Identity Prism

NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

KAPFERER IDENTITY PRISM

- NIKE -

AUTHORIZED BY: ADELE POTGIETER

DUE DATE: 18 AUGUST 2011

STUDENT: JOAN-MARIE STEENKAMP

STUDENT NUMBER: s208034231

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. NIKE’S PHYSICAL QUALITIES 1

3. NIKE’S PERSONALITY 2

4. NIKE’S CULTURE 2

5. NIKE’S RELATIONSHIP 2

6. NIKE’S REFLECTION 3

7. NIKE SPEAKS TO CONSUMER’S SELF-IMAGE 3

8. CONCLUSION 4

REFERENCE 5

1. INTRODUCTION

Brand identity is represented by six facets, namely physique, relationship, reflection, self-image, culture and personality. Brands play an important role for products and how products are perceived by consumers, and as Kapferer (2010) notes, “they must also have character, their own beliefs, and as a result help consumers in their life, and also in discovering their own identity.” This creates ‘passion’ or ‘love’ brands.

One such ‘love’ brand is Nike. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, the original founders of Nike Inc., first met in the 1950’s at the University of Oregon. Nike, originally Blue Ribbon Sports, was founded in 1962 when Phil Knight persuaded a Japanese firm, Onitsuka Tiger Company, to allow him to sell their Tiger brand shoes in America. Bill Bowerman offered to partner with Phil Knight and thus was the birth of Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, Jeff Johnson, after dreaming about the victory granted to the company by the Greek goddess Nike, proposes the name “Nike” for the first shoe to bear the famous Swoosh trademark, which was created by Carolyn Davidson in the same year. On May 30, 1978, Blue Ribbon Sport officially changed its name to Nike, Inc. Since then, Nike has had a successful growth rate, with only a few down curves during the late 1990’s (Nikebiz, 2011).

Throughout the years, Nike’s brand identity has been developed, and in the following pages, various aspects of Nike’s brand identity will be discussed using Kapferer’s brand identity prism....