Keep it Simple, Stupid
With a short, powerful slogan and an uncomplicated logo, Nike grew into the world’s most well-known athletic brand.
Just do it.
Three simple words that invoke inspiration and drive people to improve in all aspects of their lives.
The most well-known slogan is practiced throughout Nike’s corporate attitude and has helped solidify them as the leading athletic and fitness company worldwide.
According to the most recent market analysis from Technavio, “Nike’s market share stands at about 27.4% in 2019, ahead of its industry rivals Adidas and ASICS, making Nike the world’s largest company in the global footwear market.”
Being from Portland, Oregon, the birthplace and headquarters for the company, I have grown up with the swoosh on my feet for as long as I can remember.
While I love the footwear and apparel Nike produces, one of my favorite things about the brand is their commercials. These commercials rarely aim to sell their latest and greatest products and instead focus on inducing emotion in the consumer.
The company focuses on selling more than a product and instead aims to sell aspiration. I believe this adds an additional aspect of value to the company that ultimately increases brand loyalty.
After completing some research, I learned that Nike ads often tell the story of a hero who conquers adversity to defeat their greatest foe. By doing so, the company is able to inspire the consumer to defeat the voice in their heads telling them “You can’t.” The style of using this “hero” narrative provides a clear beginning, middle and end and allows for the viewer to follow with ease and soak up the message at the conclusion.
In one of their most recent adds, Nike uses their main athletes, including Lebron James, Tiger Woods and Serena Williams to exhibit their “hero” stories where they find triumph through hard work amongst some of their lowest points in their career.
I loved this ad because not only did they include these hardships at the professional level, but they also provide glimpses of adversity that athletes face in their everyday lives, including a closed playground sign to make it more relatable for the consumer.
In addition to this, the ad ends with scenes that the consumer is familiar with when playing sports including the inside of a locker room and various scoreboards.
The use of a narrator along with text on the screen are definitely some aspects I’m going to consider using in my final video project. I believe this enforces the message being told and allows for it to sit with the consumer longer.
I also like the use of the inspiring music in the background. It sat low enough to allow for additional sounds of announcers, the crowd and the narrator but was loud enough to carry the motivating feeling of the message.
Prior to watching this ad, I was planning to implement music in both my final video project and social video assignment.
