Objectives: Nike is a Worldwide leader in the sporting goods industry. Nike in 2017 reported $34.4 Billion in revenue. This was more than its 2 closest competitors Adidas and Under Armour combined (Kim, 2020). With Nike’s next venture, sport supplements, Nike looks to increase its domination of the overall sporting World. Nikes objectives are to help all athletes be the best. Nike’s new supplement line, Above The Rest Supplements, will be a product that fits perfectly in Nike’s product lineup. These supplements will help the hardcore athlete have the competitive edge, while also the casual athlete stay healthy and complete their personal goals. While doing significant research and sampling, Nike has discovered important information regarding the target market, best supplement style, promotional techniques and distribution.

Industry Trends: The Sport Supplement industry is one that is growing very quickly. The Sport Nutrition market is expected to reach $44 billion by 2021. This would include protein powders, drink powders, capsules/tablets, ready to drink supplements, protein bars, energy supplements and bars. Overall, about 40% of the global sport nutrition market share was from the United States, which will be Nike’s target country for distribution. It is forecasted that the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow the fastest, so this will be an area Nike will watch closely for new opportunities (Upadhyay, 2016). These trends indicate a great opportunity for Nike to get into a growing industry and use their brand recognition, reputation and professional athlete influence to break into a new product category.

Legal and Ethical Industry Standards:

In marketing the product, Nike will need to be aware of many different ethical and legal issues. First off, Nike needs to be aware of other contracts their sponsored athletes have as well as league rules. For example, if Nike shows Lebron James using the Above the Rest supplements, Nike will need to ensure that Lebron himself does not have a current sponsorship with another supplement company as this could cause legal issues for Nike. Nike has experienced this in the past as Nike sponsored athlete Tiger Woods was shown in a series of commercials for Nike Golf apparel, which he was sponsored by Nike. Since Tiger was sponsored by Titleist for golf equipment and golf balls, Titleist sued Nike even though Nike never claimed Tiger used their products, it could be assumed that Tiger has switched to Nike golf equipment (Press, 1999).

            Nike will also need to watch for any violations using their products could cause their sponsored athletes. If Lebron James is shown using Nike Above The Rest supplements and one of the supplements is deemed an “illegal substance” by the NBA, this could cause huge issues. This could also cause a general ethical issue for Nike as consumers could look down on Nike for selling something that may be controversial or “illegal”. Nike also needs to make sure they do not state any claims in their marketing. Saying something like “Above The Rest Supplements are scientifically found to make you jump higher” can be false advertising and cause may legal issues. 

Limitations: It seems the limitations discovered would be the variety of sample feedback from those selected for the sample groups. With gaps in quality feedback, it will be hard to create a product that has proven successful in testing.

References:

Kim, M. (2020). How Phil Knight made Nike a leader in the sport industry: examining the success factors. Sport in Society, 23(9), 1512–1523.

Press, A. (1999, July 7). Titleist sues Nike over Tiger ads. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from http://www.espn.com/golfonline/tours/pga/1999/990707/00001681.html

Upadhyay, S. (2016, October). Sports Nutrition Market Size, Share, Industry Growth & Analysis. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/sports-nutrition-market

Looking at the major companies listed for the final project, I will be researching Nike. Nike is one of the World’s largest sporting goods company. In 2017 they reported $34.4 Billion in revenue, which was far superior to their closest competitors Adidas and Under Armour (Kim, 2020). Nike produces a variety of Sporting good equipment including footwear, apparel and hardgoods. I have chosen Nike as being an athlete, I have used and enjoyed their products for many years.

The product that will be recommend will be a Nike supplement line for athletes. Nike is known for their athletic brand image and a supplement line makes sense to go along with their performance apparel and equipment. Nike will need to do market research such as surveys, product testing, and general research. Nike will want to target both athletes and every day consumers as supplements are not just for athletes. Nike will want to research the supplement industry as well to see what things they need to be aware of.

References:

Kim, M. (2020). How Phil Knight made Nike a leader in the sport industry: examining the success factors. Sport in Society, 23(9), 1512–1523.

As you browse Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat you will probably come across someone showing off or telling you about a product. A new way to market is to use Social Influencers. This involves using popular figures (celebrities, athletes, or people with large number of followers) to advertise a product.

I personally find myself following a few different influencers, some former reality TV stars, while others are people who have gained popularity and following on social media. I noticed that Influencer type marketing seems to have 2 different styles. One way is its more of a subtle product ad. Maybe the influencer is wearing a brand or eating a certain food. Other times its much more in your face and something along the lines of “this product X is amazing it does all this, use my code xxxxx to get a discount”.

These different strategies seem to both work as there are times where you may see a picture with a Dunkin Donuts coffee in the influencers hand and all of a sudden you have a craving for a coffee. Other times you are drawn in from the product they are showing off.

I think with the use of Social Media being so large and more and more people streaming TV services, Influencer marketing is a must. It is a way for companies to potentially save money compared to TV ad costs and they have a easier way to target their potential audience.

With certain influencers being more “every day people” it shows that products can be used in every day life. If you see a celebrity advertising a $500,000 car it is unrealistic to the majority of people seeing it. If you see a “normal” person using a product and then showing a way to save money through a discount code, consumers are more connected the product and more likely to purchase it or look at other products from the brand.

Overall, Influencers are changing the marketing landscape and have become a way for people to make a very good living using their social media to display products.

So you are new to marketing? Marketing is an exciting, fast paced industry with many moving parts. There are many important things to pay attention to, but some are top of the list. Two of those things are a code of conduct and ethics. We have all seen unethical marketing, but there are also times where company’s walk the line and create controversial campaigns. In some cases the company needs to determine if the image was what they wanted to portray or not. For example, most remember Nike’s ads with Colin Kaepernick. These ads were based around the concept of “Dream Crazy” a message that went well with Nike’s well know “Just do it” tag line. The ad itself was great and powerful. The issue was Nike’s use of Colin Kaepernick narrating the commercial. Due to his views on certain political and national issues, Nike took a lot of heat for using the athlete. But, since the ad created so much buzz, Nike actually saw their sales soar. This is a perfect example of just how thin of a line there is between being unethical and ethical (Papenfuss, 2019).

In looking at marketing, it is best to stick by some ethical values.

• Honest
• Responsibility
• Fairness
• Respect
• Transparency
• Citizenship

We can dive more into each of these and examine how to use them in an integrated marketing campaign.

Honesty

It is very important to be honest in the marketing that the company is doing. This includes the consumers as well as internal stakeholders and investors. With technology and they availability of information, not being honest could cripple the company. Being honest can be as simple as not making false claims about the product or company.

Responsibility

This is one that has many different angles. This refers to being responsible to the needs of customers. It also includes making sure to not betray stakeholders. It requires the company to make sure they are mindful of all market segments and do not target vulnerable segments. Lastly, company’s need to look at their environmental responsibility. Consumers are much more conscious of the environmental impact of companies and want to make sure they are supporting companies who are trying to be environmentally responsible.

Fairness

This means making sure to represent products in a clear way. Things that go against this would be deceitful ads or misleading promotions. It also has to do with price of the product and avoiding price fixing. Price fixing is where companies agree to sell products at a “fixed” price, which then impacts supply and demand. This allows companies to make increased profit as consumers have no choice but to pay the higher price.

Respect

As in any industry, this means to respect all customers and stakeholders regardless of demographic group (age, sex, race, background, etc). It also means you want to listen to the consumers in order to improve your product and meet their needs. Being respectful also means understanding and treating all buyers, suppliers and distributors with respect no matter what culture they come from. Respect is also internal as the company should acknowledge contributors such as employees, consultants and co-workers. Lastly, you will want to treat your competition with respect.

Transparency

Much like being honest, it is important to be clear with all consumer and stakeholders. This means that things such as promotions, prices, financing terms all need to be clear and precise. It is also important to inform consumers and stakeholders of any important happenings with the company. Much like being honest, people have access to information and if a company is not being transparent it can really damage the company.

Citizenship

This means that as a company you want to be a great member of the area you are located. This can mean giving back to the community by volunteering or donations. This also means encouraging those involved with your company, supply chain members, to use fair trade practices.

In conclusion, it is very important to keep these ethical guidelines in mind when creating marketing plans. If something is seen as unethical, even if it was never the intention of the company, it can still be very damaging. In the previous example of Nike, there is a fine line of being ethical and unethical. Even though the ad paid off for Nike, other companies may have not been so lucky.

References

AMA Statement of Ethics. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/codes-of-conduct/

Papenfuss, M. (2019, September 16). Nike’s Controversial Colin Kaepernick Ad Wins Emmy For Best Commercial. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-nike-ad-creative-arts-emmy_n_5d7efe19e4b00d69059b023f

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

We have all heard about how important goal setting can be for individuals, but did you know that it is just as important for companies? Setting goals is a major strategy for companies looking to obtain something in their industry. Companies will look to put together marketing campaigns in order to achieve these select benchmarks they have set. So, what goes into these marketing campaigns you may ask? These consist of goals, strategies and tactics. In business a goal is defined as what a company expects or hopes to accomplish over a specific period (Singer, 2019).  Tactics are another element in a marketing campaign, tactics are practical things you do every day. These things could include using Social Media, emails, meetings or appointments (Charlie, 2019).  Strategy is the larger vision that helps achieve the initial goal. Strategy is there to make sure your day to day activities (which can be classified as tactics) are in line with your goals (Charlie, 2019). Now you may ask how S.M.A.R.T goals come into play here. Well, these S.M.A.R.T goals are how to make sure your strategy is effective. In case you don’t know S.M.A.R.T goals stand for specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, timely (Charlie, 2019).  So how could this look for a company’s goal? Let’s take a look.

Let’s create an example for Company A

• Increase online sales revenue 20% by year end.
• Increase Social media interactions (follows, likes) 10% by year end.
• Increase web traffic 15% by year end.

All of these would be the goals the company has set.

So, in looking at the goals Company A has set, we need to make sure they are S.M.A.R.T goals. In order to do this, we need to make sure they meet the following criteria which we mentioned previously.

• Specific: Are the goals broken down to specific things?
• Measurable: Do the goals include a way to see if they are achieved?
• Actionable/Attainable: Are the goals truly something that can be done/realistic
• Relevant: Are the goals things that the Company needs to focus on?
• Timely: Is there a set time frame to achieve these goals?

A great way for companies to set these S.M.A.R.T goals is to ask themselves some questions to truly see what they are looking to achieve. Utilizing a SWOT analysis is a great way to make sure all things are considered. Things that need to be considered are what are the current strengths of the company? Are there any weaknesses that could impact these goals? Do these goals align with opportunities for the company? What threats may cause roadblocks for these goals?

Given our example, it is important to see how the company’s tactics are aligning with the strategy.  For Company A, they have dedicated employees who focus on the company’s social media. This includes responding to customers messages and questions. The company also has a dedicated web team to make sure the website is updated with new products. Company A also has a large sales team that is out looking for/taking care of new customers. These day to day tactics aligns with the larger strategy to meet the goals set by the company.

With all of this goal setting, it is important to know if the goals are being achieved. In order to do this, it is important for the company to look at Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). With the goals of increasing social media interactions set by Company A in our example, they would want to look at things such as Likes, and follows on social media, engaged users (post reactions, comments, messages). For the goal of increasing web traffic, it would be important to look at website views over a specific time period. This could then be used to see if increasing web traffic leads to an increase in online revenue. By using these KPI’s we can relate it back to the SMART goal criteria of measuring if we have met our specific goals over a selected period of time.

After looking at all the different parts of goal setting, it is now time to get out there and set some goals for your business! Remember that you should make sure you have SMART goals and have the KPI’s to see if they have been achieved.

References

A quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/87476-a-goal-without-a-plan-is-just-a-wish

Charlie (2019, July 16). The Difference Between Marketing Strategy vs Tactics – An Example. Retrieved from http://charliesaidthat.com/digital/digital/difference-between-marketing-strategy-vs-tactics-an-example/

Singer, M. (2019, August 5). Goal – definition and meaning. Retrieved from https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/goal/