Assessment of the overall campaign

Nike and the Razor group together were able to construct and execute an effective integrated marketing campaign. Not only did the brand build customer loyalty, brand awareness and increase sales. They were also able to encourage Australian women to get healthy and fit through the campaign. Jasmine Chen is a Sydney runner and described in a recent interview how “the campaign motivated her to reach for higher training goals with support and inspiration from Nike the whole time”. She has also since shared her experience and encouraged more female runners to participate in the annual event.

The interview conducted with Chen, allowed me to receive a first-hand response on how runners felt during the campaign and participating in the event. This is important because Chen suggests herself and other runners are enticed by positive feelings and a healthy stage of their life when associated with the brand Nike. 

Source: Interview was conducted with Jasmine Chen and myself on 27^th October, 2014 in North Sydney.

Analysis in the way it was integrated

Nike has successfully integrated each source of media to coexist effectively with every medium they used for their campaign.  Social media pages and smartphone apps allowed the brand to use these resources to create personal channels of selling. Word of mouth played a huge role in the campaign and social media allowed this word of mouth to reach a large amount of people. Non-personal channels were equally as effective because their print media and advertising targeted women of a mass market as well and the images and symbols were used to entice women to be apart of the campaign.

Direct responses from women of Australia meant the campaign could be adjusted and new resources could be integrated into the campaign. For example the response from women, who said they were afraid to run at night alone, meant Nike could use this response to their advantage and create the running event in the evening.

Relevance and Effectiveness of the campaign.

This ongoing campaign has demonstrated Nikes brand’s ability to increase sales, brand awareness and loyalty from consumers through a effective communication campaign.

The relevance of the campaign was to introduce female runners to Nike footwear opposed to purchasing from competitor Asics. The statistics below illustrate how the campaign contributed to introducing more Australian women to Nike footwear, and gain an advantage over competitor Asics.

Statistics -

-       - 44% of runners brought a pair of Nike shoes with registration.

-       -  90% intend to race next year.

-      -  Before the actual event the brand created a community of 54,762 female runners before the race night, and 95,000 since the event.

-      -  Key shoe styles were sold out

-      - Sale targets were met and exceeded expectations

It is also suggested by Belch author of Advertising and promotion: integrated marketing communications perspective, 10^th edition, that an effective integrated marketing campaign has a goal to build short term financial returns and long term sales, brand awareness, and shareholder value. The statics illustrate Nike was able to achieve this short – term and long-term goal as a result of their She Runs the Night campaign. 

How Social Media and the Web Influenced the Media Campaign

Social media is increasingly becoming the most popular source for consumers to research products and express consumer feedback.

Today more than 60 precent of consumers researching products through multiple online sources learnt about a specific brand or retailer through social networking sites (Chandler Stephanie, 2013). The statistics illustrate why it has become important for marketers to launch campaigns through social media and have knowledge of the positive and negative effects this marketing can have.

Researching the Nike – She Runs the Night campaign makes it evident that without the use of social media the brand may not have been as successful in sharing their message to such a large number of people, than if they had launched the campaign using another method.  

Social media allowed the company to create awareness of the event, while also marketing their brand and products for women at potentially a lesser cost. The recognition for the campaign led the marketing team to create a community and space for women to begin conversations and organise running groups. This meant their audience was regularly viewing the space and Nike could use this opportunity of consistently sharing their symbols, messages and gain constant exposure for their products in a cost effective environment.

The use of direct marketing between Nike and their audience led to ideas for the event and instant event and marketing feedback. This played a significant role in their campaign because it was feedback from consumers that inspired the company to organise the running event in the evening, as women preferred to run at night.

Source: Chandler, Stephanie, 2011, The Hidden Benefits of Social Media Marketing: Why Your Strategy May Be Working Better Than You Think, FORBES, Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2013/03/12/the-hidden-benefits-of-social-media-marketing-why-your-strategy-may-be-working-better-than-you-think/ Accessed: 14.10.2014