In this essay I will outline the importance of branding within organisations and in businesses including its relevance to how the brand is represented. By the end of this writing, it should be clear as to why branding is important and useful to an organisation. What is branding? Branding is defined as an image or a technique used for companies to help distinguish the differences to other organisations highlighting the products and services they can deliver to its consumers. Branding is used for how the company is delivering its services and what customers can expect from the company. As mentioned by (J Murphy, 1998) it’s really important for consumers to recognise and recommend to others about the products the service can deliver. It is very important of how the organisation would be perceived and to develop a good understanding with its consumers. It is a technique used to create an image on the perception of the organisation. The term ‘branding’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon term which expresses the creation of a brand or its identity and its relationship with its customers, as mentioned by (Aragón en la Edad Media, 2016).
The business I will use with a recognisable brand will be Nike. I believe Nike is a brand well recognised worldwide and is familiar to different types of audiences. Nike is an organisation that works on the marketing and selling of sportswear including footwear and sports equipment. It is one of the largest suppliers in the world delivering top of the range sportswear for affordable prices. The company was founded in 1964 but was known as Blue Ribbon Sports but officially changed the name to Nike Inc in the year of 1971. Ironically, the name Nike roots from the Greek goddess of victory, establishing the strengths of the company and relates to its representation. According to (Thomas, 2019) Wall street was surprised at the level of sneakers and sports equipment sold and how much revenue was expanding, boosting it to over 10 billion US Dollars. This shows the financial gain and the success the brand has benefited the organisation.
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The branding of the organisation is relevant to the business, its events and its products because it raises the returns of the customers. It allows the organisation to be recognised easily due to the distinctive Nike tick. The Nike tick is a symbol of the wings of the goddess of victory which again relates to the name and its origin. It is very important for its marketing purposes for it to be recognised for its logo. This aspect of the company creates its identity which dominates the sporting world. This increases value to the company and allows it to be a successful brand. Nikes branding is culturally understood and allows its customers to identify and label themselves with the brand and to be able to proudly represent the Nike brand. It goes beyond just being a brand, it is the definition of the organization. It allows the creation of the brand being recognised and to stand out from all of its competitors.
Nike has a slogan ‘just do it’ which is part of their marketing strategy for consumers not to think twice. Nike prioritises their customers interests by meeting their needs and demands in order to benefit both the company and its audience. It is a company that tries to keep up with the current social standards and the trends which enable them to stay relevant. As (Fournier,1998) states the consumer-brand validates the relationship between the bonding level of the customer and the organisation. It is also highly backed up by American football quarterback, Colin Rand Kaepernick, who was an activist and representative for African Americans, was asked to do an advertisement for Nike which then increased its value by $6billion. This shows us that by getting one person to do a short ad had a major impact on the income of the company. When branding Nike know exactly what they need to do to ensure sales are hit.
This brand has many different missions when promoting their products. As well as giving sport a better innovation in the eyes of the public; they also have a major impact on local communities. They have created the Nike community impact fund or NCIF in America which allows 48 non-profit organisations and schooling communities to be awarded with $240,000 for grants to benefit children. It gives children the opportunities and experiences to exceed their physical abilities by sports and exercise. As recognised by (Size, F. and WIRE, B.,2019), it was believed that the promoting of the brand is what enabled the communities to involve themselves due to the equipment and products being provided for them.
A variable that Nike uses when promoting their products is psychographic to target lifestyle and personality-specific people. Their audience becomes those who enjoy sports whilst this creates a feeling that surpasses the product. This then makes it a lifestyle for them as they want to use these particular products. Many events such as Nike: Run with me, athletic and non-athletic activities help create a group of individuals who share similar interests as they feel they belong to one family called Nike. It also creates a huge number of fans to be involved with what Nike has to offer.
As a brand, Nike’s audience is usually aimed after three kinds of customers which are women, young athletes and runners. They expanded the woman sportswear in 2015 as its was in high demand and in 2017 it was estimated that the female attires would add $2billion in sales. As reported by one of the main CEO’s of the Nike company, as reported by the (Business Insider,2019), Mike Parker spoke on how ‘running is our heritage and our largest performance category’. It establishes the link to the target audience and how it has a positive impact on the increasing and developing of more products in different sectors within the brand.
Nike has two pricing strategies which are split as the value-based and the premium pricing strategy. The value-based strategy, as stated by (Medium, 2019), that it determines ‘the maximum prices that consumers are willing to pay’ on the basis that the customers have a good perception of its value. This tells us that Nike works well for its customers due to maintaining a good price margin which all customers can find within reach. It is not a brand where it pressures its audience with an unrealistic price range for their products which therefore is satisfying for its customers and also to secure the returning of the customers. The second pricing strategy, the premium pricing strategy, establishes Nike and its products in its highest quality and value than any of its competitors and their products. Nike believes that this helps cover both audiences and is able to produce products needed to reach and cover the needs of their target audience.
Nike utilizes geographic segmentation differently to density of market countries, areas, towns and populations. They use their brand through famous players who play baseball and football in the United States to market their products. In the United Kingdom they also use football and rugby as well as cricket in India. From this we can see that their brand has become a household name due to having an international impact.
When advertising their brand Nike uses a mixture of techniques to promote their product. One way they do this is by using marketing communications; this is effective as it attracts and keeps a steady balance of existing customers and new customers. To maintain this, again stated by (Medium,201) that Nike strategically combined advertising, direct marketing, sales and its promotions, public relations in order to succeed. Their marking efforts are to a large extent fruitful in remembering this. Their efforts have helped to foster a steadfast and dedicated client base that will constantly spend on products with their tags.
The Nike Run Club app is designed to provide all the tools needed for the perfect run. In order to do so they decided to partner up with Apple and embed this app into every Apple Watch sold. (Panmore Institute, 2019), states that Nike originally created a series on YouTube which was viewed over 80 million times. This allowed the downloading of the app to increase within its audience, thus outlining how Nike uses different platforms and techniques to sell their products in a way which will reach all of its audience.
Nikes idea of this was led by the idea of carefully creating its advertisement to suit the needs and wants of the customers for them to be satisfied with its services. They do this throughemotional branding, which allows the brand to create a direct attraction to any emotional state, needs, and desires of customers. Nike use Heroism to tell their story when branding as a marketing strategy. Consumers believe that they are the hero with Nikes brand and you are the indolent villain.
The company is very smart about the launches of its products and its events. It uses methods such as social media sites to notify the public about any upcoming activities. It uses Facebook and Instagram to inform the public and to keep them updated using visuals and images including their six categories of running, Nike basketball, the Jordan brand, football, training, and sportswear. This type of branding allows the wider audience to forward information and generate referrals. By remembering this, their marking endeavours are to a great extent successful. Their endeavours have helped encourage a steadfast and devoted customer base that will consistently spend lavishly for items with their tag on them.
Overall branding is relevant to the impression left on its users. It allows clarification of what the company has to offer and also what they can deliver. In this essay you can see that Nike uses many different types of branding to push sales with their customers.
Branding is essential because it not only gives consumers a memorable feeling, but it also enables your customers and clients to understand what to expect from your business. It is a way of ascertaining the brand from competitors and letting the target audience know what makes your choice of branding different from the rest. This then helps build the brand and gives a portrayal of the business and how the audience distinguish it from the rest. By using many different platforms to voice their brand, Nike saw results as figures rise; they done this by using a unique logo, slogan famous athletes, social media and making sure that they give back to local communities around them. They also used different pricing strategies to target the needs of their consumers by making affordable and high-quality products in comparison to any other competitor. From this their brand has thrived and has become one of the best leading sports company.
References
- Aragón en la Edad Media, R. (2016). Índices de la revista Estudios de Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón. Aragón en la Edad Media, (26), p.157.
- Business Insider. (2019). Nike is going after 3 kinds of customers. [online] Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/nike-is-going-after-3-kinds-of-customers-2015-4?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 4 Sep. 2019].
- Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), pp.343-353.
- Medium. (2019). Nike’s Brilliant Marketing Strategy — Why You Should Be (Just) Doing it Too. [online] Available at: https://medium.com/the-mission/nikes-brilliant-marketing-strategy-why-you-should-be-just-doing-it-too-d3680d9254ba [Accessed 4 Sep. 2019].
- Panmore Institute. (2019). Nike Inc.’s Marketing Mix (4Ps/Product, Place, Promotion, Price) - An Analysis - Panmore Institute. [online] Available at: http://panmore.com/nike-inc-marketing-mix-4ps-product-place-promotion-price-analysis [Accessed 4 Sep. 2019].
- Size, F. and WIRE, B. (2019). Nike Gives Back Locally to Strengthen Communities and Get Kids Moving Through the Nike Community Impact Fund. [online] Businesswire.com. Available at: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161201006001/en/Nike-Locally-Strengthen-Communities-Kids-Moving-Nike [Accessed 4 Sep. 2019].
- Thomas, L. (2019). Nike misses on earnings but beats on revenues as customers buy more sneakers and sports gear. [online] CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/27/nike-reports-fiscal-4q-2019-earnings.html [Accessed 4 Sep. 2019].
- Vox. (2019). Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad sparked a boycott — and earned $6 billion for Nike. [online] Available at: https://www.vox.com/2018/9/24/17895704/nike-colin-kaepernick-boycott-6-billion [Accessed 4 Sep. 2019].
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