1. How has the macro environment influenced Nike to include "football" (soccer) as one of their core areas?
2. What key area did they miss out on after the 2006 World Cup?
3. What did they do to correct it?
In the video Trevor Edwards (VP of Category and Brand Management) indicates a goal of Nike was/is to be recognized as an international brand. Nike realized that if the company's brands (the Nike brand in particular) was going to be recognized on the international level it had to promote a sport which had international appeal, hence the adoption of "football" (soccer) by Nike Inc.
To create "traction" and fulfill this international objective, Nike started focusing on the World Cup of soccer, to help expose the Nike brand. An example of their imprint was a promotional event titled "Joga Bonito", which served as a "social event" but also created "community" with international patrons of soccer. Nike's campaign was well received, boasting over one million people, all part of the "Joga Bonito Community".
Though the event was well received and traction was created, it wasn't maintained. Nike learned a valuable lesson in relationship building and realized they had to do more than just develop a promotional campaign to keep a consumer group happy; they needed to keep consumers engaged.
What they learned, as indicated by Trevor, was "the World Cup is not a destination; it is part of a journey allowing Nike the opportunity to connect with consumers". "Write your future" was a new campaign used for the World Cup in 2010, with more consumer engagement and the hope of a lasting effect since consumers would be engaged and obtain a level of ownership via the promotion. Nike realized consumer participation was (and is) very important in order to achieve a desired level of international brand recognition.
Along with creative promotional strategy and social media, the 2010 World Cup was again a great success in creating the "traction" but this time maintaining it after the fact; Nike continues to engage consumers via digital and social mediums and is looking forward to World Cups to come.