Nike Forming the Image of Athletes

Anyone in America and several other countries in the world knows that Nike astutely focuses its core competency on athlete sponsorship and design all while outsourcing non-core activities such as manufacturing and much of the retailing. To literally create heroes out of these athletes, Nike has to engage in a number of activities.

Nike Forms the Image of an Athlete

First and foremost, find athletes that have succeeded against unformidable odds. Then, identify them before they are well-known superstars. In other words, see the potential and practically predict the future.

As if that is not enough, convince these athletes, among all the competition, to sign an agreement with Nike. After all that, create products that are closely linked with the athlete and promote the athletes or teams along with all their Nike products through TV ads and social media, in a way that will create the desired company image. In the eyes of potential customers and the firm’s relative cost position, every business move and strategy results in the relative value of the product and service being offered.

Tactfully, and eventually over time, Nike developed a deep expertise in creating heroes. Amazingly, and to the wonderful surprise of owners and investors, Nike had consistently better expectations of the future company value than expected.

This allows Nike not only to shape the desired image of the athlete, but also to capture some of the value these athletes create. But is there a risk? The notion of creating heroes is one heck of an effective core competency and Nike wears it very well.

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Nike was that spear heading firm that lead the way with advertising behind those special athletes that have an inspirational success story all while being brilliant enough to identify those athletes that have a tremendous opportunity to become highly superior athletes. Not to mention, each of them had and have the potential to become a real future superstar and possibly enter into the hall of fame, which will allow their marketing value to continue well beyond the expected time frame. With this marketing concept Nike formulated a different image.

All the while, these inspiring and motivating stories provide Nike with a competitive advantage that is unlike any other sports apparel brand. Nike’s approach to reach different athletes in different sports, specifically those who share an unlikely success story is nothing less than brilliant. Or even those who come from just odd situations. Regardless of their situation, Nike is simply looking at an athlete’s sheer potential to become a superstar even though their past situations were totally opposite and even if they were sometimes not likely to even succeed in their respective sport. Now that is risky in every aspect of the word no matter how you look at it. I do feel that Nike uses the VRIO attributes which also gives them a competitive advantage over its competition and makes Nike a dominant brand in the athletic apparel industry. If we talk about various attributes of the VRIO framework, it’s almost crystal clear that Nike has the kind of resources and strategies that enables it fit in the following framework.

• Valuable – Their core competency itself is a valuable resource and the way Nike implement it makes it most valuable resource
• Rare – I think the way Nike has a tendency to take risks is make it rare in the industry and the way it captures the values that an athlete create in every sport shows its success in being a leading brand in various sports
• Costly to Imitate – I think Nike’s goodwill is fall under this attribute
• Organized to Capture Value – This is the accurate organization of the resources that makes Nike a dominant brand of the sports. It succeeds in sponsorship and design; even it outsources some of its activities like manufacturing and much of retailing. (Rothaermel, 2015)

Marketing of Nike

I believe that many incidents that have occurred in the past and in the future, from time to time can and will affect the Nike’s public image. It’s public knowledge that some of Nike’s heroes were accused of various crimes, frauds, deceits etc. This can play a major role in the company’s strengths and weaknesses. Some people, especially the younger kids at that time, see these superior athletes as their role models and even heroes and if they are representing themselves with a criminal or fraud image then people will no longer look at them as their role models and it can have a devastating effect on Nike’s image.

In these cases, there will always be a tough crossroads for Nike’s marketing department. If Nike continues to sponsor these types of athletes and players, it could have detrimental ramifications on the brand. Not to mention its’ stock prices. of Nike Oregon project”) doping issue could damage public image of this sportswear brand. If these types of various allegations can be proven in future, it can have an effect on the reputation of the brand. However, Nike has gone through many allegations in the past that have been successfully overridden. Situations like these have not created any irreputable damage so far, so it’s fairly obvious that no type of tipping point has occurred up to this point, nor do I believe it will occur in the near future with any current allegations. I do believe, with a doubt, that Nike’s core competency is enough to easily position them in a competitive advantage over its competitors. In the past there have been a few athletes that were charged with crimes, and Nike immediately terminated contracts with those athletes.

However, after the smoke had cleared, some athletes have been resigned as well. This always makes finding talent that can be future role models for and an inspiration to people, should continue to be Nike’s core competency. However, they should look over the policies of the company that consider the ethical and moral values of their athletes and celebrities who are currently linked to Nike. If they don’t, and something terrible happens, it would be very easy for current customers to seek and find alternatives. Although it doesn’t appear that any competitors have ever taken advantage of Nike during its’ times of hardship, it was and will always be a great opportunity for the competitors to capitalize on the issue and attempt to take a larger share of the market.

Conclusion

When rival competitors are alleged into various cases and trying to bounce back, that is a perfect time to strategically strike. If I were a competitor, I would sponsor those with a very good public image and focus mainly on those sports where my competitor is struggling and attempting to improve its position in the public image. If any of those representing Nike are ever accused of any felonious allegations, I would, without hesitation try to acquire a better position in that particular sport. In addition, I would probably research all while considering a little risk management consider taking of few additional risks and possibly come up with a few new and innovative ideas to replace my rival’s product. I would also probably update my mission and vision statement of my company to focus on honesty, fairness, integrity, human and environmental sustainability in an attempt to draw in those customers who may be questioning the competitions integrity. Basically, taking advantage of their current vulnerable image.

References

1. Rothaermel, F. T. (2018). Strategic Management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education
2. Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic Management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education