What Steve Jobs learnt from Nike's marketing campaign that beat it's rival Adidas

Summary

This episode explores Nike's ingenious marketing strategy during the 2012 London Olympics, where despite not being the title sponsor, they outperformed Adidas in public perception. By leveraging loopholes, hiring athletes as ambassadors, and creating emotionally resonant ads with average teenagers, Nike demonstrated that extraordinary efforts can lead to legendary success, even without the traditional advantages.

Takeaways

• 😎 Steve Jobs was inspired by Nike's marketing strategy for Apple's 'Think Different' campaign.
• 🏅 In 2012, Adidas became the title sponsor of the Summer Olympics in London by paying $150 million, aiming to surpass Nike.
• 🚫 The Olympics committee imposed strict rules to prevent non-sponsor brands from associating with the event.
• 👟 Nike cleverly exploited loopholes by sponsoring athletes, using the color Volt for high visibility, and filming ads in various 'Londons' worldwide.
• 🌟 Nike's strategy of using average teenagers in their 'Find Your Greatness' campaign resonated deeply, inspiring viewers to identify with the brand.
• 📈 Despite not being the official sponsor, Nike's social media following grew significantly more than Adidas during the Olympics.
• 🏆 A survey revealed that more people believed Nike was the title sponsor of the Olympics, showcasing the effectiveness of Nike's marketing.
• 💡 The case study illustrates that extraordinary efforts can lead to legendary results, as demonstrated by Nike's strategic marketing.
• 🌈 Nike's campaign focused on evoking emotions and creating an involuntary, inspiring experience for the audience.
• 🚀 The success of Nike's campaign teaches that greatness is a choice and can be achieved by anyone who strives to find it.

Q & A

What was the situation at Apple when Steve Jobs returned in 1996?

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, the company was struggling with losses due to 11 consecutive years of failure and was on the brink of bankruptcy. The company's reputation had severely degraded, and people had lost faith in the brand.

What was the 'Think Different' campaign, and why was it significant?

The 'Think Different' campaign was a legendary marketing initiative launched by Apple under Steve Jobs' leadership. It aimed to restore the company's reputation and consumer trust, ultimately laying the groundwork for Apple's resurgence and eventual status as a trillion-dollar company.

How did Steve Jobs find inspiration for the 'Think Different' campaign?

Steve Jobs found inspiration for the 'Think Different' campaign from the sports brand Nike, as he mentioned in an archived video while addressing his executives.

Why was the 2012 Summer Olympics a significant event for sports brands?

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London was a significant event for sports brands because it offered an opportunity to become the title sponsor, which could lead to substantial profits and brand exposure.

What was the cost of the title sponsorship for the 2012 Olympics, and who secured it?

Adidas secured the title sponsorship for the 2012 Olympics at a cost of $150 million.

Why is title sponsorship of a major sports event considered a valuable investment?

Title sponsorship of a major sports event is considered a valuable investment because it can lead to significant brand exposure and growth, as illustrated by the example of Vivo's title sponsorship of the IPL, which resulted in a more than 100% increase in shipments.

What strategy did Nike employ to gain publicity during the 2012 Olympics without being the title sponsor?

Nike employed a strategy that involved leveraging loopholes in the sponsorship rules, hiring Olympians as brand ambassadors, and creating a compelling advertising campaign that resonated with the public, even without using the banned keywords or being the official sponsor.

How did Nike's strategy during the 2012 Olympics differ from Adidas' approach?

While Adidas focused on using Olympians in their commercials as part of their title sponsorship, Nike chose to hire average teenagers as brand ambassadors and created an inspiring campaign that connected with the public on an emotional level.

What was the outcome of Nike's strategy during the 2012 Olympics in terms of social media engagement?

Nike's strategy resulted in a higher number of tweets associating the brand with the Olympics, a greater increase in social media followers, and a higher percentage of people mistakenly identifying Nike as the title sponsor, despite not being the official sponsor.

What lessons can be learned from Nike's 2012 Olympics strategy?

Three key lessons include the importance of going the extra mile to stand out, the power of evoking emotions in advertising to create memorable experiences, and the belief that greatness is attainable by everyone, not just a select few.

How did Nike's 'Find Your Greatness' campaign leverage emotions to communicate its message?

The 'Find Your Greatness' campaign leveraged the emotion of inspiration, aiming to depict the spirit of striving for self-improvement in every individual, thus creating a relatable and inspiring narrative that resonated with the audience.

Outlines

00:00

🏆 Nike's Inspirational Story and the 'Think Different' Campaign

This paragraph introduces the theme of the video, focusing on the inspirational journey of a renowned sports brand, Nike, and its influence on iconic figures like Steve Jobs. It discusses Apple's dire situation in 1996 and how Steve Jobs turned it around with the 'Think Different' campaign. The video aims to explore how Nike's historic greatness, exemplified by its strategy during the 2012 London Olympics, served as an inspiration for this legendary marketing campaign. The story sets the stage for an in-depth analysis of Nike's marketing prowess, particularly its ability to outshine its competitors despite not being the official sponsor of the Olympics.

05:01

🤑 The High Stakes of Olympic Sponsorship and Nike's Creative Strategy

This paragraph delves into the high cost and high rewards of becoming a title sponsor for major sporting events, using the 2012 London Olympics as a case study. Adidas secured the title sponsorship for a staggering $150 million, hoping to overshadow its rival, Nike. The Olympics committee implemented strict rules to protect the sponsor's exclusivity. However, Nike devised a clever strategy that exploited loopholes in the rules, hiring Olympians as brand ambassadors, using a distinctive shoe color to stand out, and filming commercials in various 'Londons' worldwide. This creative approach allowed Nike to gain more public association with the Olympics than Adidas, despite not being the official sponsor.

10:02

📈 Nike's Triumph Over Adidas: Lessons in Marketing and Greatness

The final paragraph wraps up the video's narrative by highlighting the surprising results of Nike's marketing campaign during the 2012 Olympics. Despite not being the official sponsor, Nike managed to increase its social media following more than Adidas and was mistakenly identified as the title sponsor by a significant portion of the public. The paragraph concludes with three key lessons: the importance of going the extra mile, creating a memorable emotional impact, and the belief that greatness is attainable by everyone, not just a select few. It challenges the viewer to consider their own pursuit of greatness.

Keywords

💡Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is renowned as the co-founder of Apple Inc. and is often celebrated for his innovative vision and leadership. In the video's context, Jobs is highlighted for his role in turning around Apple's fortunes with the 'Think Different' campaign after the company faced significant challenges in the 1990s. His influence extends to the inspiration he drew from Nike, indicating the cross-pollination of ideas between industries.

💡Think Different Campaign

The 'Think Different' campaign was a marketing strategy launched by Apple in 1997 to restore its brand image and rekindle consumer confidence. It is considered one of the most successful campaigns in history and is a central theme in the video, illustrating the power of branding and the influence it had on other companies, including Nike.

💡Nike

Nike is a leading global sports brand known for its innovative products and powerful marketing strategies. The video discusses Nike's historic greatness and its ability to inspire figures like Steve Jobs. Nike's strategic moves, especially during the 2012 Summer Olympics, are used to demonstrate the brand's marketing prowess and its impact on public perception.

💡2012 Summer Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics held in London serve as a backdrop for the video's exploration of Nike's marketing strategy. Despite not being the official title sponsor, Nike leveraged the event to gain significant publicity, outperforming the actual sponsor, Adidas, in terms of social media engagement and public association with the games.

💡Title Sponsorship

Title sponsorship refers to the highest level of sponsorship for an event, often granting the sponsor exclusive rights and high visibility. In the video, Adidas' $150 million investment for the title sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics is contrasted with Nike's strategy, which achieved greater recognition without the official title.

💡Marketing War

The term 'marketing war' encapsulates the competitive strategies employed by brands to gain market share and consumer attention. The video uses this concept to describe the battle between Nike and Adidas during the 2012 Olympics, where Nike emerged victorious through creative and unconventional tactics.

💡Loopholes

In the context of the video, 'loopholes' refers to the gaps or ambiguities in the Olympics' strict sponsorship rules that Nike exploited to its advantage. By identifying and leveraging these loopholes, Nike was able to associate its brand with the Olympics without directly violating the rules.

💡Brand Ambassadors

Brand ambassadors are individuals, often celebrities or athletes, who represent a brand's image and values. In the video, Nike's strategy of hiring 400 Olympians as brand ambassadors is highlighted as a key component of its successful marketing campaign during the 2012 Olympics.

💡Volt

Volt is the name of the distinctive yellow-green colored shoe line that Nike provided to its brand ambassadors for the 2012 Olympics. The choice of color was strategic, as it contrasted sharply with the Olympic tracks, making the shoes and by extension, the Nike brand, highly visible during the games.

💡Emotion of Inspiration

The 'emotion of inspiration' is a marketing tool used by Nike to connect with consumers on a deeper level. The video describes how Nike's commercials leverage this emotion to communicate the idea of finding greatness within oneself, resonating with viewers and differentiating Nike's campaign from that of its competitors.

💡Find Your Greatness

'Find Your Greatness' is the theme of Nike's campaign during the 2012 Olympics. It is a call to action for individuals to discover and pursue their own potential, reflecting Nike's brand philosophy of empowering everyone to achieve their best. The campaign's success is highlighted in the video as a key factor in Nike's victory in the 'marketing war'.

Highlights

Steve Jobs and Apple's turnaround inspired by Nike's branding strategy.

Apple's 'Think Different' campaign as a response to a crisis of reputation and trust.

Nike's influence on one of the greatest marketing campaigns in history.

Adidas securing title sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics for $150 million.

The significance of title sponsorships in sports events for brand visibility and profit.

Vivo's title sponsorship of IPL and its impact on sales and brand growth.

Olympics committee's strict rules to protect Adidas' title sponsorship exclusivity.

Nike's strategy to associate with the Olympics despite not being the title sponsor.

Nike's use of loopholes to outperform Adidas in public association with the Olympics.

Hiring 400 Olympians as brand ambassadors to wear Nike shoes during the games.

Nike's clever use of the color Volt to make their shoes stand out at the Olympics.

The creative workaround of filming commercials in various 'Londons' around the world.

Nike's decision to use average teenagers instead of Olympians in their endorsements.

The 'Find Your Greatness' campaign that resonated with the public and went viral.

Nike's social media success and public perception as the Olympics' sponsor over Adidas.

Three key lessons from Nike's Olympic marketing strategy on effort, emotion, and the accessibility of greatness.

The importance of striving for greatness beyond ordinary in brand marketing.

Emotional impact in marketing and how Nike's commercials created an unforgettable feeling.

The message that greatness is not exclusive but available to everyone who seeks it.

Transcripts

Hi everybody.

Today's episode is going to be a very special one

because today we are going to talk about one of the greatest sports brands in the world.

The story that I'm about to tell you today is the story of a brand

that is not just an inspiration for people like you and me

but also for a legend like Steve Jobs.

People, in 1996 when Steve Jobs came back to Apple

Apple was crippling with losses because of 11 consecutive years of failure

and it was almost about to go bankrupt.

During this time when Steve Jobs came back to the company

the biggest challenge that he faced was the reputation of the company

which had degraded to such an extent that people had completely lost faith.

And that is the reason why he had to do something magical

to actually bring the company back on track.

During this time he came out with a legendary campaign called the 'Think Different' campaign

which even today is known as one of the greatest marketing campaigns ever.

And you know what people?

This campaign brought back the trust of the common man in Apple

and laid a solid foundation to such an extent

that today, if Apple is a trillion dollar company

it is only because of legendary campaigns like the 'Think Different' campaign.

So, when I was doing a deep dive

to try and understand what exactly was Steve Jobs thinking while he was designing the 'Think Different' campaign

I found an archived video wherein Steve Jobs is addressing his executive

and he states Nike to be one of his inspirations for the 'Think Different' campaign.

And that's when I started to think

what exactly is so special about a company that sells shoes

that it was able to inspire a legend like Steve Jobs.

And that's what is going to be the subject of this episode

wherein we are going to decode the historic greatness of Nike

with a classic example.

So, the story dates back to the year 2012 when Summer Olympics was being held in London.

And because the Summer Olympics was being held

all the sports brands were very eager to become the title sponsors of the Olympics

because they knew that if they could become the title sponsor of the Olympics

they could pump in a lot of profit.

So, the auction was held and the title sponsorship went to Adidas

and Nike lost its chance to become the title sponsor to its arch rival.

And adidas paid $150 million just to be the title sponsor of the Olympics.

And every time we hear a figure like this, the first question that comes to our mind is

what exactly is so special about the title sponsorship

that you would pay $150 million just to be associated with the name of Olympics.

And the answer to that lies in a very simple example

that is very closer to our home, that is, Vivo's title sponsorship to IPL.

Now, when I understood that Vivo is going to pay Rs 2,200 crores

just to get its name as 'Vivo IPL'

I got completely shocked

and that is when I looked at the growth of Vivo in 2018 and 2019

and as it turns out,

in 2018 Q1, that is, just before the IPL started

Vivo was shipping about 2.1 million units, alright?

But one year later, after the IPL happened

in the exact same quarter in 2019

Vivo was shipping 4.5 million units.

That's a staggering growth of more than 100%

in the world's second largest mobile market.

And this is the reason why

title sponsorship of any popular sports event

is a goldmine investment for any company.

And that's the reason why Olympics was like a golden gateway

for adidas to get way ahead of Nike.

And specifically, they also sat down with the Olympics committee

to try to make sure that they make such stringent rules

that no other brand, let alone Nike

will be able to steal their thunder by actually associating their name with Olympics.

So, the Olympics committee came out with a bunch of strict rules and regulations

that have to be followed by every single brand in such a way

that they could in no way associate themselves with the Olympics

and by the way this also included a list of words

which included the words 'London Olympics', 'Summer Olympics', 'Olympics', '2012'

'The rings of the Olympics' and so on and so forth.

So, theoretically it was made impossible for any brand

to get associated with Olympics

in any way that would steal the thunder of Adidas as a brand.

So, with all of this put together everybody thought that Adidas is now going to go viral

it's going to remain at the top of the chart

because now it is the title sponsor of the Olympics.

But you know what? There was a slight twist in between

and when the actual results came out

as it turns out, while adidas had about 9,000 tweets

associating adidas with the Olympics,

there were about 16,000 tweets that associated Nike with the Olympics.

Not just that, during the tenure of the Olympics

that is, starting from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony

adidas added about 12,000 followers to its social media handle

while Nike added 57,000 followers to its social media handle.

And the cherry on the cake is

there was a survey that was conducted in the US

wherein people were asked 'Who do you exactly think is the title sponsor of the Olympics?'

21% of those people thought that adidas is the title sponsor of the Olympics

BUT

37% of the people identified Nike to be the title sponsor of the Olympics.

Which means what?

Millions and millions of people were thinking

that Nike was the title sponsor of the Olympics and not adidas!

So, the question is

without being the title sponsor of the Olympics;

without spending $150 million;

without even using the keywords to associate yourself with the Olympics;

How is it even practically possible for a brand to acquire more publicity

than the real title sponsor?

And that's where the legendary strategy of Nike comes into play.

So, the first thing that they understood was

regardless of how complex the system is, there will always be a loophole.

And they found 3 loopholes.

The first loophole that they found was

regardless of whoever is the title sponsor of the Olympics

the athletes were free to choose whichever shoe they wanted.

And that is the reason why

Nike hired 400 Olympians to be its brand ambassador

and just asked them to wear the Nike shoe that they were given

And Nike came front with a quirky line of shoes which was named as Volt

wherein they distributed yellow-green coloured shoes

to the athletes to be worn during their matches.

And the reason why they specifically chose the yellow-green lineup was because

that colour was in perfect contrast of the tracks of the Olympics.

The second loophole that they found was in this rule

which prohibited Nike from showcasing the London of UK in their commercials.

But you know what?

The loophole here is

that there are 28 other locations in this world

which are named as London except the London of UK.

So, Nike shot their commercials in all other Londons

except London in UK.

So, the commercials were shot in London in Ohio,

Little London in Jamaica,

the London Hotel, the London Gym

Small London in Nigeria and even the London Road.

And very smartly

Nike was able to place the word 'London' in all of its commercials, legally.

And third and most importantly and here's where the sweet spot is.

Usually if you look at these Nike and Adidas commercials

you will see all the celebrities endorsing the brand

but when it comes to Nike, for the Olympics, they were not allowed to use Olympians for endorsement.

So, while adidas was actually flaunting all of its commercials

by hiring all of these Olympians to be its brand ambassador

Nike decided to hire average teenagers

as ambassadors for its brand endorsement.

I repeat, while adidas had Olympians

Nike hired average teenagers who were not known to anybody

as ambassadors to endorse its brand.

And came out with a beautiful masterpiece which literally, literally broke the Internet.

And this is what the commercial looked like.

Now, if you looked at that commercial closely, you must have realized

that just like Coca-Cola leveraged the emotion of happiness

to communicate its idea.

Nike leverages the emotion of inspiration to communicate its idea.

In both cases, both these brands

are trying to give you an involuntary experience of their commercial.

And if you look at Nike's commercial even more closely, you will see

that they don't want to talk about Usain Bolt.

They want to talk about the Usain Bolt spirit within every single individual

like you and like me.

And if you are somebody who is pushing your limits

every single day to become a better version of yourself

that Nike commercial is literally depicting your own story.

And because Nike managed to strike a cord with local champions

it was able to go trending and Nike was trending number one on YouTube

one week after the Olympics started

with 4.5 million views.

As compared to that,

adidas was at number three with only 2.9 million views.

And that's how without being the title sponsor,

without paying $150 million

and without actually using the banned keywords

Nike managed to steal the thunder from adidas

and emerged as a champion in this marketing war.

Now, we've got 3 very important lessons to learn from this entire case study.

Number one, do you realize

that even if Nike had not tried so hard

if the Olympics happened without Nike coming out with its 'Find Your Greatness' commercial

people would still remember Nike, right?

Nike wouldn't be forgotten and yet

Nike put in this extra efforts to actually come out with a beautiful commercial

to beat adidas inspite of all odds.

And that is because Nike, as a brand, realizes

that the only difference between ordinary and extraordinary

is that little extra.

In this case, it's Nike's efforts

to emerge as a legend inspite of all odds.

Number two,

people might forget what you said but they will never ever forget how you made them feel

and Nike's commercial is a classic depiction of this quote.

So, if you pick up some work to do, just make sure that it's remarkable.

Because in this world 99% of the people are good

but 1% are great and that is only because

they choose to be great.

Because every single champion today understands

that good is imperative but greatness is always, always a choice.

And last and most importantly,

like the legend says

'Somehow we have come to believe that greatness is meant only for a chosen few

that greatness is only meant for the superstar

but the truth is- greatness is for everyone.

It's not about lowering the expectation but about raising it for each one of us

because greatness is not in one special person or one special place

greatness is wherever somebody is trying to find it.

So, my dear friend, my question to you is

What are you doing to find your greatness?