Ch. 11- Developing and Managing Products

Nike is a very well known brand and with this type of popularity, Nike still manages to put a whole lot of effort in creating different innovative ways to promote a product. With so many products that Nike has, it may be hard for them to think of new and innovative ideas to branch out. Although this may be true Nike never disappoints Nike goes through a rigorous product development process. The new product strategy helps them put everything together from marketing all the way to finances. Because of a continuous cycle it is easy to pinpoint their ideas and whether it can contribute to the company’s growth or hurt them. Nike usually takes a lot of ideas from their competitors and innovates them to make them better Many companies look at their competitors (Nike being in this category) ask their customers & athletes what they would want. For example, in the most recent release of the Kobe X sneaker, shoe designer Eric Avar discussed different things for two days with Kobe Bryant according to an article I read on Sports Illustrated (http://www.si.com/nba/2015/01/21/nike-designer-eric-avar-on-kobe-x-kobe-bryant-lakers). This is something that has been common in the development of the Kobe Bryant Nike sneaker since its initial conception in 2006.

Nike' s product creation and development team are involved in the first stages of creating new products, commercialization and getting them to consumers. This involves everything from (target marketing) , materials and construction, material sourcing, product testing and product confirmation. They work directly with overseas factories to facilitate product samples, testing for color variations, garment construction, fit & comfort and many more. When Nike develops a product they use innovative products the reduce environmental waste one their behalf. Nike's main goal is to deliver the best product to its consumers while outdoing their competitors, which in recent years they've had little problem doing. Nike frequently comes out with a new products and release certain products every few months such as basketball & running sneakers. Nike like most successful companies do, strategically plan ahead and effectively plan well for future products. Nike is very good at this, as they usually plan releases and completion of new products anywhere from 6-10 months in advance of the release date, they bring anxiety and anticipation to the product by releasing info on it little by little, in addition they will make certain products limited to the public which further adds anticipation. This gives consumers who are able to buy their products a sense of exclusivity because not everyone will be able to buy the specific shoe being released.



Kobe X 2015 Christmas Edition

When Nike usually releases a product, they will already have the next one planned out at the same time they release the initial product. Nike always has the next series or improved version of that product planned out as well. Innovation is constant at Nike and is an everyday ideal in the Nike Inc game plan. Nike is one company for example that usually practices simultaneous product development, specifically with their sneakers. Nike will usually release anywhere up to 3 different types of their basketball sneakers at the same time and anywhere from 5-7 different athletic/casual sneakers at one time, and even do this based on seasons, holidays, and even schedules of the professional/amateur sports involved, for example releasing numerous shoes inspired by the upcoming NBA playoffs. Nike also does holiday inspired products and releases them in time for  specific holidays such as Christmas, Easter, July 4th etc.

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Just like other companies Nike apply methods of segmenting and targeting markets in order to get the most out of their products. Nike describes the market and segment depending on the product that they are selling. Mainly Nike uses demographic segmentation, because when Nike creates a product that depends on the gender, age, income, and ethic background. For instance when Nike creates a soccer cleats, they make it as unisex. When the gender is established,they usually have a foot chart,based on the ages of the customer (Youth Sizes,Big Kid Sizes and Adult Sizes). But Nike does not make a lot of soccer products for youth size, because they are just kid and they don't really know how to play. But of course age 10 and up Nike provides most of their cleats for kid, adult size Nike goes up to size 12 on their websites. Youth size (10c), Big Kid size (7y), and Adult size (11). A lot of Nike products are broken down into different lifestyle; golf, soccer, football, swimming, and tennis of course there are more sports that Nike involved but these are the most common ones. These sports are Nike's target market for their clothing and sneaker products. 

Nike apparel campaign geared towards women

To cater to the different consumer groups, any business must divide its targeted market into smaller units with specific needs or preferences, who may need to be served with unique products or marketing mixes. This process of dividing a market into several smaller sub-groups and offering different products or services is called market segmentation.  For example, Nike has done this by capturing the women’s sports apparel market by creating a separate line for them and opening several Nike Women stores across the country. By using gender segmentation, the company was able to step up its marketing and sales efforts and reach out to a whole new market.

Nike Women's Store

Nike also uses it's Air Technology which makes the sneaker more comfortable, for clothing like jerseys, shorts, and socks Nike uses a very different kind of technology from their competitors. For example; DriFit is the most common one because Nike applies this technology to team jerseys, shorts, and socks. There are over 10 different types of technology that Nike has created, all with different levels of comfort. Below is an image of 9 different variations of the Nike Air Technology.

Ch. 15- Marketing Communications

Nike Inc being a large brand on the market understands the importance of a lot of things that contribute to the companies success such as customer service, product concept and retailing, but not to be forgotten, Nike is a brand that fully understands the importance of using Social Media to market themselves. Nike brand has done a great job with creating an outlet in social media for themselves. Nike has teamed up with social media mega sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others to make themselves more well known and recognizable throughout the entire world. One thing Nike does is that they don't only have one single Nike page available to people on social media on each site, but they have multiple ones that represent a different aspect or sport in the Nike brand. Nike has the general Nike page and then gives the consumer an array of more specific and targeted pages on these Social Media sites such as Nike Football, Baseball, Basketball and Running pages, which helps them communicate specifically with the consumers and athletes of that given sport. You as the consumer are able to find out new information and up to date news on a specific product made by Nike for whichever sport you play or buy products for. Nike on these pages also offers information on upcoming events, product releases and even contests for customers. Through this, Nike allows their consumers to collect and gather specific information about their products, and also is able to allow the consumer to give feedback to them directly through communication on the pages Nike has to offer.


Nike Digital Sport The Nike+ platform was born in 2006 in support of its Nike+ running sensor. The Nike+ platform is a multi-channel, multi sensory platform (brand utility) allowing for individuals to come together. Nike Digital Sport division was formed in 2010 with the intention of taking the Nike+ idea for running across all of Nike’s major sports categories. Nike Digital Sport’s Marketing Mantra: Digital marketing drives the agenda. Reliance on paid media (big-budget) top down campaigns celebrating a single hit has been removed. Nike has already perfected the art of big branding, it’s now moving to a world where consumers want to become a part of the brand story. Nike Digital Sports believe that if you have a body you are an athlete

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Nike Inc. has been apart of the athletic apparel market ever since its inception as Nike Inc. on May 30th, 1971, and has always been known for innovating and making better a product that already exists. Bill Bowerman the co-founder of Nike started his run of product concepts back when he would pull apart the then modern running shoes of his day and try and see how he could make them lighter while at the same time not losing the durability and flexibility that a running shoe has to offer the athlete. Bowerman was always striving to make the current running shoe better in his day, and had that attitude to make better and innovate an existing product throughout his company. Innovation is a very important factor, probably the most important when it comes to Nike's product concept approach. Personalized collections lie in that field of their concepts as well, having athletes from various sports custom design products for Nike to sell to consumers.

Kobe Bryant Nike Ad

 Nike through its sale of sneakers is probably the biggest of products for them, as they draw the most attention and bring in the most revenue for the company. Nike preaching innovation is well applied as Nike is able to instill and put forth the best and latest fashionable, technological and design trends and patterns and directions that are "in" in today's world and today's consumer base. One thing Nike does well is having a series of numerous top athletes being represented by them, and having them design apparel and especially sneakers for them to sell. The Nike basketball shoes sold by them that are designed by and represent stars such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant sell especially well. They have their super star athletes sit down with a designer and they then go ahead and design the sneaker and select the color ways and everything from the laces to the sole of the sneaker and put it out for the consumer. The fact that Nike has these athletes design these sneakers personally not only makes the sneaker more appealing to consumers, but gives it more reason to be purchased. 


Concept of A shoe

The designs of these players are very unique as most of their designs have a story or a meaning behind them as well as a direction for the consumers, which most other athletes from other companies do not have or really apply. The personal ties and stories and the personalization done by them is huge for Nike's product concepts. Kevin Durant especially always has a personal tie and a back story and a direction for the consumer's feeling to why and how he designed a certain sneaker and gave it certain colors and features, and offers his personal story to it. As all these factors play in, Nike's shoes I would consider to be a shopping product, as consumers are constantly looking up info on them and are willing to spend more on them, as these products are more expensive than others and are not found in all stores or are hard to find or only have limited availability. Nike is always updating and modifying and improving their products on a regular basis, and releasing new sneakers as often as possible. For example, every winter Nike will release a newly designed line of sneakers for the winter season, and does the same for the summer season as well. They are constantly making new and improved designs available for a consumer. As well as the actual design of the shoe Nike keeps intact the idea of using environmentally safe and beneficiary materials when making sneakers, as most of the materials they use in the designing are from recycled sneakers.   

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Nike is an internationally known company that focuses on relationship selling. They work hard on developing their long term relationships with individual consumers. Through their innovative products and technology they’ve been able to instill that relationship into one’s daily life. Whether that be through the Nike running app, the Nike Fuel Band, or the apparel made by Nike. Nike has done a very good job keeping their customers satisfied and coming back for more. If it’s not the name that customers are coming for then it’s the quality. Nike has many competitors in the sportswear industry so too keep its customers satisfied they listen to what the community has to say. They do a phenomenal job of following the five service quality dimensions which entails of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. IN terms of reliability their products are effective and often supersede expectations. Nike also values their customer service. I recently ordered a pair of sneakers from Nike.com and they didn’t suit my liking. So I called Nike’s customer service and not only were they able direct with different ways to return the product, I was also given $10 off my next purchase as an incentive. With all of this the Nike team either develops new ways of helping the customer with what they want as well as develop new product to better fit what the majority is demanding. 

Through Personal Selling, Nike is able to go the less expensive route (in comparison to advertisement) and the more direct and convincing route when dealing with customers and trying to sell their brand products to consumers. Nike generally makes most of its money from selling its products to many retailers to go and sell in their stores, such as Foot Locker, Modells, Champs, Finish Line and other large athletic sneaker and apparel stores. Besides the in person, in store impact, the websites of Nike and their retailers offer a very well presented and put together place for the consumer to research and look at what they may want to purchase before actually entering a store in person and being taught about the product. This is very important in today's world since most people go online and shop around and look at different retailers and websites for information on a specific product rather than go to numerous stores in person to conduct research. Online options offer these customers more of a variety and size of stock to look at and consider purchasing. Nike's brand and its "Swoosh" logo is the way how personal sales emphasize to the customer of Nike products. Nike does this through its own website as mentioned above, but most importantly through its employees in their stores and the other employees at various retailers of theirs. Whether in the Nike store or in Nike retailers, these employees are always available and are always able to offer the best and quickest information of a product.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Advertising has always been a strong suite for Nike Inc. They use a good mixture of Institutional Advertising, and Productive Advertising within their advertisements. In 2010, Nike launched a new division called Nike Digital Sport Their main objectives are to develop devices and technologies which allow consumers to track their personal statistics in any sport they participate in. They've recently been best known for their Nike + running sensor, the amazing performance tracking tool developed with Apple, which currently has over 10 million users according to Fortune.com In addition they are also responsible for the follow up product, the Nike FuelBand which tracks your energy output, sleep, and steps. Nike Digital Sport is not just about creating neat, must have sports gadgets, these gadgets have allowed Nike to get close to its consumers. The data holds exceptional promise for one of the world’s greatest marketers: It means Nike can follow them, build an online community for them, and forge a tighter relationship with them than ever before. It’s part of a bigger, broader effort to shift the bulk of Nike’s marketing efforts into the digital realm.

Throughout the years Nike has used a Unique Selling Proposition by adding a desirable, exclusive, believable advertising appeal to their sneakers like the Jordan brand, or the nike footwear they've been able to be the number one sportswear brand. While also being able to charge top dollar for their products. Nike has set the standard across the sportswear industry for pricing on their products. Moreover, Nike Inc has several different ways of advertising. They tend to use a lot of Monitored Media options to reach the masses of people within their target market throughout the world. Nike's advertising is well versed in television advertising, Internet and Social Media, Outdoor Media and billboards, and Magazines. I've also more recently started receiving unmonitored advertising for Nike, they sent me direct mail making me aware of their new running apparel and new sneakers for the spring/summer line. In 2013 according to Fortune.com, Nike spent over 2 Billion dollars on marketing alone to help build their brand. However Nike has dropped its spending on TV and print advertising in the U.S. by 40% in just three years. Instead, Nike is going where the customer is, spending nearly $800 million on nontraditional advertising in 2013 and foregoing $100 million-plus sponsorships and traditional media buys to focus on online campaigns first. Not only does Nike think it can do without the mega-TV campaigns of old, it says the digital world allows the brand to interact even more closely with its consumers. Nike's redirection in marketing and advertising has helped them reach new heights, and is why in 2015 they are expected to bring in over 30 billion dollars in revenue, with revenue expectations grow to as high as 36 billion by 2017 according to Bloomberg.com  

Ch. 14- Marketing Channels and Retailing

Nike Inc presently has 858 operational chain stores worldwide according to Statistica.com. The stores offer an outstanding level of service, including free marathon training, exceptional one to one membership service, and they also have Nike ID studios in most of their locations. Nike ID offers the Nike customer the opportunity to customize almost any Nike sneaker to their liking. Customers can play with different shoe color variations, the soles, place their initials or name on their shoe etc. This gives more personalization to the consumer product and also adds a unique, 1 of 1 type of concept to the Nike shoe. Nike also has a very famous online store in which many of their customers go to check out their new products (Nike.com). In 2014 according to Forbes.com Nikes saw a very impressive growth of 42% in their online sales. In the Nike store you can find ALL products Nike.  They also offer many different types of services which many of their consumers find to be very helpful.

I recently visited the Niketown flagship location located on 57^th street between 5^th avenue and Madison. And when I asked one of the employees what they offer service wise in store I was shocked. In store they offer, a marathon training program where people can run and get tips with professional marathon runners. In addition they offer a Nike + Run Analysis program which helps evaluate your running style on a treadmill in store and critique’s your running posture and style to increase stability and stamina. They also offer a sports bra fitting system for the ladies and pant hemming which tailors your attire to fit just right.