Communications and Media

This paper talks about the integrated marketing and communication activities conducted by Nike. Nike is a sports goods company that sells its products all around the world and is known worldwide but in this paper, I would be specifically talking about Nike particularly in Hong Kong.

Mission of Nike
At Nike, the goal of the company is to minimize the energy footprints of the consumers as well as of the business itself in order to flourish in the low-carbon economy. In their products, they try to reduce the energy embedded in it and more focus is placed on utilizing the energy in an efficient manner and constructing green factories. Moreover, in terms of delivery, Nike tries to reduce the logistics by optimizing the product flow and to opt for distance collaboration to reduce travelling. The products manufactured and sold by Nike are innovative and are meant for every athlete in the world. (Nike, Inc. n.d.).

Company background 
Nike is a sportswear company based on United States that manufactures and sells all sports goods such as sportswear and equipment. The headquarters of Nike are located in Beaverton and the company is known as the leading supplier of sports goods in the world. In 2008, its revenues crossed 18.6 billion and it employs around 30,000 all over the world. it was in 1964 when Nike was founded by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight but initially it was known by the name of Blue Ribbon sports and later in 1978, it became Nike. All the products manufactured by Nike are sold under its own brand name and besides this Nike also operates retail stores under the name of Niketown. Many high profile athletes worldwide are sponsored by Nike and the two trademarks of Nike recognized by the people globally are Just do it and the HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiSwoosh o Swoosh Swooshlogo.

Products
There is a wide range of sportswear and sports equipment that is produced by Nike but initially Nike used to produce track running shoes but today they have a huge variety of sports goods such as shoes, jerseys, shorts and other products needed by the baseball, ice hockey, tennis, football and cricket players. Nike produces products for women, men as well as for the children and the brand is very popular especially amongst the youth.

Customer analysis
The primary concern and the challenge for every company is to increase sales and to stay competitive for which it is essential for the company to do a proper customer analysis. However, in order to remain competitive, a company must seek for various avenues that would help in boosting the sales such as by identifying new opportunities for sales. Customer is the one who can make a company become successful and so it is important for the company to focus on the needs of the customers and to understand what they want. Customers focus and market intelligence tools should therefore be used by the company to ensure growth. By analyzing the customers, one actually gets to know the current states of sales and all the activities related to sales and this can be analyzed by keeping in view the total number of customers, those who are active and the top ten customers. (Blythe 2008).

There are many market segments that are being served by Nike such as their primary and secondary market. It is wise to sell new products to the same customers rather than to plan strategies to sell new products to the new customers and this is because the ratio of loyalty of the customers with the brand they like is always higher than those people who are new users. The primary target market of Nike is those people who indulge themselves highly in sports and so their consumption of sports goods is high.

Sports in Hong Kong
Just like all the other countries worldwide, sports are also played in Hong Kong and so there is a demand for sports goods in the country as well. In the history of Hong Kong, the first sporting club of the country was Hong Kong City Hall and initially it was involved mainly in water sports. However, due to the British influence, the primary sport of Hong Kong has been football and so Nike has a good market in the country.

Nike in Hong Kong 
Since football is the primary sport played in Hong Kong, it is good for the heath of Nike as this is the most widely played sport besides many other sports in the country and so the sales of football shoes, balls and other equipments can be enhanced. Moreover, as the climate in Hong Kong is mostly subtropical monsoon with a cool and humid temperature in the winters while in summers the climate is hot and rainy, the people can play footballs and other games except for winter sports all around the year and this is advantageous for Nike. Therefore, both primary and secondary segments are found in Hong Kong and many people here are athletic who come under the category of heavy users of the products sold by Nike. Most of the area of Hong Kong comprises of land and so sports on land are played more than the water sports. 89.2 of the people in Hong Kong comprise of the Chinese people and the country has a very high literacy rate i.e. 96.9 in males and 89.6 in females according to the estimates of 2002. (Central Intelligence Agency n.d.).

Currently in Hong Kong, Nike is targeting the men as well as the women and the company is selling sports goods related to running, basketball, football, training, action sports and they are offering foot wear, clothing and equipment for these two segments as well as for the kids. Besides this, at NIKEiD Studio, the customers can customize their choice of style, color, material as well as graphic and personal ID on all the products sold by Nike and so I recommend that Nike should continue with this strategy as it is working quite well in Hong Kong. (Nike n.d.).Competitors Analysis

The top competitor of Nike is Adidas besides which the names of some more competitors of the company are mentioned below. (Daily Finance n.d.).
Reebok
Woodland
Red tape
Bata
Liberty

Nike is an international brand and it is popular especially amongst the youth, however there is intense competition around it and the company has to face various threats that erupt especially from the side of the competitors. The sports goods industry is very competitive especially for sportswear and shoes and despite of the fact that Phil Knight came up with a model to manufacture a high branded product but at a low cost. This model is now being used by most of the companies and it no more serves as a competitive advantage for Nike. Moreover, the competitors today are coming up with strategies in order to take the market share away from Nike.  Nowadays the customers have become more intelligent and savvy and they expect value pricing besides expecting customer value. The competitors that are offering sports goods at the prices lower than those charged by Nike are serving as a threat to the company. The major competition of Nike is with Adidas and so Nike has to set prices accordingly because if the same thing will be available at Adidas at a lower price, the people will shift towards the products of Adidas.

Threats to Nike
Since Adidas is a direct competitor of Nike, it is a major threat to the business in terms of quality, design and the price of the products. Some of the other threats of Nike are the threat of substitute products. Since the athletic shoes are meant for comfort, the customers might switch to other brands if the other brands offer better quality products. For the customers, the switching costs are low as the products sold by Nike are not too expensive and so people can easily switch to other brands. In the industry in which Nike is operating, the companies are mutually dependent and this means that a move by a particular competitor would affect the other companies in this business as well. For instance, if Reebok comes up with a new range of products for women, the other companies will also introduce the same kind of range as well. This again serves as a major threat to Nike as well as it is not so easy to come up with totally a new range of products but in order to deal with the competition, Nike will have to use more of its resources to introduce new products.

IMC Campaign 
In todays era the needs of the consumers differ from one another but to make things easier, the marketer forms certain market segments that are groups of people with similar needs. For instance, Nike sells its products to three main market segments, the men, women and the kids. Therefore, Nike has to adopt different marketing strategies to create an impact on each segment. When using integrated marketing communication, the marketer integrates various marketing tools to create the desired impact by using the minimum resources in order to gain the highest profit. Gone are the days when companies used to use traditional methods of marketing their products and today if Nike uses the same strategy, it will totally harm the business. Therefore, it is not good idea to opt for traditional marketing but according to the needs of the various segments Nike is targeting it must develop different marketing programs accordingly. Nike should opt for both online and offline marketing channels depending on the target market they are marketing for. For instance, for the men and the women, Nike must opt for e-marketing campaigns such as by sending e-mails and blogs. Moreover, they must also use offline marketing channels such as magazines, newspapers and bill boards to market their products. These are the basic changes that Nike needs to make in their marketing plans as traditional marketing no more works for business nowadays.

Understanding the Company 
Nike is a very successful company and from the customers perspective, the products sold by Nike are of high quality and are reliable. As Nike sells all kinds of sports goods to three market segments i.e. the men, the women and for the kids, all three segments are mostly satisfied with the products of Nike. When Nike was founded, it mainly used to manufacture shoes but later it increased its portfolio and began to manufacture apparel and sports equipment as well. Since Nike identified the needs of the consumers and more and more females were encouraged to take part in sports activities, a need for the sports goods for the women was generated as well.

Poon Yiu Cheuk is the captain of the football team of Hong Kong and to further promote the brand in Hong Kong, Nike must sponsor sports events, make him the brand ambassador and must give products manufactured by the company to the captain to market the brand further.

Major Contact Points
Besides manufacturing the products, Nike also owns retail chains where it sells its products. Moreover, in order to reach the consumers, Nike uses various methods to convey its message. For instance, it uses media channels where ads are shown such as on the television and in the newspapers and magazines. Other than this, Nike also has its own studios where the customers can choose the design and color of the product they want to buy.

For the future, Nike can come up with some more attractions such as by creating Nike theme park where the consumers can come and test their products free of cost and they can enjoy playing sports wearing Nike shoes and using their equipment.

Despite of the fact that Nike is doing well, there are still some areas that Nike needs to work on. Communication plays a very vital role for the success of any organization and so does it for Nike. Therefore, it is extremely important for the company to have an effective communication system as well as to manage communication well in the organization. Communications management basically refers to the planning of the various channels of communication that is being done in an organization but besides planning, it also includes the implementation of communication programs and the way in which it is monitored. Besides this, it also includes the way in which the flow of information is handled and the new technology used for communication.
             
The three most important and immediate changes that can help fulfill ccorporate objectives and the execution sequenceat Nike are mentioned below.

To take care of the labor that is employed to manufacture the goods sold by Nike as previously, Nike has already been involved in an issue that it was hiring child labor for the production of sports goods.

Nike must ensure that it markets its products in different countries according to the culture of that country and its values or else, it will not just give a bad name to the company but it will ruin its goodwill as well.
Nike should also practice corporate social responsibility and it should do something good for the society and the people as well. Since it is the people who buy their products and makes the company earn revenues, it is their right to get something in return. Moreover, they will also get inclined to buy the products of Nike when they will know that the company cares for the well being of the society.