A
CASE ANALYSIS
ON
“Nike Football: World Cup
2010 South Africa”
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE COURSE
“Marketing Opportunities in Festivals and Fairs”
UNDER GUIDANCE OF
Prof. Dr. Satyam
Submitted by
Ashmi Nayar (20152076)
JINDAL GLOBAL BUSINESS SCHOOL, Sonipat (Haryana)
Present Dilemmas
In 2008, Trevor Edwards, Vice President of Global Brand and Category Management along
with the marketing and senior leadership teams had to decide the following:
1. Nike’s Football World Cup 2010 marketing strategy had to start with delivering
top of the line performance products in the form of football cleats, and uniforms
for the world’s top footballers to premiere on the fields of South Africa.
2. They also had to integrate marketing communications across platforms. Nike was
committed to creating a commercial, but faced a barrier as Adidas was the
official sponsor and had restricted screening of commercials before, after and
during matches to their own.
3. Nike Football’s digital marketing team had to make a strategy to engage 17 year
old Football-Obsessed-Teens through Nike Football+ (web application on website
and mobile devices).
4. Further, they planned to incorporate sustainable products and social
responsibility into their campaign.
Football and FIFA World Cup
The World Cup, FIFA’s flagship event, was a tournament between 32 qualifying nations held
once every four years. In 2006 the World Cup was held in Germany and drew a cumulative
TV viewership of 26.29 billion over the course of the event and it was estimated that nearly
half the planet, approximately 3 billion people, watched the final match.4 The World Cup
was the culminating event and for national teams, players, fans and sponsors and was the
most watched sporting event in the world.
No event apart from the FIFA World Cup and the sport of football could give Nike the kind of
brand exposure it desired.
Nike Company History
Nike was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1962 which
acted as a distributor of Japanese shoes. Using the trade expertise, they launched Nike in
1972 and began using the swoosh logo. Currently, Nike has shoes for multiple sports
(football, basketball, running and cross training) and apparel and gym wear.
Timeline
1962
Blue Ribbon Sports founded as a distributer of shoes
1972
Nike founded as a shoe manufacturer
1979
Nike captured 50% of USA's running shoe market
1980
Went public
1985
Expanded into apparel
1996
Made investments into cycling division
2002
Acquired Hurley
2003
Acquired Converse
2007
Acquired Umbro
Nike 2009
By 2009 Nike was the top manufacturer of athletic apparel and footwear.
Footwear product innovation: Nike invested significant amounts of time and money into
researching, testing and tinkering with new footwear designs to ensure its products
delivered performance based innovation to consumers.
Footwear development was comprised of four major sectors: the product development
team, which conceptualized ideas and market opportunities; the design team, which
brought technical, aesthetic and industrial expertise; and the marketing team, which worked
to understand how to frame products to appeal to a broad market. Fourth were the athletes
who tested, commented on and eventually wore the products. The future of Nike lay in
getting the first and third team right.
Sustainability: Nike suffered reputational damage in the early 1990’s due to accusations of
poor working conditions in factories in developing countries. As a result, and recognizing
changing business conditions that put pressure on natural resources, Nike embarked on a
journey toward sustainability and corporate responsibility.
Nike had a number of long term sustainability goals, focused on reducing natural resource
use and carbon footprint. Nike’s 2050 vision of the company was created: to have a 100%
renewable energy footprint, with net zero waste, net zero water usage, 0% carbon footprint
and 100% youth access to sport.
Competitors
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Brand Image Evolution of Nike throughout World Cups
World Cup 1994 United States
Developed a new soccer boot, Tiempo Premier, which was worn by 10
out of 22 starting players in the World Cup
Nike Football settled on its main goal: to deliver innovative high-
performance football products to the consumer.
Determined to view the world through current Target Group, ie, 13 year
olds
Nike signed the Brazillian national team in 1996, to connect to football
customers with more creatvity, fun, free-flowing style of play
World Cup 1998 Paris
Released the massively successful "Airport" Ad which connected to a
wider audience that did not play football
Teamed up with Ronaldo for product development to launch The
Mercurial, which was a lightweight football cleat
The show debuted in bright colours so viewers of the football match
could identify Nike from afar
World Cup 2002 South Korea/Japan
Launched the Secret Tournament marketing campaign where The New
Mercurial Vapour was positioned as the lightest shoe ever made, that
greatly enhanced player traction and acceleration
Nike leveraged YouTube when it was a startup, with branded content.
They were exploring new technologies to connect to customers
World Cup 2006 Germany
By World Cup 2006, Nike had almost pulled even with Adidas in the
world football market Adidas held a slight market share lead, with 35%
of the market compared with 33% for Nike
For the 2006 World Cup Nike decided to categorize its football boots by
playing styles: speed, power and touch. The silos were meant to
represent the different styles of game and offer a boot for the player
type each individual felt he was
Nike's brand communication was based on Points of Difference from
Adidas, the main rival. While Adidas positioned itself as traditional
and performance oriented, Nike positioned itself as creative,
innovative and performance oriented
Main Strategies for World Cup 2010
Target Market Shift
Nike decided that they needed to refocus their target market, from the original focus on a
12- to 14-year-old consumer to a focus on an older consumer. The team felt that the 17-
year-old consumers were more independent, more driven in their football goals, could
choose their own brand, buy their own products and form brand loyalty. Nike Football saw
the 13-year-old consumer as “aspirational,” but envisioned the 17-year-old consumer as one
who wanted the tools to become the best possible player, seeking both “inspiration and
perspiration.”
Silo Shift
Based on research performed at NSRL and numerous conversations with both players and
consumers, the product team felt that renaming the “power” silo to “accuracy” and adding
a silo called “control,” would improve the offerings and better connect with consumers.
Digital Shift
Nike felt it was ahead of its time, they were able to engage with real customers and create a
community online. Nike wanted to reach the customer, know where their interests lay, and
provide them with great content and great stories.
Bootcamp was a way they engaged with customers. Nike’s consumer insight work revealed
that football obsessed teens (FOTs), the newly selected target, were interested in training
that would enable them to become better players. Nike focused on fitness training, based
on research that illustrated that the major gap between elite and aspiring FOTs was the
length and intensity of preseason fitness training.
Five Pillars of Integrated Marketing Strategy of Nike
Performance innovation—Deliver the most innovative, highest performing and most
sustainable products in football.
Enablement innovation—Create new ways and tools for the FOT to become a better player.
Connection at a deeper level—Get under the FOT’s skin and have continued impact through
any marketing activity that let the Nike brand resonate emotionally with the consumer.
Brand and business impact— Create a message that will open a dialogue with the
consumer; beyond a sales increase linked to the World Cup, the strategy should foster
lasting loyalty.
Timing—Win the battle before the opening whistle even blows. View the World Cup as an
amplifier, not a goal; as a means to an end and a moment in time.
Questions
How should Nike Football unveil and promote the Mercurial Vapor Superfly II Elite?
A typical boot development cycle for Nike Football took about three-and-a-half years. The
process included three months of conceptual planning and brainstorming, six to 12 months
of research to confirm and quantify those trends, 12 months spent developing several
prototypes and then rigorous testing by Nike-sponsored players and typical consumers
before the boot was perfected and sent for manufacturing. For 2010, Nike’s design team
partnered closely with top footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Alexandre
Pato. Nike typically allowed players to train in blacked out or disguised versions of the boots
three months before their official launch at the World Cup. They used their expertise and
considered them to be the most demanding customers to help produce the best in the
industry products.
Nike should promote the Nike Mercurial Vapour Superfly II Elite on the following Points of
Difference from competitor brands:
1. Adaptive and superior traction
2. Pressure sensitive “smart studs”
3. Lightest boot made till date
4. Constructed with unique flyware technology, reducing weight of the boot and
offering superior comfort
How should the team incorporate sustainability?
Nike planned to produce the jerseys for the national teams it sponsored at the World Cup
out of recycled plastic bottles.
Nike was also considering partnering with the (RED) foundation which worked with iconic
brands in return for them donating part of the profits from selected products to the Global
Fund, a non-profit that invested in HIV/AIDS intervention, education and treatment.
How could they use the World Cup to start and then continue a social media conversation
with potential customers?
Nike could continue a social media conversations with potential customers by:
1. Leveraging Nike Football + and making it a community of football lovers and brand
loyalists, like the Harley Owners Group which is community by itself.
2. Leveraging social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube at their nascent
stages.
3. Setting up a social media division to cater to the 17 year old football obsessed teens.
Was the shift to a 17-year-old target market the right decision? If so, what was the best
way to communicate with them?
A shift to the 17-year-old target was a good decision as:
1. 13 year olds lacked the purchasing power that the 17 year olds possessed, and with
shoes ranging from $200-400, it was more likely they will be purchased by 17 year
olds.
2. 13 year olds played football for fun, whereas 17 year olds wanted to to become the
best possible player, seeking both inspiration and perspiration.
3. The 17 year old customer was more independent, more driven in their football goals,
could choose their own brand, buy their own products and form brand loyalty.
How could they ensure that they used the World Cup as an invitation to the brand to
newcomers, while still projecting it as the trusted company it had become to Nike-loyal
consumers?
Nike did so in a variety of ways:
1. Put their shoes on the feet of the best players in the world, which stood out from
other competitor’s shoes in terms of design and colour so they could be easily
identified from afar. In doing so, they were tapping into the reference group
psychology – fans of football players who were not Nike customers would see the
shoe worn by them during football matches and would want to purchase it for
themselves.
2. Through advertising, they communicated their position of being creative, innovative
and performance oriented.
How would Nike Football’s image need to evolve as the World Cup approached and after
it ended? What was the best way to measure the success of each of the pieces?
Nike’s Football image needed to continue on beyond they tenure of the World Cups. The
FIFA World Cup would provide an initial boost to kickstart community building, but further
efforts like regular content updating, responsiveness from Nike for customers, sales
promotions and advertisements needed to continue for the rest of the time.
One way to measure success is to study the net revenue of Nike.
The net income for Nike increased by 57% from 2003 to 2008. In the same period, Adidas
saw a net income growth of 171.9% and Puma of 43.3%. However, Nike remained most
cash-rich of the three.
