Target Market Essay

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Target Market Maria Rose MKT/498 Target Market “Just Do It” is a well-known tag line for Nike. The “Swoosh” is another iconic symbol for the number one athletic shoe company. Founded in January 1964, on a hand shake and five hundred dollars apiece, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight placed their first order of 300 pairs of shoes; and Blue Ribbon Shoes was created. The currently known name Nike was created in 1971 by Jeff Johnson. He had met Phil Knight at Stanford and soon became an invaluable asset to the new company. Johnson created the first marketing material, print ads and brochures, established a mail order system, opened the first retail store, shot the photos for the first catalog, designed many of the early Nike shoes, and managed all shipping and receiving orders. The “Swoosh” logo was created by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student from Portland State University. The “Swoosh” was debuted in 1972 on the footwear designed for the U.S. Track and Field Trials (Nike, n.d.). Target Market Nike was created for athletes originally, particularly for runners. Nike has not changed their target market. Instead, they expanded their target market. While Nike still targets runners, they decided to take over the athletic shoe world by targeting other various sports. In 1985, Nike debuted a signature shoe for the new NBA rookie, Michael Jordan. The Air Max was the focal point of 1987 and was supported by television ads and the soundtrack “Revolution” by the Beetles. 1989 launched the “Bo Knows” campaign for cross trainers. Soccer and golf became the target market of the 90’s. Several players from the World Cups Brazilian team were signed to Nike. Next came the entire Brazilian team and soon thereafter, Nike signed the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams, as well as many national teams from around the world. Eldrick “Tiger” Woods was signed to Nike for an

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