Seth Godin Breaks Down the Brilliance of Nike's Brand Strategy

can you weigh in on what seems to be the quintessential brand marketing play today as we talk about it the nike play and colin kaepernick okay so there are a few things that need to be understood about Nike biggest one you are not techie I am NOT Nike Nike is a bit of a special case number two the vast majority of Nikes future and its present is overseas sales so they're showing up and they're saying we're not Puma we're not a ddos we are Nike well you don't you can't say that by pointing to your sneakers because in a blind taste test the sneakers are all the same right unless you're an elite elite athlete it's about something else well Colin Kaepernick is a signal he's a symbol he stands for something and the other sneaker companies have been afraid to stand for what Colin Kaepernick stands for so is it risky feeling to go into a divisive area of politics that I don't think should be divisive but has become a divisive of course it feels risky but it's brilliant it was brilliant because at the level Nike is playing now the number of ways that they can stand for something anything is very small and here with just two words they were able to say plus him we stand for something when you talk about Nike you are standing you're talking about standing for something right and the stock market has reflected that their market share has reflected that it's not easy for a brand to do something that singular what's interesting is if Seagram's had done it or mattress firm had done it or some other advertiser wouldn't work because they didn't have the DNA to match it it would have been stumped this wasn't a stunt that people who knew Nike said of course it was very natural for them to do that yeah you're right they've been seeding the market from the beginning you know from youth sports all the way on on up and and they've also been you know the disrupter if you want to use that buzzy word in their industry trying to do stuff differently and shake up yeah when you and I were kid sneakers cost $8 right so as a citizen I am thrilled that they've given this brave individual a platform to speak his mind as a marketer a brand marketer I look at that and say if this is what the people at Nike truly believe if this is where they are going and it's a non cynical act on their part I have to applaud it because the kind of person that is decrying this psychographically isn't their core audience it's not what they look like how old they are their income it's what they believe and they tend to not be an early adopter of fashion that person well Nike is selling to the early adopter of fashion by the time their shoes are at Payless they're not making any money at that end of the curve they make money at the front of the curve and the front of the curve the early adopters there are people who are playing with new ideas in the culture they're not people who are trying to preserve old ideas in the culture let's talk about what could could go wrong or could have gone wrong and maybe if we try this on another brand you know what can other brands learn from this particular case study you know in the you know we stand for this people like us do stuff like this so let's talk about the anything a logo and a brand alright because companies spend way too much time on their logo just like people on YouTube spend way too much time on their hair I'm told they spend way too much time in there if Nike owned opened a hotel I think we would be able to guess pretty accurately what it would be like if Hyatt came out with sneakers we'd have no clue because Hyatt doesn't have a brand they have a logo if I swap the signs on a hotel at that price point it couldn't tell if you were to marry it if you were a Hilton or the Hyatt the hallway the room I don't know where am i no brand so what it means to have a brand is you've made a promise to people they have expectations it's a shorthand what should I expect the next time and if that is this things you've earned something if it's not distinct let's admit you make a commodity and you're trying to charge just a little bit extra for peace of mind the problem that Hyatt and Hilton and Mary it and the rest have his sort by price because if I go online now to find a hotel it's really simple sort by price why would I pay $200 extra to go a block away I don't so what's the value of a brand the value of a brand is how much extra am i paying above the substitute and if I'm not paying extra you don't have a brand so when we think about what brands ought to do to move forward the most important thing is to not worry about your slogan your spokesperson they're wrapping its to worry about the substance work that matters for people who care find the people who care the smallest viable group you can live with and figure out how to give them work that matters so if we compare if it's down the hotel thing there are hotels these new chains of mini boutique hotels that charge double what a high at my charge for less but it's only less by the Hyatt measure it's way more by the measure of someone who cares about with the people in the lobby look like who cares about how hip it feels to walk into the bar they're investing not in oh you get a room with three power outlets they're investing in throwing a party in a place where you also can sleep while you're on the road those hotels have a brand and those hotels are some that some people pay extra for but almost no one in the scheme of things

Channel: Behind the Brand

Views: 111,649

Keywords: Bryan Elliott, Behind the Brand, entrepreneur, Seth Godin, Seth's blog, This is Marketing book, Seth's new book, Seth Godin This is Marketing, Seth Godin talk, Seth Godin speach, Seth Godin podcast, Akimbo podcast, author seth godin, Direct marketing, Brand marketing

Id: RZ-i3A4_6HE

Length: 6min 26sec (386 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 02 2018