Nike is a global brand of sports shoes, apparel and equipment and the largest player in the sports shoe industry. Among its main strengths are brand equity, its global presence, a large and global supply chain network and a very large customer base. As a sports shoe brand, the company has formed a unique image that is very distinct from any competitor and at whose core lies love for sports and adventure. Nike’s superior growth is a result of its focus upon quality, customer experience and the use of innovative marketing techniques. Strong brand equity of Nike is a result of consistent focus upon customer needs. However, its marketing strategy sets it apart from the crowd of brands in the sports shoe industry. Its leading competitors include Adidas, Reebok, New Balance, Puma, Under Armour and Fila. Nike is also a winner on social media. Nike has a large fan base of more than 1 million on YouTube. The company has a video marketing strategy aimed at touching the hearts of millions of fans around the globe. Videos are a core element in the marketing and promotional strategy of Nike. One central focus in its promotional videos are the emotions connected with sports and the energy and frenzy that surround sports all around the world.Â
The Dream Crazier advertisement of Nike also focuses upon the emotions of sports. This is an analysis of the advertisement and the use of ethos, pathos and logos in it. The use of these elements in an ad helps achieve the best results and create a lasting impact upon viewers. Dream Crazier ad is a part of the Just Do It Campaign and has received around 11 million views on YouTube. Its core focus is the intensity of emotions in sports and the role of persistence in victory. Nike’s advertising strategy has remained a topic of discussion and while several critics find it innovative, matchless and inimitable, some also find it controversial. However, despite all these facts, it is true that Nike makes ads that are worth watching. These advertisements have played a central role in helping Nike build stronger brand recognition in all corners of the world. The Swoosh logo can be identified easily but Nike products are also identified by their style quotient. Nike is consistently pushing the boundary to create higher trust and grow its fan base throughout the world. The Dream Crazier ad is also about pushing the boundary and making your game better and better.
The advertisement captures several crazy moments in the history of sports. Serena Williams and her voice in the advertisement ad a very distinct and strong charm to it. The advertisement shows how athletes and sports persons have to be through crazy moments in their lives but if they stay focused and keep pushing the boundaries then there is no one to stop them from being victorious. The theme of the advertisement is pushing crazily for victory even in the face of biggest difficulties. This ad is targeted mainly at women which happen to be a large part of the company’s customer and fan base from around the globe. Nike’s products are highly popular among women and in recent years its female customer base and revenue from products for women has grown.
Ethos:
Ethical appeal in the ad comes from the credibility of the maker. It is a persuasion technique whose main focus is to persuade users by building trust. The Dream Crazier ad has several major sports stars in it and they are the primary source of ethical appeal apart from Nike’s own brand name.
Nike has courted several controversies in the past but its name still strikes confidence. Strong ethical appeal means higher impact from the advertisement. The ad is narrated by Serena Williams and features several defining moments in the lives of women athletes. Apart from the Tennis star, other personalities in the advertisement include Simon Biles, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Chloe Kim and other members of the U.S. soccer team.
Serena Williams is an imminent sports personality, an American professional tennis player and former world number one. She has won 23 singles and her performance leaves even the male players feeling jealous. Her voice in the background also adds credibility to the advertisement. Serena is a source of inspiration for millions of girls around the world who dream of performing like her and being the stars of their world.
The video is about female sports personalities and how they have excelled in their respective fields even after facing so much opposition and personal problems. At the core of the advertisement is the theme of empowerment of women and to encourage them to win even if it requires them to play absolutely crazily. The theme of the video is also a source of credibility for it. Around the world, thousands of women could not achieve their dreams because they were stopped by walls of all kinds. This video is about inspiring women to overcome all walls in their lives and grow bigger than their dreams in their lives.
Pathos:
Pathos refers to the emotional element in the advertisement or the technique of persuading viewers by connecting with their emotions. Emotions are a central element in advertising and you will come across hundreds of such advertisements everyday targeting customer emotions both positively and negatively. Whether it is a loan or a chocolate being advertised, at the core it is the emotions and the aim of the marketer is to touch those emotions and strike the right chord.
Nike Dream Crazier advertisement is full of intense emotions and you will see women players in all moods in the video. There are so many issues related to women that the advertisement is targeting including women’s empowerment, a level playing field, pay equity, equal opportunity and more similar issues which affect nearly all women in all corners of the world, whether they are in sports, business or some other field.
However, the biggest problem is that they are asked to follow the rules and not break them since their going against the rules is crazy and a challenge to male dominance in sports and society.
Serena narrates the entire story of how your emotions differentiate you from other players on the field when you are trying to find your way against the tide. If you try to show your emotions as a woman, you are considered nuts, crazy, unhinged and everything. However, for a woman to demonstrate her frustration or anger on the field is not a sign of weakness but only a sign that she will make her way even through the worst storms.
Serena’s own story is full of such several turns from winning grand-slams to having a baby and then getting back in sports full throttle; all of them are just a part of the bigger story which is how Serena has braved all these challenges in her life because her life is driven by craziness which fills her every moment. It is all about your emotions and women do not need to apply a lid on their emotions only because people around them will hate it.
Logos:
Logos is the logical appeal in the advertisement which comes from the use of strong logic to persuade viewers. Why do people go crazy for their dreams? Because they are worth going crazy for. If anything is most logical in a person’s life, it is his or her dream and how willingly he or she can push for its achievement. Millions of hearts around the world find logic in their dreams and have kept pushing till the end to achieve their dreams.
You would not let a beautiful dream fly away because your opponent thinks he deserves it more than you. Especially, in case of women, many may have felt shorter before others because there was nobody to encourage them to push crazily and challenge the heights. Most people do not find logic in things like craziness or anger but when you carefully look, you will find that these emotions have logic in a world where competition is rampant.
There are so many things to stop you and so many walls that will hide them behind you and make you invisible but to emerge, you need to keep pushing. Serena’s own example is the most logical in this regard. She shows that while she has been pushing amid all challenges, there are more women like her who do not fear adversities and push to achieve more. The western world has several such examples where women have shown that craziness is more logical than all the emotions.
The Nike advertisement shows that you cannot play cute on the field or your opponents will think they are lions. Such challenges acquire a very different meaning in the world of women. They cannot remain tied to the rules but get over them through the force of sheer willpower.
This also applies to men because if you look around yourself you will find that some of them were filled with craziness and this is why they were successful and amazing. However, if you look for such examples among women, you may end up finding even better examples and might be you will not need to look very far.