Learning From Nike – Emotional Storytelling

When it comes to inspirational advertising, one of the first names that comes to mind is Nike. The American sports brand has a 48% share in the American athletic footwear market and some of the credit for that goes to their incredible advertising.

Here’s how Nike takes emotional storytelling to another level:

• Selling aspiration

Nike’s ads rarely make mention of their products. They induce emotions via their emotional branding tactics. Each ad is crafted to evoke a certain type of feeling or need in the consumer’s mind.

They use an age-old tactic – the narrative of the hero working hard to overcome trouble and adversity and emerging victorious.

• The tagline

Nike’s tagline has to be one of the greatest in the world of advertising. “Just Do It” – three words that are simple and inspire. The Just Do It tagline runs across their advertising products and is a constant in their campaigns.

Their “work hard” ethic stems from their sports-based ethos, which pushes consumers to fight the voice in their head that says, “I can’t” to instead say, “I will do it.”

• Supreme athletes

All of Nike’s athletes have been the greatest in their respective sports. A major chunk of them has also overcome adversity to succeed.

From the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Jordan, the late Kobe Bryant, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Odell Beckham Jr., Nike’s athletes are truly inspirational, and that plays into their hands.

With these smart tactics and more, Nike knows how to weave compelling storylines to entice customers across generations!