little too long.
Once upon a time, this level of secrecy would
have been about a new sneaker release;
today, its about a revolution in marketing
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Home of the new Division the company
launched in 2010 – Nike Digital Sport
On one level, it aims to develop devices &
technologies that allows users to track their
personal statistics in any sport they
participate in (Nike + Running Sensor
w/Apple, Fuelband, Sportwatch GPS)
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It’s about more than just creating must have
sports gadgets; it allows Nike access to
valuable consumer data
This means it can follow its consumers, build
online communities for them, in the hopes of
forging a tighter relationship with them than
ever before
It is part of a broad effort to shift Nike’s
marketing efforts to the digital realm
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Nike’s spending on TV & Print advertising has
dropped 40% in the U.S. in just the last 3
years
In the same period, its total marketing
budget has steadily climbed upward to hit a
record $2.4 billion last year
Nike has mostly done away with the reliance
on top down campaigns celebrating a single
hit (Air Force One’s, Tiger Woods, etc.)
Nike is going where its  30 story billboard in
consumers are: its core
Johannesburg that posts
customer is a 17 year old fan headlines from
who spends 20% more
Twitter
on shoes than his adult
counterpart, and spends
more time online than
on television
 Spent nearly $800
million on non
traditional advertising
in 2010
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Nike has been moving the marketing mix
away from ‘hero worship’ (Superstar
athletes), towards ‘consumer driven
conversation’.
Has it been paying off?
The company’s stock has returned 120% over
the past 5 years, compared to the S&P 500
index, which has returned just 2.5%.
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Do you think that Nike’s transition is
working? Have you noticed?
Would you rather be engaged through social
media and ‘alternative advertising’ methods
or through more traditional means?
Is there a nostalgic element about TV/Print
advertising that is attractive?
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Thank you for listening.
Article Link:
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/1
3/nike-digital-marketing/
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