Case Study: Analysis of Nike’s “Dream Crazy” Campaign
Leslie Cole
Department of Communications, Liberty University
STCO 658: Strategic Communication Campaigns for the Digital Age
Dr. Jason Leverett
April 16, 2023
Leslie M. Cole
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this brief should be addressed to Leslie M. Cole.
Email: lmcole7@liberty.edu
Abstract
This paper aims to identifyand discuss key concepts related to Integrated Media Communication (IMC) found in the advertising and marketing campaigns developed by award-winning Wieden + Kennedy and the athletic apparel powerhouse Nike. The success of Wieden + Kennedy’s award-winning 2018 for Nike’s: “Dream Crazy” campaign will be identified by analyzing key concepts, including Situational Analysis, Message Analysis, and theory related to IMC The “Dream Crazy” campaign will be analyzed to showcase significant elements of creative excellence from an IMC perspective that took risks and shifted from traditional marketing to digital media to meet the consumer’s needs.
Keywords: Integrated Media Communication, situational analysis, message analysis, digital media
Introduction
Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University, Jef I Richards, states, “Creativity without strategy is called art. Creativity with strategy is called advertising” (as cited from Content Marketing Agency, 2022). For over 40 years, the advertising company Wieden + Kennedy has remained committed to the kind of creativity consumers want to share and talk about, even if the campaign required risks (Belch & Belch, 2021) Dan Wieden and David Kennedy were no strangers to creativity or risk when they founded Wieden & Kennedy in 1982 in Portland, Oregon. Once a small boutique agency, Wieden + Kennedy has transformed into one of the most innovative independent advertising agencies in the world (Beer, 2022). Wieden + Kennedy’s core mission is to “use creativity and influence to change the world and impact culture” (Wieden + Kennedy, 2023).
The creative-driven firm remains committed to working only with clients who respect and align with their core values and share the vision for the creative product (Belch & Belch, 2023). Nike has long remained committed to the works of Wieden + Kennedy, even before the major success of the 1988 “Just Do It” campaign, where Wieden got the idea from an inmate who was being executed (López Restrepo, 2022). Taking creative risks is something that has brought many awards and honors to the Wieden + Kennedy agency, including 22 Nominations and 8 Emmys for Outstanding Commercial (Emmys, 2023). While there were mixed reviews from consumers about Kaepernick’s stance on social injustice, Nike saw an opportunity to create an advertising campaign that promoted the company’s universal truth in direct relation to the product; “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. Just do it.” (Wieden+ Kennedy, 2023). Since the launch of award-winning campaigns like “Just Do It” and “Dream
Crazy”, Nike and Wieden + Kennedy continue to be powerhouses for successful advertising using elements of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) for promotional campaigns.
Context for the Ad
Nike
In 1964, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman founded “Blue Ribbon Sports” where they sold imported shoes from Japanese manufacturers to target audiences at track meets, including athletes, coaches, and fans (Cheng, 2021). On May 30, 1971, the company was officially rebranded as Nike, Inc., and has grown into the largest footwear and apparel seller in the market (Pereira, 2023). Besides Nike’s revenue stream, the company’s mission is to “Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete” (Nike, 2023). The asterisk in Nike’s mission statement is significant because not everyone may feel like an athlete, but Nike works to inspire everyone in the world to see themselves as an athlete through its promotional campaigns. Nike’s mission statement proclaims that “Every job at NIKE, Inc., is grounded in a team-first mindset, cultivating a culture of innovation and a shared purpose to leave an enduring impact” (Nike, 2023).
Nike’s Product and Services
Nike’s cultivating culture is echoed through the Nike brand including innovative design, creative marketing campaigns, and multiple distribution channels, which are used to increase the brand’s awareness and revenue of athletic footwear, apparel, athletic equipment, accessories, and services for sports and fitness activities (Reuters, 2023). Initially, Nike worked solely with wholesalers, such as sporting goods stores and local businesses, to sell its products Over the years, Nike has revised its business model, which includes a more direct-to-consumer through the company’s e-commerce websites, apps, and brick-and-mortar stores. This direct marketing
approach is an integral part of the IMC promotional mix, which allows the organization to communicate directly with its consumers and increase profits (Belch & Belch, 2021).
Nike has identified the wants and needs of its consumer and developed products and services to satisfy these needs using an efficient marketing strategy. This marking strategy includes elements of the marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion (Belch & Belch, 2021). For example, Nike’s products have remained consistent regarding footwear, accounting for 64% of its total revenue (Acadamy, 2023). The price of Nike shoes remains affordable for consumers, with an average of $66.75 to a more premium price of $110.15 (McLoughlin, 2021). Nike has also broadened how the company sells its products through digital marketing, such as membership programs and apps, to direct-to-consumerism like Nike’s websites and Amazon, in addition to retail stores (Belch & Belch, 2021). Effective promotional campaigns have helped Nike reach over 49 billion U.S. dollars from January 2022 to January 2023 (Smith, 2023).
Situational Analysis
For companies like Nike, completing a situational analysis is beneficial to identify the company’s target audience and objectives to formulate strategies for achieving set goals (Belch & Belch, 2021). The SWOT acronym refers to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that firms such as Wieden + Kennedy may consider when identifying a company’s internal and external factors that could affect the brand and its message (Tuten, 2021) The following is an example of opportunities/threats and competition that may impact the Nike brand.
• Strengths (Internal Factors)- Part of Nike’s internal factors include being one of the global leaders in the sporting goods brand, innovative and competitive products and services, and multiple distribution channels (Kissinger, 2022).
• Weaknesses (Internal Factors)- Nike has been under scrutiny for the poor labor and working conditions in foreign countries where its products are made (Gupta, 2023)
• Opportunities (External Factors)- Nike has continued to expand their product line from only selling shoes to accessories and services. Nike uses digital media to reach consumers globally instead of only in North America. Nike is also committed to reducing its carbon footprint by refurbishing used shoes and reselling them at a lower price (Nike, 2023).
• Threats (External Factors)- With the state of national and global economies since the pandemic, consumers are becoming more aware of expenses. Competitors like Adidas, Under Armour, and Puma are also considered a threat, with Adidas being its greatest competitor (WCS, 2023)
The first step in the IMC process is to define the company’s objectives, or what the company wants to achieve) for the promotional campaigns across the marketing mix (Belch & Belch, 2021). This stage is where companies like Nike may determine the objective of increasing sales. The second stage of the IMC process is marketing segmentation.
Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is used to define the brand’s target audience, its demographic, and what motivates its consumers to buy its products or services. The promotional planning identifies the geographic (largest market to sell to), demographic (age), psychographic (specific lifestyles), and behavioral (how the product makes consumers feel) characteristics of the consumers to formulate an ideal marketing strategy to promote the products and services across various
channels. Understanding Nike’s market segmentation provides the company with an opportunity to beat competitors by understanding its customer base, what they are currently facing, and which channel will reach the greatest number of consumers.
Promotional Mix
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a strategic approach that utilizes all parts of the promotional mix, allowing organizations to communicate objectives with consumers (Belch & Belch, 2021). An effective IMC campaign maintains a clear connection between all elements of the promotional mix, including advertising, direct marketing, digital/internet marketing, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling to communicate effectively across multiple channels to persuade consumers to buy products and services. (Belch & Belch, 2021). Today, Nike remains the leading sports brand in the world by using integrated forms of promotional-mix elements to communicate with the brand’s target audience (Belch & Belch, 2021). The following table provides an example of how Nike uses the IMC promotional mix to promote its brand.
Promotional Mix Examples from Nike
Advertising
Direct Marketing
Digital/Internet Marketing
Nike Inc. uses the Wieden +Kennedy agency to build brand equity through nonpersonal and personal (paid for) components which involve promoting products, celebrity endorsers, and professional athletes through traditional marketing or online (Belch & Belch, 2021)
Nike uses direct marketing to check customer satisfaction, build customer loyalty, and direct promotions with its target audience (Gregory, 2022). Direct marketing can also be combined with advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion (Belch & Belch, 2021)
Nike runs campaigns using social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn to effectively reach its global audience (Sattar, 2021)
Sales Promotion
Public Relations
Nike offers special discounts depending on the consumers (e.g., - military discounts, student discounts, etc.) to increase the market demand for its products and services (Gregory, 2021).
Example: “The “Dream Crazy” campaign by Wieden + Kennedy. Nike uses nonpersonal (not paid for) communications that includes press releases, photographs, news releases covered by the media to maintain a transparent and strong relationship between the brand and the consumers (Sattar, 2021)
Personal Selling Nike uses personal face-to-face selling techniques between buyer and seller, such as sellers in retail stores to promote the company’s brand.
Created by author.
The Message Behind the “Dream Crazy” Campaign
Professional football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick, became the center of controversy when he kneeled during the National Anthem in 2016 (Belch & Belch, 2021). Kaepernick peacefully kneeled as a statement against racial injustice, inequality, and recent police brutality among African American men (Belch & Belch, 2021). As a result, Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers for the 2017 season and has remained unable to play
in the NFL (White, 2020)
Kaepernick’s once-scrutinized stance
on racial injustice
continues to be referenced in conversations regarding civil injustice and the Black Lives Matter movement (Haislop, 2021). Kaepernick, the professional footballer turned civil rights activist, would shortly be partnered with leading advertising agency William + Kennedy and apparel powerhouse Nike by becoming the face of their “Dream Crazy” campaign.
In 2018, Nike and Wieden + Kennedy launched the “Dream Crazy” campaign that captivated a new audienceby showcasing famous and non-famous athletes whodemonstrated the power of sport to move the world forward (Wieden + Kennedy, 2023). Nike featured Kaepernick to mark the athletic apparel company’s 30th anniversary of the renowned “Just Do It” ad campaign that resulted in record-setting digital media engagement (Belch & Belch, 2021)
One of the most captivating elements of Wieden + Kennedy’s advertisements, like the “Dream Crazy” campaign, is motivating consumers to “Just Do It”. To believe in something means to stay true to convictions in times of adversity or disagreements regardless of consequences
The “Dream Crazy” campaign echoes the message of overcoming the same kind of adversity withits support of people who are differentlyabled and women, both groups were once not supported in the sports world. The message of the “Dream Crazy” campaign has the ability to persuade consumers to purchase its products and services because to buy Nike products means to challenge the status quo. The Nike brand is built to support their beliefs, to support representation in sports, and understands the sacrifices that are made to be the best you can be.
Key Lessons Learned
Sometimes believing in something and standing by that belief is worth the risk. For Nike and Wieden + Kennedy, working with Colin Kaepernick was a marketing risk that represented what the brands stood for while bringing Nike shares and online sales from social media to record levels (Fisk, 2018). This was a lesson in the power of digital marketing and knowing how to reach a target demographic by inspiring them to purchase a product or service that also reflects the power of sports. Expanding the brand through multiple digital channels increases product demand by expanding how the company sells to consumers on a national and global level.
An important component of the IMC process is maintaining a consistent message across marketing and advertising platforms when communicating with the consumer. Hypothetically, the messaging principles a local shoe company could utilize to reach its target market would be to complete a situational analysis to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that apply to the brand. Then identify the target audience through market segmentation to develop an efficient promotional plan. Determine which channels, such as social media platforms or websites, will reach the greatest number of consumers who relate or identify with the brand. Throughout the IMC process, maintaining the company’s core values through marketing and advertising is critical for success and brand identity.
Conclusion
For over 30 years, sports apparel powerhouse and top creative advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy have maintained each of the company’s core values through the campaigns they have designed to motivate and encourage the athlete in every consumer to take the next step and “Just Do It”. The award-winning “Dream Crazy” campaign follows key concepts relating to the IMC process that reinforced the core values of Nike, increased revenue, and represented athletes who also had to “Dream Crazy”. Determining Nike’s objectives, identifying target audiences, and increasing brand awareness using multiple channels resulted in a stronger brand identity and revenue. While the “Dream Crazy” campaign was motivational and equally controversial, the success of the campaign opened doors for companies like Nike to open the door to an entirely new generation of consumers.
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