Nike Jordan Brand, its Consumer Targets, and Marketing Strategies

May 16, 2020

NikeJordan Brand, its Consumer Targets, and Marketing Strategies

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NikeJordan Brand, its Consumer Targets, and Marketing Strategies

BriefHistory

Parkand Kincade (2013) note that in 1984, Nike transformed the marketingindustry when it signed a 2.5 million-dollar five-year endorsementcontract with the legendary NBA player Michael Jordan. Nike made themove shortly after Michael Jordan won a Gold Medal for hisoutstanding performance at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.Nike gave Michael Jordan`s line of basketball sneakers a swoosh logo,inventing the Nike Jordan brand of sneakers. The Air Jordan 1,produced in 1985, was the world`s first signature shoe customized foran NBA basketball player.

AirJordan 1`s design was different from all the other basketballsneakers Nike had ever manufactured. Bearing in mind that MichaelJordan was playing for Chicago Bulls, Beresin (2014) observes thatthe signature Air Jordan 1 was red and black consistent with thetrademark colors of the team. The Nike Jordan brand of sneakers pavedthe way for the design of vibrantly colored basketball sneakers.Embarking its voyage in 1984, Nike Jordan Brand has grown to a levelthat in 2014, it commandeered 59% of the 4.3 billion-dollar U.S.basketball marketplace. Nike Jordan brand`s main competitors areAdidas, Reebok, Under Armour, and others (Bosch, 2015).

ConsumerTargets

Accordingto Bosch (2015), the main target marketplace of the Nike Jordan lineof sneakers is boys and men aged between 15 and 25 years old.However, the author continues to say that the broad product line ofNike Jordan sneakers also targets women and children aged between 15and 25 years old. The same age bracket is pursued across the entiretarget marketplace because persons in this age bracket are assumed tobe actively taking part in either high school or college sports. Theprimary customers of the Nike Jordan line of sneakers are located inNew York, Chicago, and Los Angeles because of two main reasons.First, Bosch (2015) perceptively states that basketball is verypopular in these states which implies a high demand of Nike Jordansneakers. Secondly, these places are highly populated. Both of thesedynamics create an incredibly attractive target market for the NikeJordan brand of sneakers. Even so, the Air Jordan brand of sneakerstargets people across the globe and is socially acknowledged byindividuals beyond Nike`s targeted age bracket as a fashionstatement.

NikeJordan Brand Marketing Mix

AsBeresin (2014) perceptively points out, the following elementsconstitute Nike’s Jordan brand of sneakers marketing mix

Product

  • Highly comfortable and efficient.

  • Have user protection considerations.

  • Built from high quality and durable material.

  • Superior performance.

  • Reputation.

  • Exceptional stylish design, color, and looks (Beresin, 2014).

Price

  • High prices for high-end and reputable products.

Place

  • Available in multi-brand franchised stores across the globe.

  • Accessible in more than 900 Nike stores around the world.

  • Can be purchased at Nike`s online store (Beresin, 2014).

Promotion

  • The main promotional platform for Nike Jordan line of sneakers is Nike`s nikebasketball.com.

  • The Air Jordan brand of sneakers is also promoted on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and many more social platforms.

  • Nike Jordan brand is also promoted on other channels including (but not limited to) television commercials, radio advertisements, billboards, and Google.

  • The keywords used in these promotional channels are Jordans, Air Jordans, Nike Jordan, and Michael Jordan.

  • Direct marketing.

  • Personal selling (Beresin, 2014).

NikeJordan Brand Marketing Strategies

CharacterCreation

AsGould (2016) clarifies, Air Jordan`s first marketing leveragetranspired when Vaccaro Sonny, a former Nike marketing executive,signed Michael Jordan to create the new brand of basketball sneakerstrusting that he was the perfect promotional vehicle. Bycommissioning the image of Michael Jordan, the author notes that Nikewas seeking to inject life, character, and emotions into the designof the Nike Jordan brand of basketball sneakers. Supporting Nike’smarketing stunt, Moon (2017) observes that all marketplaces andindustries have luminaries that have the power to influence thepurchasing resolutions of potential customers. For this reason, theimages of celebrities and other influential persons are used by firmsas promotional vehicles to market their products and services.

Likein the case of the Nike Jordan line of basketball sneakers, Gould(2016) correctly claims that Nike`s intention was to use MichaelJordan as a luminary to influence the potential customers of thenewly established line of basketball sneakers. The enthusiastic lifeof Michael Jordan in the basketball pitch is pumped into thesneakers. This resonates well with the potential consumers of the AirJordan brand of sneakers, which then translates into socialattitudes, dressing codes, and other social features (Moon, 2017). Inother words, Michael Jordan is Nike`s luminary because he has boostedthe awareness and increased social acceptance of the Nike Jordanbrand of basketball sneakers. Although the 2.5 million endorsementcontract was a weighty risk, Michael Jordan`s association with Nikehas catapulted the company to unfathomable heights. Other athletessigned by Nike include Lebron James (basketball), Roberto Carlos(football), Ronaldinho (football), and Ronaldo (football).

Productdifferentiation

Asinitially stated, the Air Jordan 1 line of basketball sneakers wasthe first signature footwear designed and manufactured to suit theneeds of an NBA basketball player. The sneakers were strictly red andblack (Beresin, 2014). However, to make the Nike Jordan line of shoesmore marketable, Nike decided to differentiate the line of sneakers.Nike broke away from focusing only on the pure basketball niche andmade the Nike Jordan brand of shoes more of a lifestyle product forall genders by differentiating the brand. Nike currently manufacturesthe Air Jordan footwear for table tennis, track and field, baseball,jogging, football, NASCAR, and many more other physically involvingactivities (Bosch, 2015).

What`smore, Nike has increased the marketability of the Nike Jordan line ofshoe wear by differentiating it to not only meet the sporting needsof boys and men but to cater to the sporting desires of girls andwomen (Park &amp Kincade, 2013). Product differentiation made theNike Jordan brand more marketable because it created room for theproduction of colorful sneakers for both genders. For instance, mostof Air Jordan`s coveted sneakers meant for women stand out because oftheir iconic red soles. The manufacture of differentiated andwell-designed Air Jordan line of products makes them unique fromother sneakers, stirring the demand for the shoes.

EmbracingSocial Media

Astechnology has entirely changed the global marketing landscape, sohave Nike`s marketing strategies evolved. When the Nike Jordan lineof shoes was unveiled, Park and Kincade (2013) note that Nike`smarketing strategies were limited to print publications. In the 80sand 90s, they went on to dominate other avenues like the TV andradio. However, the presence of the internet and social media haspresented Nike with an opportunity to market their products online.Nike currently employs different social media channels to increasetheir presence in the global marketplace of stylish sneakers. TheNike Jordan line of sneakers is often advertised on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and other social sites (Beresin, 2014).

Nikeuses these mediums to promote the Nike Jordan brand of sneakersbecause these social sites have millions of fans and followers.Social media also provides Nike with a platform through which thecompany can interact with their customers. In these interactivemediums, Nike collects feedbacks from their customers to know what todo better in the subsequent batch of Nike Jordan sneakers. Nike hasprofiles on most, if not all, social media platforms where they havefollowers and fans who air their views on the products of thecompany. What`s more, Nike also markets its products on othernon-social media Internet-based mediums like Google (Moon, 2017).

PurposefulWord of Mouth

Whenit was first produced, the Nike Jordan line of shoe wear wastechnically designed for the basketball pitch. The color and thematerials used to manufacture them created more value to thecustomer. As a luminary, Michael Jordan`s image influenced thepotential clients who related with basketball. The buzz went round asfast as a bush fire, making the Air Jordan 1 more than justbasketball sneakers they became a fashion statement. The value ofthe Nike Jordan shoes became readily identifiable to the envisionedtarget marketplaces through purposeful word-of-mouth marketing(Morgan et al., 2014).

Thethrill created by influential word-of-mouth marketing raisedawareness of the Nike Jordan line of sneakers, directing millions ofglobal customers to its sales funnel. Word-of-mouth has helped marketthe Nike Jordan line of sneakers and Nike to millions of peopleinternationally. Another company that has employed this strategy andhas worked for them is Beats By Dre. It is rare to see advertisementsof Beats By Dre, but research shows that 80 percent of high schooland college students have at least one Beats By Dre product. Thecompany`s sales flourish on purposeful word-of-mouth marketing (Moon,2017).

PuttingCustomer Interests First

Whendesigning the Air Jordan 1, Nike was planning to redefine MichaelJordan`s experience in the basketball pitch. Besides availing abasketball shoe, Nike also wanted to improve Michael Jordan`sperformance by making the sneakers lighter, more comfortable,durable, secure, and attractive. It is putting Michael Jordan`sinterests first that gave birth to the differentiated Air Jordan lineof sneakers. Correspondingly, in all their products, Nike endeavorsto deliver great sporting apparel because the company identifies withthe fact that customers appreciate products that have seriousbenefits (Morgan et al., 2014)

Therefore,it is these advantages that reverberate well with the potentialcustomers of the Nike Jordan line of sneakers, making them purchasethe footwear. On social media, Nike answers questions, solvesproblems, and gathers pertinent information that collects thespecific needs of the audience (Gould, 2016). In other words, sellingeasily identifiable benefits instead of the product is one of themarketing strategies employed by Nike, and it works for them. Thecompany places the needs of their customers first when consideringthe designs of new batches of the Nike Jordan brand of footwear.

HowNike Measures the Effectiveness of its Marketing Strategies

Sincethe internet connects millions of people across the globe, Nikemainly uses social media platforms to reach out to their potentialcustomers. Therefore, Nike Google Analytics to determine how muchtraffic is being referred from other social media platforms to itsofficial website. Using this approach, Nike can know the number ofreferrals, new followers, fans, and visitors (Bosch, 2015).

Conclusion

Introducedin 1984, the Nike Jordan Brand of sneakers was tailored to suit thegaming needs of the legendary NBA player, Michael Jordan. As thispaper has exemplified, the primary target was initially boys and menaged between 15 and 25. However, the company presently manufacturesand markets sneakers and other sporting apparels for both genders.Starting off as a basketball sneaker, the Nike Jordan brand of shoesare now more of a lifestyle brand and are recognized across theglobe.

References

Beresin,A. R. (2014). “Nike, Nike, Who Can Do the Nike?” RecessBattles,63-76. doi:10.14325/Mississippi/9781604737394.003.0005

Bosch,P. (2015, September 28). The Economics Of Nike`s Air Jordan Brand.Retrieved April 05, 2017, fromhttp://themarketmogul.com/the-economics-of-nikes-air-jordan-brand/

Gould,C. (2016). The Best Sneakers: The Nike Air Max Classic TW. BeautifulThings in Popular Culture,99-110. doi:10.1002/9780470690994.ch7

Moon,G. (2017, January 25). How To Succeed With The Secret Nike MarketingStrategy. Retrieved April 05, 2017, fromhttps://coschedule.com/blog/nike-marketing-strategy/

Morgan,R., Magin, S., Huber, F., &amp Herrmann, A. (2014). The Why ofBuying Nike – Findings of a Causal Analytical Study. Creatingand Delivering Value in Marketing Developments in Marketing Science:Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science,223-227. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-11848-2_79

Park,H., &amp Kincade, D. H. (2013). Historical Analysis of ApparelMarketer’s Strategies: Evidence from a Nike Case. Journalof Global Fashion Marketing,1(3),182-193. doi:10.1080/20932685.2010.10593070

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