Nike proposes extending its brand into nutritional products called Nike Performance Nutrition. This would include bars and beverages in pre, during, and post-workout formulas to provide vitamins, minerals, protein and carbohydrates. The products would be advertised in Fitness Magazine, targeting everyday athletic females. A series of ads would feature a woman using the different formulas at different stages of her workout, with captions like "I WILL" and "I DID" meant to inspire and motivate. The minimalist ads focus on imagery over text to leverage Nike's strong brand identity associated with the swoosh logo and "Just Do It" slogan.

1. Nike Inc.
Proposed brand extension: Nike Performance Nutrition
1. In today’s competitive environment, Nike stands a global leader in the sporting
goods industry. Born from a sophisticated understanding of how people respond to
images of lifestyle, the company’s marketing strategy hinges on athletic innovation and
inspiration in promoting health, fitness and the pursuit of excellence. The brand is
positioned as an exciting, spirited, cool, original and aggressive purveyor of athletic
footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness
activities.
From Michael Jordan to Serena Williams, Nike surrounds itself with winners. In
advertising, Nike is legendary for style, wit and execution, conveying a message that is
irresistible. The company has a tradition of strong graphic identity and enormous brand
awareness.
The omnipotent Nike swoosh and trademark slogan, “Just Do It” now often
appear alone in advertisements for Nike products, sufficiently recognizable to convey
meaning, working effectively to tie brand identity to brand personality, and
communicating a sense of competition, speed and performance.
A clear brand identity and personality equals strong brand equity, enabling Nike
to capitalize on high credibility in launching brand extensions. As a result, new products
introduced by Nike are more likely to be accepted by customers than those of competing,
lesser-known brands.

2. We are proposing a brand extension called “Nike Performance Nutrition”. It will
consist of nutritional bars and beverages in a variety of flavors with specific proprietary
blends of vitamins, anti-oxidants, amino acids, electrolytes, protein and carbohydrates, in
three specific formulas: a pre-workout formula called “Vitalize”, a mid-workout formula
called “Persevere” and a post-workout formula called “Revive”.
2. Although our proposed product is suitable for both active men and active
women, we have elected for this project to advertise Nike Performance Nutrition to the
everyday athletic female. As such, we have selected Fitness Magazine as our advertising
medium since the core values of this publication are in line with those of Nike Inc and
speak to the same demographic. The pages of Fitness Magazine offer workout ideas,
health and beauty advice, diet plans and success stories to motivate readers to get strong
in mind, body and spirit and empowering women to embrace fitness as a lifestyle. The
publication provides its readers with strategies and tools to make small changes that will
help them achieve big success, in much the same way that Nike’s products help to bring
out the natural athlete within each individual. Fitness Magazine describes its attitude as
"You Can Do It", which is remarkably similar to Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan.
3. For more than 20 years Nike has told us that we can be anything we want as
long as we just try and do it. Nike’s advertisements always have a way of reaching inside
of us and touching our two hearts; the heart of the athlete and the human heart. They truly
know the mind of the average runner, the average kid, the average woman, the average
football fan, the average injured player; they have the ability to tap into every layer that
makes each of us who we are. Visually, Nike’s current marketing strategy rests on its

3. favorable brand image as conveyed though the distinctive swoosh logo and “Just Do It”
slogan. In 1977, Nike created the company’s first brand advertisement; the print ad with
the tagline “There is no finish line.” and the iconic swoosh below, featured a lone runner
on a rural road and instantly became a classic. Nike has so thoroughly established the
swoosh with its audience, that viewers need only see the symbol in the background to
recognize a Nike advertisement, leaving more creative space with which to make an
impression.
In keeping with this marketing method, the focus of our advertisement will be on
imagery, rather than text. We will advertise the beverages and bars separately; the current
project will promote the nutritional beverage. The individual nutritional formulas, pre-
during, and post-workout, will be advertised on three separate pages. Fitness magazine
will determine whether these pages appear sequentially, or in between content. Page 1
will feature an average female, sitting on the steps of her home, tying her Nike shoelaces
while biting into a “Vitalize” bar. Running across the bottom of the photo will be the
caption “I WILL.” in bold white letters. The top of the page will say Vitalize (black font)
and have a small swoosh next to the word. On page 2, the same woman will be featured
running in a park or on a rural path, with a bottle of “Persevere” visible in the back of her
Nike running hydration belt. Beneath this image will be the caption “I AM.” The top of
the page will say Persevere and have a small swoosh next to the word. Page 3 will feature
the woman at the end of her run, sweaty and exhausted, drinking from a bottle of
“Revive”. Underneath will be the caption “I DID.” The top of the page will say Revive
and have a small swoosh next to the word. On this final page, we will also reserve space
to print “Nike Performance Nutrition. Because there is no finish line.” This is in reference

4. to the aforementioned first-ever print advertisement for Nike, and is meant to tie into the
idea that Nike Performance Nutrition is a new product offering; the first of its kind for
Nike. As for the product itself, we are proposing to use Nike’s traditional packaging
colors; a black background and orange Nike swoosh.