Page 53 - Marketing Management

30 PART 1 UNDERSTANDING MARKETING MANAGEMENT

of Hoops by Foot Locker, which offers only basketball prod- would distract from its slick high-tech image, so efforts
ucts by Nike brands such as Converse and Jordan. like recycling old shoes into new shoes are kept quiet.
Recently, Nike’s lead in the running category has Today, Nike dominates the athletic footwear market
grown to 60 percent market share thanks to its exclusive with a 31 percent market share globally and a 50 per-
partnership with Apple. Nike (Plus) technology includes cent market share in the United States. Swooshes
a sensor that runners put into their running shoes and a abound on everything from wristwatches to skateboards
receiver, which fits into an iPod, iTouch, or iPhone. When to swimming caps. The firm’s long-term strategy focuses
the athlete goes for a run or hits the gym, the receiver on basketball, running, football, women’s fitness, men’s
captures his or her mileage, calories burned, and pace training, and sports culture. As a result of its successful
and stores it until the information is downloaded. Nike is expansion across geographic markets and product cat-
now considered the world’s largest running club. egories, Nike is the top athletic apparel and footwear
In 2008 and 2009, Nike hosted the Human Race manufacturer in the world, with corporate fiscal 2009
10K, the largest and only global virtual race in the world. revenues exceeding $19 billion.
The event, designed to celebrate running, drew 780,000
participants in 2008 and surpassed that number in 2009. Questions
To participate, runners register online, gear up with
Nike technology, and hit the road on race day, running 1. What are the pros, cons, and risks associated with
any 10K route they choose at any time during the day. Nike’s core marketing strategy?
Once the data is downloaded from the Nike receiver, 2. If you were Adidas, how would you compete with Nike?
each runner’s official time is posted and can be com-
pared to the times of runners from around the world. Sources: Justin Ewers and Tim Smart,“A Designer Swooshes In,”U.S.News & World Report,January 26,
Like many companies, Nike is trying to make its com- 2004, p. 12; “Corporate Media Executive of the Year,” Delaney Report, January 12, 2004, p. 1; Barbara
Lippert,“Game Changers: Inside the Three Greatest Ad Campaigns of the Past Three Decades,” Adweek,
pany and products more eco-friendly. However, unlike November 17, 2008; “10 Top Nontraditional Campaigns,” Advertising Age, December 22, 2003, p. 24;
many companies, Nike does not promote its efforts. One Chris Zook and James Allen, “Growth Outside the Core,” Harvard Business Review, December 2003,
brand consultant explained, “Nike has always been about p. 66; Jeremy Mullman, “NIKE; What Slowdown? Swoosh Rides Games to New High,” Advertising Age,
October 20, 2008, p. 34; Allison Kaplan, “Look Just Like Tiger (until you swing),” America’s Intelligence
winning. How is sustainability relevant to its brand?” Nike Wire, August 9, 2009; Reena Jana and Burt Helm, “Nike Goes Green, Very Quietly,” BusinessWeek,
executives agree that promoting an eco-friendly message June 22, 2009.

Marketing Excellence environment, strong ethics, and a famous founding credo:
“Don’t be evil.”
The company has become the market leader for
>>Google search engines through its business focus and constant
innovation. As Google grew into a primary destination for
Web users searching for information online, it attracted a
host of online advertisers. These advertisers drove Google’s
revenue by buying “search ads,” little text-based boxes
shown alongside search results that advertisers pay for
only when users click on them. Google’s search ad pro-
gram, called AdWords, sells space on its search pages to
ads linked with specific keywords. Google auctions off the
keyword ads, with prime keywords and page locations
going to the highest bidder. Google recently added a
program called AdSense, which allows any Web site to
display targeted Google ads related to the content of its
In 1998, two Stanford site. Web site publishers earn money every time visitors
University PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey click on these ads.
Brin, founded a search engine company and named it In addition to offering prime online “real estate” for ad-
Google. The name plays on the number googol—1 followed vertisers, Google adds value by providing tools to better tar-
by 100 zeroes—and refers to the massive quantity of data get their ads and better understand the effectiveness of their
available online that the company helps users find. Google’s marketing. Google Analytics, free to Google’s advertisers,
corporate mission is “To organize the world’s information provides a custom report, or dashboard, detailing how
and make it universally accessible and useful.” From the Internet users found the site, what ads they saw and/or
beginning, Google has strived to be one of the “good guys” clicked on, how they behaved while there, and how much
in the corporate world, supporting a touchy-feely work traffic was generated. Google client Discount Tire was able