Diving Into Nike’s Emotionally-Driven Marketing Campaigns

Nike brings the “hero” story down to a level that everyone can relate to.

If you look deep inside Nike’s strategy, you’ll notice that the brand pushes for the everyday person to become their own hero. Not only does this strategy strike home for many people, but it also creates customer loyalty to the brand itself.

Richard Davis, Chief Financial Officer of Rogers & Cowan, partnered up with marketing expert Steve Doctrow to work with Nike on marketing campaigns. According to Doctrow, these emotionally-driven techniques help capture the viewers’ attention.

The Common Folk

For example, their commercials involve athletes, the average person, and other societal figures, and essentially place them in the shoes of the viewer. The commercial doesn’t glorify their accolades or accomplishments. Rather, they showcase their struggle to get to where they are today – all of the early-morning runs, the bitter defeats, and the immense sacrifices that they make on their journey.

Fighting Your Inner Demons

You, as the viewer, can relate to this. You are your own hero and villain at the same time. Essentially, Nike likes to pit their viewers in a tale of a hero fighting against a great foe. After a lengthy and exhausting battle, the hero prevails. For the athletes, this is always the constant struggle that they endure. You can even go so far as to say that their commercials will inspire you to achieve greatness and exceed any expectations.

The key word in Nike’s marketing strategy is “triumph”. They’ve mastered the art of emotional branding techniques and planted them inside their commercials and advertisements. This is what essentially makes Nike who they are today. They’re a representative of the struggles between your inner-hero and villain. They sympathize with the everyday man and woman and inspire them to strive for nothing less than excellence.