Integrated Marketing Communication Strategies

This assignment requires a critical analysis of integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategies. Students must examine different IMC approaches, explore how they contribute to brand development and influence consumer behavior. The focus is on understanding the effectiveness of these strategies in today's dynamic market landscape.

Marketing Communication
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Company Background and Product Description.....................................................................3
2. Target Market..........................................................................................................................3
3. Positioning Strategy.................................................................................................................4
4. Communication Goal...............................................................................................................4
5. Message strategy and Execution Tactics.................................................................................5
6. Promotional Mix and Media Strategy......................................................................................6
7. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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1. Company Background and Product Description
Nike, Inc. one of a renowned brand in apparel and sports industry that deals in
manufacturing athletic footwear, apparel as well as sports equipment. It is one of the leading
American multinational companies that engaged in designing, manufacturing and selling sports-
related apparel, footwear and accessories in the international market. The company was founded
in 1964 and is the pioneer in sports equipment and apparel industry through providing the range
of quality products to different segment customers (Baccarella et al. 2014). Nike, Inc. promotes
their range of goods under its brand name. Various subsidiaries are operating by the Nike it
mainly includes Brand Jordan, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Air Force 1, etc. that serve
customers across the world. Along with this, the company also operates their activities through
their authorized retail stores that are under Niketown name. The company also sponsors many
athletes as well as sports teams around the world so that they can easily promote their products.
Product Description- Nike Inc. design and produce wide-range of sports equipment and
products. Currently, the company engages in making jerseys, shoes, shorts, etc. for a wide range
of sports activities such as trekking, soccer, football, and basketball. Nike also comprises of the
premium line product, which focused more on streetwear than sportswear labeled as NikeLab. In
addition to this, Nike product also includes street fashion product that is tracksuits, sneakers,
sweatpants, crop tops, etc. for targeting American and European teenagers (Bacile, Ye & Swilley
2014).
2. Target Market
Nike is world’s foremost company in sports footwear and apparel market. It has been
assessed that innovation and quality products by Nike seek to extend athletic potential by
designing and manufacturing the sports products and apparel. The company mainly target on the
base of demographic segmentation that is gender and age. For selling their shoes, clothes and
other sports accessories it primarily targets both males and females of 18-35 years old.
According to CEO of Nike, Mark parker has also stated that with the increasing interest
in sports events the company is also targeting kids and young athletes. Kids those who engage in
recreation activities are growing business of Nike (Belch et al. 2014). Along with kids and young
athletes Nike, Inc. also targets women through expanding the range of women apparels
particularly tights and sports bras. Through reviewing the last quarter sales, it has been identified
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that sale of Nike women training garments just gets double with the sales of men’s training
apparel.
3. Positioning Strategy
To attract or grab target market audiences Nike, Inc. focuses on using effective
positioning strategy that benefits company in placing their product in market effectively and
efficiently. With the increasing marketing trend, Nike has managed in building the brand name
that appeal to the entire demographic segment. The company has also use positioning statement
for marketing their products that are Nike gives confidence to their audiences that they would
provide quality and perfect shoe for every sport (Blakeman 2014). The positioning strategy also
assists Nike in building their brand with the universal appeal.
Along with this, the company also uses advertisement as positioning strategy through
which they can easily enhance their visibility throughout the national and international market.
With the help of strong publicity, Nike easily creates their corporate visual identity that further
benefits the company in attaining their goals and objectives.
The key rationale for selecting advertisement as positioning strategy is that with the
increasing marketing trends and activities advertisement via television plays the significant role
in positioning the brand name (Vernuccio & Ceccotti 2015).
4. Communication Goal
With the help of integrated marketing communication (IMC) Nike, Inc. easily grab their
audiences with establishing brand name within the sports equipment and apparel industry. Along
with this, with the help of IMC cited firm engage in communicating their goal such as the
increase in their sales volume through targeting consumer segment, enhancing their market
share, etc.
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategy improves the efficiency of the
branding strategy that is used to deliver right message with the help of using effective medium so
that Nike quickly achieve their business goals. IMC also support and synergizes each department
and group to have the proper collaboration that results in delivering the beneficial
outcome. There are different tools of IMC such as sales promotion, advertisement, public
relations as well as personal selling that assist in their brand development (Valos et al. 2016).
Therefore, proper integration of all the tools results in effective engagement with their
consumers.
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Nike, Inc. has extensively used integrated marketing communication tools that have
supported them in communicating their goals to audiences. With the help of “Just do it”
campaign Nike has attained the high level of success among their competitors. The key objective
of the campaign was to target American every gender with all age group to ensure fitness level.
With the help of initiating this campaign, Nike has communicated the profound feeling of joy
and fitness among their consumers. Along with this, the company has also utilized different other
communication platforms for grabbing the attention of their target audiences (Pavlou & Stewart
2015).
5. Message strategy and Execution Tactics
With the above communication goals there are different other objectives of Nike that
mainly include becoming leading company that deals in designing and manufacturing quality
sport equipment and apparel. Along with this, another goal of Nike is to deliver valuable
products and services to their customers so that they can easily attain their loyalty. With the help
of using different strategies company can easily achieve their goals. In order to become world’s
leading company in designing and manufacturing quality sports equipment the company must
focuses on redesigning and manufacturing innovative products for their customers. For instance,
Nike considered Design that produces innovative products that further diminish ecological
impact by reducing waste throughout the design and development process (Chan, Ng &
Prendergast 2014). For this, company also engages in using intoxicated and environmentally
preferred supplies for the footwear and apparel.
Moreover, for delivering valuable products to their customers and attaining their loyalty
Nike has engaged in opening their authorized retail stores within each and every area where Nike
serve its products. So, that with the help of this Nike can easily deliver valuable and quality
footwear and apparel among their customers. Place consists of company actions through which
they make product available to their targeted audiences. Currently Nike, Inc. has about six
production offices that are situated outside of the United States. Along with this, it is also
reviewed that there are more than 100 sales offices and outlets which are sited internationally
(Parente & Strausbaugh-Hutchinson 2014).
With the help of above different Integrated Marketing Communication program it has
been assessed that the main message for engaging in this program is to ensure customers that
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they will deliver quality and premium line sport products and accessories to their all segment
customers.
6. Promotional Mix and Media Strategy
In today’s corporate world, promotion of products and services has become essential for
the growth and success of the company such as Nike. The use of the efficient and appropriate
mix of promotional tools helps the organization to create awareness among people in the market
and attract them to buy the products/services offered by Nike (Farhana 2014). The promotional
mix of Nike is mentioned below as:
 Advertisement – It is considered as one of the most useful tools which Nike use of
carrying out marketing and promotion of its products and services (Dong, Janakiraman &
Xie 2014). The rationale behind using advertisement as promotion mix is to reach mass
customers in short time. This promotional tool is useful as it is helping Nike to enhance
its brand image and perception among people in the market.
 Personal selling – Nike also use personal selling as a marketing communication tool, and
this is contributing directly to growth and success of the brand (McKay-Nesbitt & Yoon
2015). Here, the company emphasizes on implementing training and development for its
store personnels. These training programs assist employees to understand the changing
needs and demand of people in the market and deliver products and services according to
the same. The rationale behind using personal selling in the promotional mix is that it
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assists in understanding customer needs and it also helps in acquiring the higher degree of
customer satisfaction.
 Direct marketing – The promotional mix of Nike also include techniques such as direct
marketing wherein it sells products and services directly to the targeted customers. The
rationale behind using direct marketing is that it assists Nike to examine the overall
demand and appeal of its products in the marketplace (Jackson et al. 2014). Direct
marketing is useful as it provides the organization with more reliable information about
the best marketing approach which can be used to reach the target customers. At the same
time, it results in developing strong relationship and bond with new clients.
 Public relations – It can be considered as one of the most vital tools in the promotional
mix of Nike. The public relations programs are carried out by Nike with the help of
sponsorship in charity and different types of events. On the other hand, the use of public
relations tool is also carried out by Nike to address different types of issues present in the
society. The green technology program held by Nike is the best example to understand
the company’s approach to deal with the social problem (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo
2015). Public relation is effective as it provides the brand with an opportunity to interact
with customers and promote products/service in cost effective manner.
To become global brand Nike, Inc. also focuses on using media strategies that benefit the
company in accelerating growth and reinforcing brand positioning. With the change in marketing
landscape company is also focuses on using digital and online platforms for selling and
marketing their quality products.
The key media strategy that is used by Nike includes media advertisement through
television ads. With the help of television ad, Nike is recognized as swoosh instead of their brand
name. The company is using Television advertisement and commercials as it reaches to mass
audiences in the shorter period (Kozinets 2017). Along with this, it also helps Nike in conveying
their message to the large mass of audiences with proper sound and motion that provide instant
creditability.
In addition to this, Nike has also adopted internet marketing, social media marketing as
well as email marketing strategies for promoting their wide range of sports equipment and
apparel among the mass of audiences. The company is using all these media strategies for
promoting their products and building the brand image as the premium supplier of sports
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equipment and accessories (Kuang-Jung et al. 2015). Along with this, it is evident that using
social media marketing strategies it benefits the company in enhancing their visibility and
attracting large customers towards the product. With growing existence of social media
marketing, Nike is also engaged in creating their profiles on different social media sites such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. through which they can instantly promote their range of
products with proper description to the mass of audiences.
In the present scenario, all sub-brands of Nike has its own Facebook page which focuses
on featuring sporting events as well as the promotion of product specification to audiences.
Therefore, this assists the company in increasing their brand awareness among fans (Luxton,
Reid & Mavondo 2015). The company is using this media strategy as it gives superior visibility
just in a single click, generates connections among consumers and it also provides the company a
chance to gather information regarding the preferences and choice of customers towards Nike
products.
7. Conclusion
From the above report it has been inferred that marketing plays significant role in Nike,
Inc. as it promotes and markets their quality and premium line apparel and sports equipment
among mass of audiences. The report has also focused on marketing mix as well as integrated
marketing communications tools that are used by cited firm for promoting their wide range of
products. Along with this, it also concludes the significance of using promotional mix that
promotion of products and services has become essential for the growth and success of the
company.
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REFERENCES
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Belch, GE, Belch, MA, Kerr, GF & Powell, I 2014, Advertising: An integrated marketing
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Blakeman, R 2014, Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
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Luxton, S, Reid, M & Mavondo, F 2015, 'Integrated marketing communication capability and
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