Nike Brand Equity Analysis

Nike pit Equity AnalysisIntroductionThe populace constantly changes and disparities, however, some upper side marques seem to keep their leadership determine in their industry to this day. Strong put ups ar amazingly durable and make up the ultimate ability to overcome many challenges. Either does Nike. Since its creation in 1971 in the USA, the Nike swoosh is still one of the worlds most valuable tell on despite of the severe crises. Ranked at 26 on the tendency of Inter cracks Best globose Brands in 2009 with a tick off assess at $13.2 billion dollars, up 4% from a value of $12.7 billion utmost yr, Nike is the best among loosenesss sign, left the big competitors, Adidas and puma far behind (Inter betray report, 2009).So how has Nike got ahead and stayed ahead?This bind will be employed Elliott and Percys geomorphologic framework of defacement squall equity synthesis to investigate in four-spot dimensions of Nike score equity, namely brand attitude ( utilita rian and emotional features), symbolic meaning, brand aw argonness and brand consignment to draw the deposit picture of Nike brand equity in the sportswear industry.About NikeIn 1962, inspired by jockstrap aspiration, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight shook their hand to cofounded Blue ribbon manoeuvres, precursor of Nike. The initial business then was to distribute low-cost and richly quality Japanese athletic plaza to the Statesn. Today, Nike not solely designs and sells athletic property at every profitable food food market worldwide, but to a fault operates in athletic app arel, sport equipment and subsidiary venture including Cole Haan, transposed Inc., Hurley International LLC, Nike Golf and Umbro Ltd (Nike report, 2009). Headquartered at Oregon, United States, Nike has been presented across more than clx countries around the world targeting its primary market regions United States, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Nike employs about(predicate) 32,500 people as of May 31, 2008 (Datamonitor Research, 2009). By in submit or direct way, Nike touches the lives of millions more with its advance(a) intersectionions that transform every sport into a benignant battle (Superbrands, 2002).Nike customersThe decade ago, Bill Bowerman, the co-founder of Nike once said If you have a body, you are an athlete (Nike company overview, 2010). This motto transmitted not only the whole brand characteristics but also the main targeted customers. They are athletes and anyone with a body.Nike offers a wide product portfolio of sport-inspired lifestyle apparel, accessories and equipment. Nike provides athletic footwear for runners, trainers and basketball game game players. The company also offers stead and equipments specially designed for those addicted lawn tennis and golf players and etcetera. Such diverse product extensions enable the company to occupy the varied athletic admits of its customers (Datomonitor Research, 2009)Nike and its rivalsSportsw ear has been a thriving market in recent long time. According to the research Global footwear labor profile releasing by Datomonitor in 2009, the global footwear market generated total revenues of $ 196,617 million in 2008. Thus, Nike has experienced intense competition from the flake its first sporting shoes being introduced to their customers. Globally, this market is dominated by the big three namely Nike, Adidas, and Puma (Sport+Markt Report, 2008 Keynote Report, 2010).AdidasAdidas was truly the first sports company, it was founded in 1920. They once really blew in the decade of 70s and 80s. By the previous(predicate) 90s, Adidas realized itself forgotten in the back of game. In the 21st century, the brand has steadily affirmed its position and seems on renaissance. Adidas brand attachd its value at 6%, ranked 62th on the cite of Best Global Brands 2009 and continued to take the second largest sporting goods manufactures behind Nike (Interbrand, 2009)The overall Adidas br and competes straightly and closely with Nikes value proposition. Nike aims To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world, meanwhile, Adidas mission is Improving every athletes performance with innovation. The brand determine of Adidas have been claimed that authenticity, inspiration, honesty and commitment are derived from sport. (Datamonitor research, 2009)Puma situated at 97th, Puma brand appeared at the first time on the Interbrand annual report. Interbrand analysts gave the positive compliments for Pumas effort to compete against the big rivals. through with(predicate) innovative design, co-branding and partnerships with celebrities and famous designers such(prenominal)(prenominal) as Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, Puma refreshes their brand image. The company defines its brand as the mixes of sport, lifestyle and path to increase its desirability (Puma report, 2009). The Puma brand variousiates itself from Nike by communicating lifestyle co mpulsive style with active lifestyle themes whereas Nike counsel on performance operate style.Nike brand equityHaving and holding customers is likely to be a combative battle which each brand tries all efforts to win. They compete for functional attributes, classifiable services or ripe technologies (Aaker, 1991).So what are emotional and functional benefits which Nike provides for their customers?Functional and emotional features of the brandSince Nike was set up by one-on-one who has a deep passion for athletics and running, it should come no confusion that product is important. Products that are comfortable, authentic, functionally ripe and uniquely designed (Nike report, 1985). The innovative technology is considered as one of the defining dimensions of Nikes brand identity and unified culture.The simple driving concept has led to some impressive innovations which is considered as one of the defining dimensions of Nikes brand identity and corporate culture. The first foreground was Air cushioning, using pressurized gas to cushion impact and new materials such as Urathane, that was utilize first with the Air Max running shoes (Nike report, 1987). More recently, to obtain maximum performance, Nike Sport Research laboratory has observed the innovative technology such as Shox, which are made generally of rubber and spring back adding more power to a runners footfall and Total 90 Concept, a range of equipment to help players perform over 90 minutes of a soccer match (Keller, 2008)Such innovative technology which Nike has used has gained the strong hold in consumers perceptions. The research of Ross and Harradine (2004) focusing on relationship between young school children and branding, peculiarly sportswear shoes brands showed that children aged from 4 7 years old believed that these brands could alter their personal performance. They do very fast shoes. They make you run faster. They are also comfortable and look good, they added.Clearly, fu nctional benefit is the fundamental and classic features to communicate with customers. However, if Nike just provided high quality running shoes to deepen athletic performance, Nike would not be strong brands. According to Aakers (1991), big brands need to be beyond the purely functional relationships. They should frame a more strong emotional attachment with core consumers because emotional benefits add immensity and depth to the brand and the experience of possessing and using the brand (Aakers, 2009)Guinn et al (p219, 2008) stated that Nike offers emotional benefits which are the exhilaration of athletic performance excellence scent engaged, active, and healthy exhilaration from admiring professional and college athletes as they perform wearing your brand when they win, you win too.Associated brand with the top athletes, Nike tells story of brands which the main themes is sportsmanship and unrelenting effort. These are the story of Michael Jordan who won a record 10th sc oring rubric and was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players (NBA history, 2010) in Americans National basketball association championship. Lance Armstrong survived and won a second straight stoppage de France while Tiger Woods completed the career Grand Slam, ensuring his frame in golf history at the age where most of us are still wondering what we will do when we grow up (Nike report, 2000). The most three prominent athletes has generated the inspiration for young and next generation of athletes. Nike has succeeded to transfer their inspirations to every single purchaser. Wearing every pair of Nike shoes is to engage a passion for excellence and encourage to do your own thing. Just do it the tagline could sum up all the greatest values of brand which is (Superbrands case study, 2002).symbolical meaningProducts are no interminable just products, they move beyond the functional meanings. Nowadays, they are definitely amicable tools serving as a means of communication betwee n the individual and his signifi hypocrisy references (Grubb and Grathwohl, 1967 as cited by Banister and Hogg, 2003). Products are considered as a symbol of individuality and uniqueness, and also symbol of affiliation and kindly identification. It is particularly trued with the fashion brands. bearing brands such as clothes, bags, shoes and etc satisfy fence functions, both(prenominal) social identification and distinction among individuals (Banister Hogg, 2003)Nike must have still the recipe well. The Just do It campaign in the early nineties would be a perfect example. Losing ground to archrival Reebok which was quick initiative on designing style, fashion aerobics shoes in 1980s (Keller, 2008), Nike responded dramatically and forcefully by launching the Just do it campaign which was mainly focused on person wearing on products instead of product itself.Heroes and hero worship was being built as the main themes of publicize. distinction endorsements such as Bo Jackson, John McEnroe and Michael Jordon appealed to the consumers sense of blending and hipness. In early(a) words, Americans consumers were convinced that wearing for every part of your life was smart (the shoes are designed for comfort) and hip (everyone else is wearing them you too can belong to this group) (CFAR, 1998).Just Do It campaign succeeded (Nike increased its share of the domestic sport shoe business after launching this campaign in America from 18 percent to 43 percent, regained the leader position) because it could fascinate customers in both separating ways. Wearing Nike as a self fulfilling image declaration if you are hip, you are probably wearing Nike. But perhaps most importantly, it could create the desirable needs -if you want to be hip, wear Nike (CFAR, 1998).Symbolic meanings of Nike brand are also tracked in the research on Symbolic and functional positioning of brands of Bhat and Reddy (1998). This study showed that Nike bring ind high on the prestige and char acter expression scales (See Appendix). The findings of Hogg et al (1998) also support the success of habituated the symbolic and emblematic meanings to sportswear brands. The youth showed facility in construe the symbolic meanings attached to the sports brands which were associated with the different sports stars (such as footballers, rugby players, athletes and tennis players) and with different sports (e.g. football and rugby.)Brand LoyaltyLuring by good shoe with innovative functionality and athletic aspiration value, Nike has indeed come to mind and embrace of its customers. By the mid of 1990s, 77 percent of male Americans from the age of 18 to 25 chose Nike as their favourite shoe, according to Rozanski et al (1999). The figure still mud stably despite of that up and down year Nike has been experience, gaining the high score of customer satisfaction at 79 percent rated by The American Customer Satisfaction Index Organization (2009).It could be said that dedication to the Nike brand is driven by many external and internal factors such as brands subjective and objective characteristics and loyalty classing programs.One glaring example of creating innovative method to capture the strong relationships with Nike users is that creating Joga.com, a social network site for foot ball fans. Launching quietly in the early 2006, the site became an instant hit, peaking at 7.5 million viewers when Nike showed Ronaldinho impression clips, according to Nike (2006). More than 1 million members from 140 countries signed up by mid July. In this site, fans can create their personal blogs, build communities around favorite teams or players, download video and organize pickup arm games. By enrolling consumers in building and shaping the content of the website, Nike pulled their loyal customers closer, nurtured deeper bonds of loyalty and advocacy. (Kotler and Amstrong, 2007)Brand AwarenessBrand awareness is the first and crucial phase angle of consumers preference. It refers to the strength of a brands presence in the consumers mind (Aakers, 1996). Nike has been successful in building awareness. The Swoosh symbol has been appeared everywhere, on shoes, hats, billboards and soccer balls across the globe too remarkably to such extent that one author used the title The Swooshification of the World on Sports Illustrated column that imaged a future in which the swoosh could surpass sports to become a letter of the alphabet and the new presidential seal, among other things(Keller, 2008). True be told, the credit rating of the swoosh is super high.According to Keller (2008), as of 2000, 97 percent of American citizens recognized the brand logo, as the strong brand penetration. The studying of Arona and Stoner (2009) on correspondence brand personality also assists this fact. The findings indicated that Nike was perceived as a possessive force or authority in the market place, reaching at to the highest degree 90 percent (Figure below)The resul ts of Ross and Harradines research (2004) on brand recognition and awareness on children is also supportive, which showed that Nike could be recognized consistently without identification of brand name, even by the youngest group (aged from 4 to 6 years old). This perhaps may reflect the general level of advertising and forward motion that children are exposed to.How has Nike done to build brand awareness?Sponsorships, advertising and experience focused retailing (Nike town) are three vivid transmit that Nike has applied to enhance its brand image and awareness. Among these strategies, athlete endorsements could be considered as the most significant success of Nike brand.Nike has been invested millions of dollars to associate their brand names with well recognizable athletes with the aim of brand image building (1.6 billion dollars is pass on multiyear athlete endorsement by Nike according to Horrow (2007). Athletes at the top of their respective sport such as Micheal Jordan, Ti ger Woods, and Lance Armstrong who are well liked and respected by members of the brands target audience are chosen as endorsers to associate the Nike brand with the athletes celebrity image. This strategy has been paid off, for example, since Tiger Woods and Nike cooperated, annual sales for Nike Golf have exceeded to nearly $500 million dollars with an estimated 24 percent growth per year in the first five years of the agreement (Pike, 2006 cited by Carlson and Donavan, 2008).ConclusionSince the Nike name is chosen in 1971 with the concepts of victory, success and speed, Nike has been keeping its great speed in the fierce competitive environment. Building brand image and its associations around a famous person and conducting the two way conversation with power consumers through innovative digital channels, Nike has hold the strong presence in the heart of consumers.REFERENCEAaker, D., 1996. Building strong brands. New York The Free PressAaker, David A., 1991. Managing Brand Equ ity. New York The Free PressElliot, R. and Percy, L., 2007, Strategic brand management, Oxford Oxford University PressGuinn, T., 2008. advert and Integrated brand promotion. 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