9. Successful advertising campaign. (Nike)

"Just Do It"

Nike

In the late-1970s/early-1980s, Reebok's line of sports apparel sold far better and had a much more robust share of the market, thanks to the explosion of aerobics and general exercise enthusiasm amongst women. Nike, who at the time had little more than a line of marathoners' shoes to their name, wanted a piece of the action. So they went for the whole pie.

Late into the '80s, they started to tackle every demographic. They did this on their "Just Do It" campaign, purportedly coined during a meeting of executives between WK and Nike ("You Nike guys, you just do it."). The phrasing reflected the corporate culture and advertising approach, which was directed to the inactive people and encourage them to act.

The Nike brand has become so strong as to place it in the rarified air of recession-proof consumer branded giants, in the company of CocaCola, Gillette and Proctor & Gamble. Brand management is one of Nike’s many strengths. Consumers are willing to pay more for brands that they judge to be superior in quality, style and reliability. A strong brand allows its owner to expand market share, command higher prices and generate more revenue than its competitors.

With its “Just Do It” campaign and strong product, Nike was able to increase its share of the domestic sport-shoe business from 18 percent to 43 percent, from $877 million in worldwide sales to $9.2 billion in the ten years between 1988 and 1998. Nike spent $300 million on overseas advertising alone; most of it centered around the “Just Do It” campaign. The success of the campaign is that much more remarkable when one considers that an estimated 80 percent of the sneakers sold in the U.S. are never used for the activities for which they have been designed.

Why Was the Campaign Successful?

The timing of this campaign could not have been better. Americans were buying exercise equipment at a record pace in the mid-1980s, and body worship was at an all-time high. Nike tapped into consumers’ desire for a healthy lifestyle by packaging it into a pair of $80 sneakers. The ads were often humorous, appealing to the cynic in all of us, while imploring consumers to take charge of their physical fitness. The ads made starting an exercise regime seem like a necessity, and the way to start exercising was to buy Nike merchandise.

More importantly, by owning Nikes you were instantly a member of a desirable group. The campaign was easily identifiable (to the point that Nike eventually did not even bother to display the word “Nike” in commercials — the swoosh was enough) and stayed true to its message.

10. Planning advertising campaign

Planning an advertising campaign is often a very complex task.  The advertising world is a rude and energetic one, and there is always someone willing to take your money! The following tips will help you generate a campaign from scratch, and lead you away from some of the common pitfalls that freelancers can fall into. Remember, you can’t compete with the big boys when it comes to throwing cash around – focus on your target audience and pick media that will allow you to approach them in a cost-effective manner.

1. Determine your business objectives

If you are just starting out, you may want to concentrate on branding your services to be top-of-mind for customers. However, if you wish to generate revenue and new business, you may wish to push for a retail-oriented ad. In either case, create some measureable objectives upon which to base the success or failure of your campaign.

2. Determine your budget

The size of this will determine which approach you can select. Also, be aware that the media itself is only a part of the cost of a campaign – you also have production, artwork and printing as possible costs.

3. Who are your ideal customers?

If you are a local service freelancer, your ideal sphere of influence will be around your local area. If you are an online service, your influence may be widened to countrywide or even international audiences. If you are a corporate training or accounting freelancer, your focus will be on business to business channels. Who are your customers, and what do they want?

4. Keep your message SIMPLE!

The easiest way to build a message is to think:

• What can you do better than your competition?

• What are your potential customers looking for?

• How can you offer them what they need, whilst playing to your strengths?

Again, keep it simple. If you can’t explain your core concept to a friend in 10 seconds or less, it’s too complex. The average person sees over 1000 ads per day, and to break through that wall of noise, your message needs to be clear, consistent and SIMPLE.

Generally, as a rule of thumb, TV is the most expensive but has the largest reach; print media allows you to target demographics quite accurately and has a scalable cost, outdoor advertising is great for simple branding and online gives campaigns a significant amount of data and flexibility with tons of different ways to reach customers.