The difference between men and women is five or six years. One works, the other goes to school. Can we be together?

Do it. It embodies the personality-oriented characteristics of Nike's corporate culture, whether it is work, life or sports, you can do whatever you want. Sports, performance and free and easy sportsmanship "is the personalized culture pursued by Nike."

Nike's personalized marketing

I. Background information

Nike was founded in 1960s, when phil knight, the CEO, thought there would be a market for high-quality running shoes, and initiated a revolution in the footwear industry. In the 1980s, he turned the booming sports shoes into a marketing machine. Since 2000, the company's stock return has increased by an average of 47% every year. During-,Fortune magazine ranked among the top 65,438+00 countries in the United States. At present, it should become a sports machine, hold golf tournaments and other activities, as well as sports equipment and clothing.

Second, the personality of Nike culture

(A) personalized culture

"Sports, performance and free and easy sportsmanship" is the personalized culture pursued by Nike. This unique culture-anti-traditional corporate image was founded by the founder Philip Knight.

Nike started with blue ribbon sporting goods, based on a paper written by Knight when he was studying in stanford graduate school of business. Knight randomly collected the ideas of some famous track and field athletes and sports fans and wrote them in the article. They have the same goal in mind: to beat Adidas and let more and more athletes wear high-quality and low-cost running shoes made in Japan-Tigers.

As the founder of Knight, endless personal struggle and business ethics run through the operation of the enterprise. That's right. Knight was selected into the track and field team of the University of Oregon and became a professional middle-distance runner. His knowledge of sporting goods was worn away. Later, I worked as an accountant in price waterhouse in Poland for five years, and my business sense was cultivated at that time. Oregon legendary track and field coach Bill Bauer always orders running shoes for his star athletes. He told Knight that a track and field team is composed of individual players, and everyone must constantly strive to improve their performance. The creed of track and field athletes is "endless." Price waterhouse's revelation is that "business behavior has the most basic principles". Nike's history is a process of continuous dialogue between the above two creeds, and a process of coordination between athletes' personal struggle spirit and commercial constraints. Knight and Ballman started to co-create Blue Ribbon Company, which was renamed Nike Company in 1980. Since then, it began to design shoes with this trademark and produce them in Asia.

Never stop is the culture of Nike. At that time, Adidas, Puma and Tiger were the dominant sports shoes in the United States. In the early 1970s, jogging craze gradually rose, and millions of people began to wear sports shoes, because sports shoes are not only comfortable to wear, but also a symbol of health and youth-this is the image that most people yearn for, and sports shoes are about to become popular, but the "iron triangle" led by Adidas failed to grasp this development trend, and "Nike" crashed in. In, coach Ballman fiddled with a kind of polyurethane rubber in the iron mold for baking waffles and made a new type of sole. This kind of sole is a "walnut cookie" type with small rubber round nails, which is more elastic than other soles popular in the market. This seemingly simple product innovation promoted Knight's career, and the product quickly opened up the situation. Nike's one-year window soared from 10000 dollars in the previous year to 10000 dollars. Nike developed like wildfire and spent a lot of money on new styles of running shoes. By the end of 1970s, Nike had nearly 100 researchers, many of whom had degrees in biology, chemistry, experimental biology, engineering technology, industrial design, chemistry and various related leaders. This powerful research force has produced more than three different styles of products, many of which are the most novel and advanced in technology. These styles are designed according to different foot types, weights, running speeds, training plans, gender and different technical levels. These products with different styles, different prices and multiple uses have attracted thousands of runners, making them feel that Nike is the most complete supplier of running shoes. Millions of runners with various abilities have this idea, which is a very attractive image in a developing industry.

Relying on the never-ending enterprise concept, by 2008, Nike had achieved 33% market share by planning the listing of new products and vigorously promoting them, and finally squeezed into the "iron triangle" built by Adidas, Puma and Tiger to become a star. By 2008, its market share even reached 50%, far ahead of Adidas, and Knight himself ran into Forbes' coveted list of the richest Americans. Nike is an adventurous pioneer. In lush Oregon, a well-designed culture has been cultivated. A senior manager of Nike once recalled: "It was like working in an environment full of brotherhood. Colleagues drink happily together, talk endlessly about sports, and claim to be positive and anti-traditional people. " Every six months, Knight's management team meets to discuss strategy. This noisy party is called tit for tat. Knight always encourages confrontation, even confrontation. Like everyone else, he accepts loud accusations from others. The location of Nike enterprise, just like campus, has forests, jogging tracks, lakes and football fields. Knight hopes to create a peaceful working environment. He thinks the world is chaotic enough, and working hours should be like home.

Nike's distinctive corporate culture attracts a large number of young people, and 40% of Nike employees are under 30 years old. Their day's work is arranged like this. At noon, they exercise in the sports and leisure center in the "campus" for two hours, and then work until evening. They are loyal to everyone. Nike's management is not strict, but we must break the firm belief of Adidas and unite the whole team. Our marketing staff said, "We can instinctively judge what Nike wants to do and what Nike doesn't do." Because Adidas belongs to orthodoxy, Nike can attach great importance to recognizing those athletes who hate orthodoxy, such as Steve and Preventin, Zhan Mu Dean in track and field, and scoff at amateur athletes' federations; Yilei nastase, who likes to be funny, is a creepy figure in tennis. After these anti-traditional athletes were funded by Nike, Nike was full of the image of challenging orthodoxy and enterprising vitality. Knight is as passionate about the career he founded as he is about his own children. He goes in and out of the office every day as long as he thinks it is necessary. Nate spends most of his time in a small room next to the office. There are dirty clothes on the floor of the hut, beside which are piles of things and papers, and almost no one else enters his house. Knight complained, "once people are allowed into your house, they will come in and out all day, and what I need is thinking."

With its entrepreneurial spirit, Nike had better finally beat Adidas in the American market, but when Reebok became its main competitor in the early 1980s, Nike's culture of focusing on producing men's sporting goods seemed a bit short-sighted. Nike failed to foresee the importance of soft leather non-slip shoes favored by women. In 2004, Reebok surpassed Nike to become the industry leader. Inspired by this, Knight formulated management rules to support the central work of maintaining trademark reputation. In 2000, he began to carry out a new transformation of the interior. He divided a large footwear department into several smaller departments, each of which was responsible for a kind of sports shoes, thus speeding up the product process. He formed a whole by establishing a system of production, publicity and connection. Therefore, all kinds of shoes are popularized, and publicity is used as a means to create a powerful and sensational image for Nike shoes.

(B) The driving force of marketing strategy innovation comes from the innovation of cultural ideas.

Creating a perfect and dynamic corporate and product image is a strategic goal. Knight believes that teenagers have strong imitation ability and are extremely sensitive to brands. The clothes of celebrities on campus often become the objects of imitation. Therefore, as long as we try our best to make the most attractive athletes wear Nike, we will certainly attract a large number of people from all over the country to imitate it. Jordan, the greatest world-class star, has excellently grasped Nike's unique spiritual temperament, that is, the perfect and energetic work style. By sponsoring the "First Flying Man", Nike has also become the idol of millions of athletes. Now Nike has become a large company with a total amount of $4 billion, and its anti-traditional image is being threatened. A business critic reprimanded: "Knight found that Nike is rapidly becoming a lightning rod for the general ambivalence caused by the combination of business and sports in the United States." Knight himself thinks: "When your family business is getting bigger and bigger, you must pay attention to cooling the business, but don't put out the fire." In the United States, although one out of every three pairs of sports shoes is marked with Nike's trademark Swooshk, it shows that by May 3 1 day, Nike's total financial revenue this year will drop by 6% to $3.7 billion. The biggest basketball court has also dropped sharply. The most important and potential markets for Nike are Europe and Japan, but the economies of these two countries are not so prosperous.

The core of the problem is that the consumers who have promoted the development of Nike in the past few years-teenagers and the younger generation in their early twenties-have given up their sneakers one after another, and they are tired of being full of athletes' sneakers. They are looking for new and less commercial products-similar to rough leather shoes. All this has affected Nike's stock. Its share price peaked in June, 1 1, and fell by 40% in 2008. 35% of Cavaliers' stock, once worth $2.3 billion, is now only worth1.300 million. Many economists believe that Nike has reached its lowest point. They estimate that in 2008, Nike's profit will rise to 12%, which is about 3160,000 USD. Although it still lags behind the profit of fiscal year 2008, the 3/4 results released on March 15 let Wall Street find the signs of the good news they have been looking for. Orders have improved in the summer months, and new styles-including the new series of basketball shoes-will be welcomed by retailers. However, the 56-year-old chairman of Nike is still worried, knowing that it is impossible to achieve the growth he once created again in the saturated American market. He spent a lot of time thinking about two things; How can we achieve the above goals without losing the innovative spirit and entrepreneurial spirit that are crucial to success? Knight is inscrutable and withdrawn.

To achieve this goal, corporate culture reform is imperative. Nate hasn't asked about Nike's daily affairs for months. In order to cope with the uncontrollable situation, Knight once again participated in the decision-making. That's what happened. Nike said to Chris Van Dyke, the head of the department, "Nate is back." In mid-February, the Chairman held a meeting of 365,438+0 senior managers in Oregon Beach, among whom 8 were managers of overseas branches. At the meeting, he announced that Clark, 42, would replace Chad Donahue, 66, president of Nike, in June. This new appointment has won the general support of the whole society. It fully affirmed Clark's ability to learn from others by strengthening communication, and also built a big stage for Nike, a "laggard". But this new strategy needs the full cooperation of all departments of Nike. At a middle management meeting, President Keweike explained the importance of "cooperative management mode" to 60 managers. Knight didn't like meetings at ordinary times, but he sat in the back row and attended the meeting. Clark said that Nike has not done enough to make communication channels smoother and speed up decision-making. "We have a sense of cooperation in our genes," he concluded, "but the days when some people gathered in the hall to make decisions are gone forever." Nate listened patiently until Clark invited the unexpected guest to the front desk. He is wearing a double-breasted suit and a pair of worn flat shoes. The knight looks a little disheveled. He walked slowly down the aisle. His dim eyes narrowed when the light shone on him. He used jokes to emphasize the importance of communication channels: "A few days ago, a frog above Sean Eckhardt walked into a bar. The bartender asks, "What's that?" The frog replied, "I don't know." It started out as a sarcoma on the face. "Knight's message to managers through jokes is that we must succeed, but we must not lose our sense of humor and our rebellious culture. In the United States, only a few CEOs can cheer up employees as soon as they appear in front of them like Knight. His legendary charm lies in his smallest gesture, which can also remind people of the whole glorious history of Nike.

Sportsmanship and business spirit have created Nike and tempered the cleverness and competence of the knight. Nike was just a nobody when the Cavaliers started, but he beat Adidas and made his own brand. The secret of his success is: first, he loves sports, and second, he breaks the rules in business behavior. He still wears folding oakley sunglasses, and he is not afraid to make jokes about how difficult it is to enter the elegant hall. He is an excitable and calm person. His employees are willing to create Nike myth with him, nothing else. Nevertheless, Knight is a capable person above all. He clearly knows that in the past years, when they made marathon unremitting efforts to win the competition, Nike hit a wall and became the most powerful force in sports after six years of the most difficult development. Now, because the annual amount always stays at nearly $4 billion, Knight is trying to get rid of this stagnant situation.

(C) further reform and innovation, the implementation of new marketing strategies

In order to gain a foothold in the saturated American market, Nike updated its "appearance" technology and introduced a series of new running shoes, sports shoes and other training shoes. He will also strive to expand Van Dyke's $200 million sporting goods department. Travel shoes are the only popular products in the footwear industry. The Department of Outdoor Sporting Goods will compete with powerful peers such as Ting Bolan in this field, and the output has increased by 1 times, and the profit is also higher by 1 times. Knight is confident that by 2008, it will become the most profitable department of Nike, with the amount reaching $500 million.

At the same time, Nike also changed its way. The outdoor products department has focused on yuppies and a new generation of unknown customers, but it is doubtful whether Nike can make them interested in Nike shoes through athlete identification and TV. In order to attract them and counter the public's cynicism about Nike, Nike launched the largest publicity campaign in history. In the spring of 2008, Nike adjusted its form. Retired basketball star Michael Jordan appeared in the Chicago White Sox uniform at the Adult Baseball Spring Return League. Nike took this opportunity to turn it into a tourist product display, which made pure baseball fans very angry.

While planning corporate image, there is another important thing: inventory control system, but it is often ignored. This system, called "futures", is the key to Nike's continued profitability. Nike requires retailers to book 80% of their total purchases 6-8 months in advance. Only in this way can Nike guarantee the delivery time and give a discount of 10%. In this way, Nike has enough time to arrange production according to the order, because it knows the order like the back of its hand. This avoids excessive inventory, and at the same time ensures that it can obtain ideal ex-factory price from its branches in Asia. Retailers hate this system, because if they make a mistake about the market, they will be trapped by this pair of shoes. But Nike's field attracted them to try their luck. Although Nike's competitors are doing the same thing, when Nike started to deliver the goods according to the deal already reached, it was already one step ahead of its competitors. Carmody of Reebok said: "Nike has a strong logistics system, which is much better than ours."

(D) Cross-cultural issues in marketing

Cross-cultural problems are problems that every multinational company will encounter in its management. Adidas in Germany is the biggest competitor of Nike and Reebok in Europe. Europeans instinctively prefer everything produced in continental Europe. Adidas is taking this opportunity to launch a powerful offensive against Nike. In addition, Nike sports shoes are expensive, and the price of each pair is as high as 80-50 dollars, which is unacceptable to some Europeans. In view of this, Nike deliberately guessed to cater to the psychological characteristics of Europeans. For example, French youth like to show off, and Americans put price tags on their shoes to satisfy their desire for identity. In Holland, people over the age of 25 like to wear white sports shoes, while people under the age of 25 like colorful sports shoes, so Nike treats them differently.

The differences between European and American cultural traditions also make some Europeans hate American goods. Li Luo, a fashion design college in Paris, hates wearing sneakers. She said, "It's just depravity. Not shining shoes is one of them, and the worst thing is to wear sneakers. " Another Italian calls the woman who wears sneakers to work "ugly", but at the same time, like American movies, Disneyland has a large area of American culture in Europe, and Nike is also using the American image to create a "sneaker family" in Europe. Knight said that the international market is Nike's strategic focus. We are all strongly aware that in a few years, Ben's business abroad will be much bigger than that at home. The problem is that even though foreign countries currently account for 1/3 of Nike's total, these businesses are simply developed by imitating American machines. It is necessary to open up a field in football and other international sports. Knight is worried that Nike shoes are losing their original authentic and first-class image overseas. All this is because of the neglect and fragmentation of marketing strategy. Foreign retailers are also complaining. Nike always uses high pressure to force them to order Nike shoes early, but only American retailers are used to this way.

In order to change this situation, Nike cut off its distribution business around the world in order to gain more control. Knight called on his subordinates to focus on the super-important markets of Germany, Mexico and Japan. There, Nike will convince retailers that ordering in advance is not a painful thing, the focus of publicity will be on the sports world, and Nike will also launch travel shoes to meet the special market requirements. For example, badminton shoes sold in Asia and handball shoes sold in New Scandinavia. The real challenge is to find a group of competent managers and instill Nike's business style in them. But this process is full of hardships. In America, Knight thinks Ben's managers can do well because he knows they understand the meaning of Nike brand. That is: sports, performance, free and easy sportsmanship. This is the rich connotation of Nike's collective culture elaborated by the legendary president. Now, Knight really wants to find a group of trustworthy managers abroad, who will manage their domestic market in a pioneering way while maintaining Nike's reputation.

But the question is, can Nike culture really be translated? While exporting Nike shoes, Knight never forgets to export his own Nike culture. The reason is simple: in Oregon, there are compelling news about sports competitions and performances around Nike's compound. These reports encourage people to buy sports shoes. Although 70% of these sports shoes, including Nike shoes, have never appeared in the gym, a sports shoes marketing expert believes that "consumers always have great interest in sports, and this interest is sustainable. This standard is very important. " In order to strengthen its international marketing power, Nike is cutting off its distribution rights around the world so that it can exercise more control. On the one hand, Nike hopes that good business will emerge from foreign markets; On the other hand, in order to maintain Nike's brand, we should implement the strategy formulated according to the suggestions. Nike's experience in Japan is the best example, which proves that this process is very difficult. A year ago, Knight clearly knew that the business of Nike Japan Branch was very big, but because he didn't combine sports, performance and brand image, Nike bought this branch and changed its face. Knight chose Yong Yuan to lead the work. Yuan Qiu has made great contributions to the expansion of KFC in Japan.

Due to the different cultural backgrounds and national habits of different countries, we should attach great importance to this smoker who is always like Yuan Qiu when formulating marketing strategies and tactics. He often understands sports as a very soft pastime, such as golf. Yuan Qiu was sent to Beaverton for a four-month education on Nike culture and business methods. He threw away his cigarette and began to run. In February 65438, he returned to Nike Japan Company in Tokyo, and he issued an order prohibiting smoking inside. For this smoky country, this ban is undoubtedly a major event. At the same time, he also forced Nike employees in Japan to participate in long-distance running training to meet the 2008 Hawaii Marathon. After the strengthening of Nike headquarters and branches, Nike got its first "bonus", that is, the appearance of special lightweight running shoes specially designed for Asian feet. But for many important aspects, especially the Nike brand itself, Yuan Qiu still can't fully understand it. Knight said that before going to Tokyo, Yuan Qiu wanted to translate "Let's do it" into accurate Japanese and submit it to Nike managers. Nike people are afraid of this. Knight recalled: "We said,' No', don't translate. We never want to hide one thing-our brand is an American brand. " Can Nike, which emphasizes cultural motivation, beat international competition? Nike, which has a huge family business, is now facing greater challenges than its initial stage and legendary entrepreneur Knight.

Third, comments.

1, since then, Nike's stock return rate has increased by an average of 47% every year. During this period, Fortune magazine ranked among the best in the United States 10 countries. What is the secret? If we study the concept in depth, we will find that taking risks, breaking the rules and being unconventional are the important reasons for creating miracles. Gary Gary hammel, a senior researcher at Fortune, said that the driving force of instrumental innovation comes from the innovation of ideas and business concepts, that is, the ability to change the competitive core of existing industries and the ability to create new industries. This will become the next fundamental competitive advantage of global enterprises. In an increasingly nonlinear world, only nonlinear strategies can create huge new wealth. Not every enterprise can adjust this strategic concept. Will bring pain to the enterprise. You can't take this step without changing the corporate culture first. More and more people are proving this and will continue to prove it.

2. Constantly innovating and implementing new marketing strategies is a magic weapon for Nike to win, which is true for all industries and enterprises. In the past ten years, although some giants have created huge wealth, they are not the same as Nike, which has been innovating in corporate culture and corporate image. While conservatives in the department store industry focus on improving the supply chain and making a lot of insignificant expansion of the production line, innovators are creating brand-new product categories and retail concepts. From April 2008 to April 2008, the total capital related to the Internet increased from almost zero to nearly $2 billion.

3. To build culture, we should attach importance to and develop our own personality. We must fully develop our distinctive personality characteristics and establish innovations that are good at grasping various new opportunities in order to implement cultural concepts.