Nike company

Nike company

Nike, the American based footwear and apparel company, has become a major player in the industry. The brand name has become synonymous with passion, enthusiasm, and, more importantly, tenacity even in the face of challenges. A similar mood also exists in its primary marketing tool — ad campaigns. One such campaign is the ‘Better For It’ running under the banner #BetterForIt. The campaign’s target group is women. It seeks to inspire them to take deliberate action to achieve their personal goals. In this essay, a rhetorical analysis of the campaign will occur. Such an assessment is an appropriate tool for assessing how an artistic piece of work — in this case, the ad campaign — succeeds in communicating its intended message. The campaign’s primary text #BetterForIt is effective because it acts as a rallying call for motivating women to achieve their dreams.

Before proceeding with the rhetorical analysis, it is essential to examine the campaign. Women form a considerable part of Nike’s market. Yet, they face significant challenges that limit their ability to attain their goals, especially in comparison to men. These limitations include work-life balance, child care, and disproportionate pay in workplaces. The difficulties are more pronounced in the sports and fitness category — the company’s focus area —because of the rigor required. Nonetheless, the firm holds the view that all these challenges are surmountable (Nike n.p). Thus, the campaign seeks to motivate women to achieve their goals by using ad campaigns that highlight the stories of other women that have experienced similar difficulties but ended up succeeding.

The wording of an advertising campaign is a critical factor in its ability to communicate its intended message appropriately. Positive words are preferable. Nike’s campaign succeeds in this element since it incorporates a positive word in its rallying call — better. Such an approach is consistent with positive marketing techniques. Naturally, people are attracted to artistic works, including advertisements, that create the perception of success. Essentially, a marketer should not focus on the problem; instead, they must illustrate that a viable solution to that difficulty exists. Such a strategy is likely to be more effective because it connects the consumers of the ad with their values and aspirations. The outcome of this approach is that a marketer ends up obtaining enhanced engagement from their clients. The #BetterForIt campaign showcases this aspect. In one of the ads, it highlights a lady in a gym who goes on to state that her motivation is to acquire the body physique like that of models (Nike n.p). Body image is of significant value for women; hence, the company’s ability to exemplify this desire increases the level of buy-in from their intended audience.

The ad campaign uses a hashtag. In the era of social media marketing, the use of hashtags is essential. It serves as a label through which social media consumers can find information regarding an issue. It is also beneficial because it encourages users to explore by enhancing the visibility of a marketing effort. Given the proliferation of information on digital platforms, it is easy for consumers to become overwhelmed with content. Nevertheless, a hashtag serves as a means of filtering the available information. Consequently, users only access content that is relevant to them. Nike’s ad uses a hashtag #BetterForIt; hence, its success, especially considering that a sizeable proportion of its target audience, women, are now on various social media platforms.

The #BetterForIt campaign utilizes videos. Videos are a more effective approach to marketing, especially in the digital era, when compared to static images. One of the factors that contribute towards their effectiveness is their ability to explain the marketer’s message in detail. Where images and text-based advertisements are used, the consumer must deduce the underlying meaning and intention of the ad’s creator. However, the same does not apply to videos. For instance, one of the campaign’s videos titled “Best Intentions” is 30 seconds long. The period is long enough for the creator to offer an in-depth narration of the intention behind the piece of art.

The implication of offering detailed descriptions of an ad using a video is that it creates trust between a brand and its clients. It creates the perception that the ads are not scripted; instead, they showcase the reality of what goes on behind the scenes. Accordingly, such a message is likely to resonate more with the client when compared to images and text. Essentially, videos create a personal connection with the consumer.

Secondly, videos are consistent with the emerging trends in social media marketing. As an illustration, the phenomenon of Instagram Live has become a popular platform for organizations to engage with their clients. A brand must communicate with its target consumers using a tool that resonates with the latter. In the absence of such a strategy, a company risks obtaining a low Return on Investment (ROI) on its marketing initiatives because of the lack of relevance. Additionally, Nike leverages on the videos for the campaign by ensuring that they are of the highest quality. The resolution applied is significantly high; thus, increasing the attractiveness of the ad to women. Consequently, the level of engagement from the advertisement rises, a factor that helps the brand to achieve its objective of rallying women to achieve their personal goals.

The campaign’s tagline is simple. Simplicity is a vital contributor to the success of a marketing initiative. It enables a consumer to derive quick conclusions because the message is straightforward. The simplicity also makes it easy for the consumer to identify with the rallying call of the advertisement because they do not have to employ excessive cognitive resources in decoding it. Therefore, Nike’s campaign can reach more women, even those with a limited understanding of complex language. Such an outcome would not have been possible if the company had applied a complicated tagline.

In conclusion, the artistic work in the form of Nike’s #BetterForIt campaign achieves its objective by using numerous types of appeals. First, it uses words that resonate with positivity. The keyword in the tagline, better, creates positive sentiment, a factor that aligns the company to its audience’s values. Second, it employs video technology in making the advertisement. This step creates a platform for enhanced engagement and feedback because it offers detailed explanations to consumers while remaining consistent with existing trends in marketing. Third, it employs hashtags, a factor that makes the process of organizing information of the campaign convenience; hence, it allows the company to achieve a wider reach, unlike the case had the effort lacked a hashtag. Finally, the tagline used is simple. Simplicity allows a customer to process the information with ease; thus, improving its relatedness. Subsequently, the campaign is effective as a rallying call for motivating women to achieve their dreams.

Work Cited

Nike. Nike Powers Women To Be Better For It. 2015, https://news.nike.com/news/nike-powers-women-to-be-betterforit. Accessed 8 April 2020.