Nike Goddess

Nike used to be a masculine company but soon its main goal was to change the design, the selling and communication with women. In its 30-year history, Nike had become the undisputed leader in sports marketing. Nike is named after a woman- The Greek goddess of victory- but the company had been perceived mostly about men. Could Nike do more to realize the full potential of female customers? The launch of Nike Goddess was the answer.

Nike’s destiny was controlled by its founders, who signed up athletes in locker rooms and made the executive decisions. Soon Nike has found that it can keep many of its core attributes while adding new sources of inspiration. For example, take the combination of John Hoke and Mindy Grossman, Hoke designed the look and feel of the first Nike Goddess store. Then Grossman pitched the design ideas to Nike’s top retailers. Now Nike has a chance to double its sales to women by the end of the decade.

Nike Goddess began as a concept for a women-only store. Many of the retail settings were found were a turnoff to female customers: dark, loud and harsh- male. The Nike Goddess stores- the comforting feel of a woman’s only home- female.

There were 2 elements in Nike’s campaign: first one- designing a new approach to retail, the second one- redesigning the shoes and clothes. Nike’s footwear designers worked on 18-month production cycle- which made it hard to stay in step with the new styles. The apparel group worked around 12-month cycles, was better at keeping up with fashion.

For John Hoke, the real power of Nike Goddess is not about traffic at stores. It’s all about changing minds inside the company. It was an opportunity to redefine and re-energise Nike’s entire brand around a market that was taking off.

Harley Davidson

Jeffrey Bleustein, CEO of Harley Davidson, had already pulled the motorcycle manufacturer back from the brink of bankruptcy but now he has another serious problem. The HD customers were definitely ageing. From an average age of 36 ten years ago the customer was now edging closer to 46. Bleustein decided that he would put the question to his team of advisors. It’s clear that they have to innovate and try to rejuvenate the image of their bikes to try to attract new customers. That’s not easy because HD already has a very strong and quite specific image.

There are 4 possible options for HD:

1. Product development approach. Invest in new lighter and faster HD models. This might attract a younger purchaser and would change the image of HD products.

2. Acquisition approach. HS has acquired Buell, a small manufacturer of sports motorcycles. This would be an opportunity to introduce a new range of sport bikes which will be sold by the Buell brand. Also HD has a poor penetration in Europe and the Far East. There are huge potential markets, for example, China

3. Marketing approach. Concentrate on developing the merchandising sources of income by signing deals to develop the HD brand on clothing and fashion accessories.

4. Distribution approach. Review the HD dealer network. It might be possible to develop sales through other outlets (buyers’ clubs, specialist stores). Or to develop a strong internet presence, possible with direct internet sales.

What the company in fact did was introduce new HD models to provide a more exciting product line while developing the Buell Blast bikes to give younger riders a chance to buy into the HD experience. It has given the company a chance to promote itself through rider instruction programmes and to draw a new group of customers. Also HD is considering overseas expansion. But it’s very difficult without making an alliance with a local manufacturer.