Nike Business Strategy

1. Is Nike wrong to try to leverage its American rebel image to build brand awareness in the global market for soccer footwear and apparel? What are the potential drawbacks of such an approach? Give a justification!

The leverage of the rebel image to build brand awareness by Nike is a part of the global approach which is based on the belief that the world is becoming more homogenous - the distinctions among national markets are fading. That's the reason why they develop and use the image to all markets worldwide. Though this approach contains some disadvantages for business in marketplace, I do not think that Nike is wrong when trying to leverage its American rebel image to build brand awareness in the global market for soccer footwear and apparel.

First, target customers of Nike are the youths. Building brand awareness by creating the rebel image may not be effective and suitable when applied for other similar brands such as Tommy Hilfiger. Although Tommy Hilfiger is also a brand for sport wear, they target at the 25 to 45 year-old consumers, along with the style of "classic American cool". Meanwhile, Nike aims at the wider range of customers with the stronger and bolder style. Therefore, the revolutionary rebel image, along with message like "Just Do It" is more likely to success than any ordinary ones.

Second, one single image for advertising worldwide apparently reduces the cost for research of local taste. Nike was definitely able to deliver different image suitable for the taste of different people in each culture, however, it did not (and I also think that it should not). I do not deny the significance of conducting research on consumer's preference in different regions. However, too close survey and research on domestic or regional taste is not a wise strategy as it throws the burden for financial source, time and human resource while does not guarantee any significant gain in business turnover. Furthermore, what Nike is doing is especially fostered by the process of globalization or more specifically, one of its dimensions called standardization and in today's environment, the standardized strategy like the rebel image worldwide of Nike usually means cross-national strategies rather than a policy of viewing foreign markets as secondary and therefore not important enough to have image/message adapted for them.

Last but not least, the united image throughout the world will ensure that everyone see and acknowledge the brand just by one single image and not be confused by any others - this situation is likely to happen when the brand tries to build different promoting images that suitable for each region. There are enough brands for customers to be confused and Nike does not have to create more but focus on only one strategic action and thus differentiates itself from many other competitors. In addition, one single image caring one outstanding message will make it easier not only for customers to remember but for the company itself in managing and control the advertising campaign.

Nevertheless, there are some problems for such an approach, mostly posed by local context which concern cross-culture issue and domestic regulations/laws. The strong and bold rebel image that Nike tries to send to its customers may be considered as ideal and "cool" with the majority of customers in "open-minded markets" such as America or some Western countries. Meanwhile, due to the differences in awareness and culture, many groups of people may not feel the same way and such a daring image could be seen as unacceptable. The offense could start as negligible in one small group but with the support of internet and many other disguised factors, will be easily and quickly diffused in public and thus may cause considerable loss for the company and the brand awareness. For example, certain ads of the underwear brand Lane Bryant were used to suffer from television boycott in Japan due to the