⚡ MC - Case Study: Nike doesn’t sell shoes. It sells an idea

Today we have a special edition, covering a marketing case study. As always, I welcome your feedback. Let's get to it!

Nike doesn’t sell shoes. It sells an idea with its marketing strategy!

The brand I am going to talk about today needs no introduction. Nike was founded by Phil Knight and his running coach Bill Bowerman. Bill, not coincidentally, is the person responsible for installing jogging as a popular form of exercise among the general public.

While one of Bill’s objectives was obviously to sell the company’s shoes, his main goal was to introduce people to jogging and running and have his products help them achieve their best. And it truly reflects in the marketing strategy of Nike even today. 

Every product emerges from the necessity of fulfilling a need. In Nike’s case, it’s always been to make the consumer better at athletics.

Before moving ahead let’s talk about one of the first print ads of a then-upstart shoe manufacturer “Nike” released around 1977. On the print advertisement, out of a copy that is 152 words long, the word Nike is the 109th word, and appears only twice in the copy (once as the logo). The advertisement’s emotional focus then was not on Nike itself but on the euphoria of running.

So here’s the thing – Nike does NOT sell shoes. As part of its strategy, Nike sells the consumer an idea of overcoming odds, mainly athletic.
The goal is to run to stay healthy. To run one needs comfortable shoes. Nike, by selling the idea of running, is selling its shoes indirectly. Time and again Nike ads have showcased a protagonist battling against a challenge and coming out on top, incidentally, using Nike products, such as the Find Your Greatness campaign.

This approach is excellent because the viewer (potential customer) identifies himself in that protagonist. Every time there is a choice to go to the gym or rest on the couch, the battle begins. And every time we use a Nike product while getting past that hurdle and winning the battle, an association between the brand and overcoming challenges is built in our minds.

Let’s also look at some of Nike’s overwhelming statistics…
It is not surprising to know that Nike has a record of selling about 25 shoes every passing second. That’s insane. Nike’s overall revenue for the Fiscal year of 2021 pulled in $44.5 Billion. Data show that Nike is selling over 780 million pairs of shoes each year through its 1182 stores and digital (30% of Nike sales is through digital channels).

Selling a lifestyle rather than shoes has enabled the brand to become aspirational, generate word of mouth, and absolutely kill on social media, turning it into the behemoth we all know today.

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Snippets

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Gif / Illustration

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