Nike is panicking. Every few weeks they change their strategy. FEET sells a lot of Nike's, and I've been told they have a good relationship. Everything I've found indicates that Nike's problem is not marketing based, but instead product based. Maybe Nike needs to produce a line of hiking boots. In any case, it will be a plus for FEET when Nike gets back on track.
NIKE TO SLICE MARKETING BY $100 MIL/ 'I CAN' AD STRATEGY TO BE
REASSESSED; KNIGHT CITES 'INEFFECTIVE' EFFORTS
March 30, 1998
Advertising Age via NewsEdge Corporation : Nike will slash its global marketing budget by $100 million for the fiscal year starting June 1, and over the next six months will re-evaluate its strategies.
Founder and CEO Phil Knight holds marketing partly to blame for the company's recent woes. On the table for reassessment: Nike's kinder, gentler and swooshless ''I can'' ad strategy, created by Wieden &
Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
''Our problem has not been too much marketing,'' Mr. Knight said last week, ''but too much ineffective marketing.''
He noted that while ''everything we tried over the past three years worked,'' efforts over the past six months simply have not. Mr. Knight stressed he wasn't second-guessing the new positioning, but said all marketing strategies and tactics will be reviewed this summer.
COST-CUTTING DRIVE
The athletic footwear and apparel giant's decision to reduce spending is part of an effort to cut costs this year by $325 million. Nike's fiscal '97 marketing budget
''I can'' has been read as an attempt to defuse just that.
Nike is making moves to take the heat off the swoosh. For example, last fall it launched a Michael Jordan sub-brand, and the Alpha effort will debut later this year. It also is seeking talent for leadership positions from outside the company, and plans a major foray into sports equipment. These moves are designed to take its business in new growth directions. |
