Assessment criteria for essay
Your work will be written in essay style. It will have an introduction
that signposts the structure of your essay, clear sections, and a
conclusion. Please see the notes on the portal about essay writing.
Length: 2,500-3,500 words. You may go 10 per cent under 2,500
words or 10 per cent over 3,500 words.
Produce a list of all published research sources used in preparation
of the assessment (like books, newspaper articles, journals and
internet sites – you do not need to reference the lecture slides)
using the Harvard Referencing System. Notes about the
referencing system are on the portal.
Marks will be awarded for:
– Clarity and accuracy of content and writing style
– Range and relevance of reading including books and newspaper
articles
– Ability to relate theory to practical examples
– Critical thinking, reflection and discussion
2
Essay brief
Using an organisation’s brand of your choice, discuss – in
the context of PR – the challenges and opportunities it
faces to manage its reputation and communicate with its
audiences. Can be a commercial company, a not-for-profit
organisation or a government body.
– define public relations and where reputation fits
– briefly describe the organisation/brand you have
chosen to use as an example, paying particular
attention to its corporate identity and reputation
– outline the audiences relevant to this organisation
– provide three challenges the organisation faces in
managing its reputation or in audience communication
– three opportunities organisation faces in managing
reputation or audience communication
I would like it to be done about Nike
Personal relations (PR), its challenges and opportunities
A case study of Nike
Contents
Key Challenges in managing Reputation or Audience Communication
Key Opportunities in managing Reputation or Audience Communication
Introduction
A business operates by channelizing its assets and efforts towards satisfying its customers. In line with this process, companies create an image of itself into the minds of customers which goes a long way in deciding about the company’s future (Aragall and Montaña, 2012). Now, this process can sometimes yield good results and sometimes not so good results. But when it comes to managing the said image of the company in front of its customers or the general public, a public relations campaign serves the greatest purpose. Public relations or PR is the systematic and sustained effort of companies to establish and maintain efficiency, goodwill and mutual cooperation between the organization and its stakeholders. The importance of PR in relation to its inherent opportunities and challenges is the subject matter of the present study (Oliver, 2010).
The present study emphasises upon the PR strategies and its role in brand building of Nike, a multinational sports equipment and apparel company. The study will also describe the corporate image and reputation aspect of Nike in the present world. The study will conclude by highlighting three opportunities and challenges of Nike in managing its reputation or audience communication.
On Public Relations
Public relations, as defined by S. Oliver (2010), is the planned and viable effort of business organizations to effectively create and maintain goodwill in the general public. Public relations are also concerned about the mutual understanding between the organization and its public or customers. Now, the term public in PR, refers to the groups of people which have direct and indirect interest in the company and with which the organization also interacts in a regular manner (Versailles, 2013). This public have corresponding impact on the company’s ability to achieve its business objectives. The two terms in correlation refer to publicity of any news about the company’s products or services, further extending to reputation which brings into highlight the position and status of the company into the minds of the people. The keywords highlighting public relations or PR is, communication, relationships and reputation (Heath, 2010).
In the words of G. Versailles (2013), the primary purpose of good public relations is to project a positive image of the company to the outside world. PR integrates planned communication strategies to generate positive publicity and reduce unfavourable stories, maintain a certain level of goodwill in the eyes of the public. Moreover, R. Heath (2010) states that the need of public relations arises because of building a brand image of a company in order to maintain a good customer base and also attract new customers. This also relates to achieving the business objectives in the best way possible.
In case of PR of Nike, it all depends on the company’s motive of catering to its customers’ demands and manufacturing products of the very best quality. However, the PR strategy of Nike also incorporates in its business objectives and mission statement.
The fundamental business goal of Nike is to be a high performance brand which designs shoes that are not only durable but also lightweight for runners (Sutherland, 2012). Public relation of Nike starts with a strategic advisor to counter the company’s sustainable business and innovation aspect. Digital and social media use is at its peak when it comes to effective public relations engagement. However, the most breaking point of Nike’s PR is when the company faced many criticisms and accusations in terms of its business operations and activities (Klein, 2000). This is when it employed effective PR strategies and campaign and marked the start of a new era of Nike. In light of the new and improved PR, the company adapted itself to the new market and to the new world, which is evident by its vision and mission statement (Cushman Jr., 2012).
As can be seen above, Nike was always about serving its customers with the best of design and quality. PR initiatives only highlighted this to the world and this resulted in improving further the reputation of Nike. Reputation in PR fits when the PR is about harnessing the good in the brand and mitigating the negative rumours. And this all started with the founders of the company in the brand names of Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. Management, internal and external environment of the business, communication channel, quality of products and services, organizational activities are also other aspects of the PR strategy and reputation (Sutherland, 2012).
On reputation
In the words of D. Solove (2007), reputation is a word which gathers all the efforts of the business in making a brand in front of its customers and all those efforts taken together reflecting a long time business success. In 21st century, where image and marketing serves a great purpose of building a brand, reputation is the epitome of success (Tribe, 2007). Effectively summarised by S. Sethi (2008), that a brand having a good reputation will most certainly acquire more customers, more market share and higher revenue. It is the opposite for brands having negative reputation. Every company today is conscious of its reputation and the image it projects to the outside world. Reputation also requires constant management and that is why many companies today include a strategic plan for image management and this is where public relation comes into acting. Reputation is an after effect of a public relation campaign and positive or negative reputation will depend upon the efficiency of the company and also it’s working ability (Pruzan, 2001).
Reputation of Nike depends on its strategic focus of creating the most innovative product and also a unique experience for its customers across the globe (Collins, Zoch and McDonald, 2004). Reputation of Nike can also be seen in the sustainable business environment of the company which thrives on innovation and evolution. Moreover, PR and reputation crosses path for Nike when it fosters professional development, enhance work performance, develop community integration and also encourages teamwork and interaction. All these made an effective PR strategy a sudden and stagnant requirement for Nike for the creation of reputation and organisational value, highlighting majorly on the sustainability factor of people, profit and planet (Fisk, 2010). Reputation for Nike is about social responsibility, getting better at operational activities and also striving for value creation and innovation. Reputation comes by effective PR when styling of a product is done by an athlete for Nike. The most important reputation aspect for Nike will be investing not only on advertising and marketing of product but also the quality of the product (Collins, Zoch and McDonald, 2004).
When it comes to reputation and audience communication of a brand like Nike, it focuses on inspiring people towards ideas and innovation, prioritising mainly on three principles. Firstly, Nike offers a resource centre with range of tools and exercises to help discover creativity and innovation by the use of diversity and inclusion (Cardon, 2014). Secondly, Nike seeks to empower inclusive culture(Cardon, 2014). And thirdly, Nike inspires to new and improved models of engagement by inculcating ideas to innovation (Cardon, 2014). The audience communication in terms of brand reputation is very simple when it comes to Nike because the name itself is very simple and easily memorisable. Audience communication is of prime importance to Nike and as such is uses and implements strategies in digital as well social media platforms (Wokutch, 2001).
the world’s largest suppliers of athletic apparel and footwear. In 2014, the brand value of Nike was named as the most valuable brand among sports companies (About.nike, 2016). This illustrates the brand image and reputation of Nike in the world and among its customers.
Converse. Nike mainly operates in the manufacturing of high quality sportswear and equipment. In terms of audience communication, Nike manages retail stores by the name of Niketown and to build better brand future Nike also sponsors many high profile athletes and sports teams in a variety of sports around the world. All this brand image and profile is highly presented and recognizable in the trademark logo of the Swoosh and the company’s slogan of Just Do It (About.nike, 2016).
Nike’s swoosh or tick logo projects a brand image of quality, spark, youthfulness and energy. All this is to build upon the past of the company and project a successful future by creating not only a valuable business but a valuable brand name. The Swoosh design was created by Carolyn Davidson and was first used by Nike in 1971 (Mail Online, 2011). It was in 1976 when Nike officially hired an advertising agency and launched the first brand ad for Nike in 1977 by the tagline of “There is no finish line”. Also in line with making a brand image was the coining of the famous Nike slogan “Just Do It” by Dan Wieden in 1988. The popularity of the slogan can be judged by the fact that it became one of the top slogans of the 20th century, simultaneously making its way into the Smithsonian Institution (Sharkey, 2015). This original creation of brand image by its co-founders established the roots of early PR for the company where Nike became a major sports equipment brand and operated worldwide further creating the legacy of Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman (About.nike, 2016).
But all is not well for Nike in terms of building brand image and maintaining effective reputation in front of its stakeholders. For a first, Nike only designs and markets its products, manufacturing happens in over 700 countries in 50 nations employing more than 500,000 workers. In recent years, Nike has been criticised for investing little into worker conditions and more on marketing of the brand image (Wokutch, 2001). Now, marketing is all very important for any business in order to build a brand image but also relatively important is the product itself. Nike’s brand image suffered a major blow when it was accused of employing sweatshops for its product manufacturing in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia. An NGO, Vietnam Labour Watch documented the accounts of working conditions in these so called Nike Sweatshops in Vietnam. Accusations also included child labour, enforcing overtime, paying less money than minimum wages and also abuse and sexual harassment (Klein, 2000). By the late 90s, Nike was severely associated with sweatshop labour all over the world and protests all over the world were targeting Nike. By this time, the reputation of Nike was getting severely damaged and its immediate effect was on its audience communication. Sales were failing, share prices were dropping and sponsors were also distancing themselves from Nike. Even the co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight admitted that Nike as a brand is getting synonymous with child labour, low wages, enforce overtime and abuse (Cushman Jr., 2012).
All this led to a major public relations campaign by Nike and all its executives and this led to huge investments for corporate and social responsibility of Nike. The public relations campaign included hiring a former Microsoft executive to be the vice president for corporate and social responsibility division, upgrading the code of conduct of Nike operations and also participating in a wide range of coalitions (Depts.washington.edu, 2012). The corporate image of Nike suffered a lot form these accusations but Nike never accepted as such. Nike as a brand is still very popular in major parts of the world and will continue to do so in lieu of its good product quality, better marketing, economies of scale and a foundation of goodwill created by its founders.
Nike understands its business very well and also understands the target audience for its products. Since its inception in 1964, Nike has come a long way by becoming the market leader in the sports apparel and equipment industry. This gives evidence that Nike understands its customers and customer needs. One of the very foremost audiences of Nike is women. Nike in recent years has expanded its women’s apparels from sports bras to tights. Sales have also raised two fold in women apparels compared to men (Mishra, 2007). After women, the next target audience for Nike are young athletes and runners. This mostly happens through sponsorships and partnerships to draw and increase brand reputation (Mishra, 2007). From individual athletes like Kobe Bryant and Rory McIlroy to sports teams of like NFL, Nike has targeted them to increase brand recognition throughout the world and attract young and professional customers.
Key Challenges in managing Reputation or Audience Communication
The business world today is very competitive and also fragile. For companies like Nike who are constantly into developing creation and innovation, challenges to maintain reputation will be many. Efficiency in audience communication and stability in brand reputation faces many challenges. Some of the key challenges faced by Nike in terms of managing reputation or audience communication are mentioned below.
Ø One of the major challenges to Nike’s reputation is market saturation. Nike is the market leader in the sports apparel and equipment business. This business is already full of brands like Puma, Reebok and Adidas. This now presents a tough situation where new innovation in terms of products and growth of business is bleak. It is more so for Nike and thus there is very little room for expansion and extension (Depts.washington.edu, 2012).
Ø Another important challenge to Nike’s reputation is competition with the likes of brands like Puma, Adidas and also certain Chinese and Japanese companies like Asics and Old Navy. Nike has a huge market share and introduction of these companies will affect its market position and ultimately reputation, causing it to lose market share (Collins, Zoch and McDonald, 2004).
Ø Nike is a big brand but this does not repudiate accusations against the company. Accusations such as poor working conditions, child labour, less than minimum wage and abuse are major challenges for a company like Nike (Wokutch, 2001).
Key Opportunities in managing Reputation or Audience Communication
Nike operates worldwide and has a brand reputation which incorporates good quality products and sustainable growth. In terms of its reputation and audience communication, some of the key opportunities available to Nike are mentioned below.
Ø Nike operates in more than 45 countries catering to its customers and with the rise of many emerging nations and developing economy, Nike has the opportunity to cater to more customers and build more reputation for the brand (About.nike, 2016).
Ø Changing demographics of a country and changing preferences of customers are also major sectors for Nike to invest upon. Nike can effectively increase brand reputation and audience communication by catering to these changing demands of the new generation. Catering to each choice of style, preference and taste will create some unique reputation and means of audience communication (Tribe, 2007).
Ø Effective audience communication will also depend on research and development in terms of product quality and standards and also satisfying trends in the market. E-commerce will also be a significant opportunity for Nike to improve upon its audience communication channel (Pruzan, 2001).
Conclusion
In light of all the above discussions, it can be said that reputation today is more important than ever for a business in terms of its sales, shareholder value and employees attraction. Corporate responsibility on the other hand is an increasingly vital component of reputation. But efficiency in brand building will depend not only on the self-interest of the management and board of directors, but also on the initiatives of the company itself towards ensuring greater human rights engagement and safeguarding sustainability of the environment. Public relations for Nike were the only reason it got over of its criticisms intended to demolish the brand image and reputation (Oliver, 2010). Nike is brand which signifies strength and it shows in its products as well as its advertisements. The advertisements were a very significant part of the public relations campaign of Nike which included brand endorsements, visionary slogan and role models in the form of founders and sports athletes. All this combined together, forms a brand reputation for Nike which incorporates quality management, customer engagement and also brand value in the wake of criticisms (Nikebiz, 2016). The crucial point for Nike in terms of its public relations was the image restoration after the accusations of sweatshop facilities, child labour and enforced work culture. The present study has been successful in underlying a mutual understanding between prior brand reputation and effective public relation management. Nike is a successful example of a company which withstood the criticism of time and public by engaging itself in effective public relation and reputation management in line with various CSR initiatives. Nike has been a good example to illustrating the opportunities and challenges faced by an organization in modern times using all the modern tools of effective brand management. However, there will be criticisms for Nike in the present world of cut-throat competition and Nike will need effective tools of Public relations management in the likes of press releases, media reports and CSR reports. But for a company wanting long term success and brand reputation, the know-how and integrity aspect will be major assets. For Nike, this means inculcating as such in the core of the business by engaging in good relationships with all the stakeholders of the business and also to constantly get involved in the world community.
References
Books
Aragall, F. and Montaña, J. 2012. Universal design. Farnham: Gower.
Cardon, P. 2014. Business communication. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Fisk, P. 2010. People, planet, profit. London: Kogan Page.
Heath, R. 2010. The SAGE handbook of public relations. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
Klein, N. 2000. No logo. New York, NY: Picador.
Mishra, S. 2007. Strategic case analysis. Fremont, Calif.: Franteractive, Inc.
Oliver, S. 2010. Public relations strategy. London: Kogan Page/CIPR.
Solove, D. 2007. The future of reputation. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Sutherland, A. 2012. Nike. London: Wayland.
Journals
Collins, E., Zoch, L. and McDonald, C. 2004. When [professional] worlds collide: implications of Kasky v. Nike for corporate reputation management. Public Relations Review, 30(4), pp.411-417.
Pruzan, P. 2001. Corporate Reputation: Image and Identity. Corp Reputation Rev, 4(1), pp.50-64.
Sethi, S. 2008. Globalization and Corporate Reputation. Corp Reputation Rev, 11(2), pp.115-115.
Tribe, J. 2007. Reputation, Reputation, Reputation. The Journal of Hospitality Leisure Sport and Tourism, 6(2), pp.1-2.
Versailles, G. 2013. Ethical public relations serve the public interest. Journal of Professional Communication, 2(2).
Wokutch, R. 2001. Nike and Its Critics: Beginning a Dialogue. Organization & Environment, 14(2), pp.207-237.
Websites
About.nike, 2016. About Nike – Company Profile. [Online] Available at: http://about.nike.com/pages/company-profile [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
About.nike, 2016. About Nike – The official corporate website for NIKE, Inc. and its affiliate brands. [Online] Available at: http://about.nike.com [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
Depts.washington.edu, 2012. Nike Anti-Sweatshop Campaign. [Online] Available at: https://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/Nike.htm [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
Cushman Jr., J. H. 2012. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; Nike Pledges to End Child Labor and Apply U.S. Rules Abroad. [Online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/13/business/international-business-nike-pledges-to-end-child-labor-and-apply-us-rules-abroad.html [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
Mail Online, 2011. ‘I never get tired of looking at it’: Woman who designed Nike’s swoosh explains how chance encounter with Phil Knight led to its inception 40 YEARS ago. [Online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2004273/Woman-designed-Nike-swoosh-explains-story-inception-40-years-ago.html [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
Nike, 2016. Nike. [Online] Available at: http://www.nike.com [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
Nikebiz, 2016. Corporate Responsibility Report – NIKE, Inc. [online] Available at: http://www.nikebiz.com/crreport/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
Sharkey, L. 2015. Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ slogan was inspired by a convicted killer’s last words. [Online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/nike-s-just-do-it-slogan-was-inspired-by-a-convicted-killer-s-last-words-10117596.html [Accessed 10 Jan. 2016].
Contents
Key Challenges in managing Reputation or Audience Communication
Key Opportunities in managing Reputation or Audience Communication
Introduction
A business operates by channelizing its assets and efforts towards satisfying its customers. In line with this process, companies create an image of itself into the minds of customers which goes a long way in deciding about the company’s future (Aragall and Montaña, 2012). Now, this process can sometimes yield good results and sometimes not so good results. But when it comes to managing the said image of the company in front of its customers or the general public, a public relations campaign serves the greatest purpose. Public relations or PR is the systematic and sustained effort of companies to establish and maintain efficiency, goodwill and mutual cooperation between the organization and its stakeholders. The importance of PR in relation to its inherent opportunities and challenges is the subject matter of the present study (Oliver, 2010).
The present study emphasises upon the PR strategies and its role in brand building of Nike, a multinational sports equipment and apparel company. The study will also describe the corporate image and reputation aspect of Nike in the present world. The study will conclude by highlighting three opportunities and challenges of Nike in managing its reputation or audience communication.
On Public Relations
Public relations, as defined by S. Oliver (2010), is the planned and viable effort of business organizations to effectively create and maintain goodwill in the general public. Public relations are also concerned about the mutual understanding between the organization and its public or customers. Now, the term public in PR, refers to the groups of people which have direct and indirect interest in the company and with which the organization also interacts in a regular manner (Versailles, 2013). This public have corresponding impact on the company’s ability to achieve its business objectives. The two terms in correlation refer to publicity of any news about the company’s products or services, further extending to reputation which brings into highlight the position and status of the company into the minds of the people. The keywords highlighting public relations or PR is, communication, relationships and reputation (Heath, 2010).
In the words of G. Versailles (2013), the primary purpose of good public relations is to project a positive image of the company to the outside world. PR integrates planned communication strategies to generate positive publicity and reduce unfavourable stories, maintain a certain level of goodwill in the eyes of the public. Moreover, R. Heath (2010) states that the need of public relations arises because of building a brand image of a company in order to maintain a good customer base and also attract new customers. This also relates to achieving the business objectives in the best way possible.
In case of PR of Nike, it all depends on the company’s motive of catering to its customers’ demands and manufacturing products of the very best quality. However, the PR strategy of Nike also incorporates in its business objectives and mission statement.
The fundamental business goal of Nike is to be a high performance brand which designs shoes that are not only durable but also lightweight for runners (Sutherland, 2012). Public relation of Nike starts with a strategic advisor to counter the company’s sustainable business and innovation aspect. Digital and social media use is at its peak when it comes to effective public relations engagement. However, the most breaking point of Nike’s PR is when the company faced many criticisms and accusations in terms of its business operations and activities (Klein, 2000). This is when it employed effective PR strategies and campaign and marked the start of a new era of Nike. In light of the new and improved PR, the company adapted itself to the new market and to the new world, which is evident by its vision and mission statement (Cushman Jr., 2012).
Vision
The vision of Nike has seen better days and it now emphasized a sustainable environment, an environment which helped create a balance between people, profit and planet taking together Nike Inc. and its consumers
|
Figure 1: (Nike, 2016) |
(Nikebiz, 2016).
Mission
|
Figure 2: (Nike, 2016) |
The mission statement which Nike chose was to imbibe inspiration and innovation in the minds of every athlete throughout the world. Moreover, Nike emphasized that every person who has a body is an athlete in its view (Nikebiz, 2016).
As can be seen above, Nike was always about serving its customers with the best of design and quality. PR initiatives only highlighted this to the world and this resulted in improving further the reputation of Nike. Reputation in PR fits when the PR is about harnessing the good in the brand and mitigating the negative rumours. And this all started with the founders of the company in the brand names of Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman. Management, internal and external environment of the business, communication channel, quality of products and services, organizational activities are also other aspects of the PR strategy and reputation (Sutherland, 2012).
