COSC 5112 Essay

Due Date: 3 September 2014Due Date: 3 September 2014Roxanne Van der Westhuizen13014947Roxanne Van der Westhuizen13014947BACC 1 – Group 1COSC5112BACC 1 – Group 1COSC5112Communication Science 1B ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION
Assignment 1Jenna RamnarainCommunication Science 1B ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION
Assignment 1Jenna Ramnarain

Due Date: 3 September 2014
Due Date: 3 September 2014
Roxanne Van der Westhuizen
13014947
Roxanne Van der Westhuizen
13014947
BACC 1 – Group 1
COSC5112
BACC 1 – Group 1
COSC5112
Communication Science 1B ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION
Assignment 1
Jenna Ramnarain
Communication Science 1B ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION
Assignment 1
Jenna Ramnarain
Contents
Introduction 2
Corporate Identity 2
Nike 2
Conclusion 7
Bibliography 7

Introduction
Organisations strive to build a reputation in order to distinguish themselves from their competitors regarding key selling points specific to them. Nike endeavours to associate themselves with reputation of high innovation and quality, among various other traits. This essay will discuss how an organisation – Nike in particular - communicates this with corporate identity, referring to its various components.

Corporate Identity
Organisations use various methods to represent themselves to their stakeholders, which aims to build reputation and status through various communication methods, and through creating purposeful symbols (Angelopulo, 2013). Organisations attempt to create and manage this reputation though their corporate identity.

A deliberate and well-constructed corporate identity could strengthen bonds and feelings of belonging, with both internal and external stakeholders, which could contribute to a more loyal staff complement and customer base (Angelopulo, 2013). A coherent identity increases recognisability and familiarity for external publics, as well as assisting in the collaboration of internal stakeholders (Angelopulo, 2013).

Communication of an organisations corporate identity can be done using artefacts. Artefacts are observable facets unique to one organisation, such as their name, typeface and logo, corporate colours and slogan, vision and mission statement, as well as their message on promotional materials (Angelopulo, 2013).
Nike
Nike is a premium sporting goods retailing brand, with products ranging from shoes to hats and everything in between. Their famous Nike swoosh is recognisable from continent to continent. They are involved in many Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, in addition to sponsoring sporting leaders and involving themselves in entire soccer and basketball teams.

Nike's corporate identity starts with their name and logo. Nike was named after the Greek goddess of victory, which began their association with success and superiority. As seen in Figure one, since 1971, the Nike logo has stayed mostly unchanged, with the only change being the position of the word Nike in relation to the Nike swoosh. According to Palmer (2014), the constant reinforcement of Nike logo in its inception, as well as the various spokespersons, has associated the brand with 'la crème de la crème'. He goes on to say that the inclusion of the name in the logo is superfluous and that the name is no longer needed for consumers to relate the brand with championship quality. In comparison, Carpenter (2014) believes that the name was pulled from the logo in order to make it more memorable and flexible across all product ranges.

Figure 1 Brand Evolution – Nike " EDGE Creative (Nike, 2013)

Nike's mission, "To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete" (Azais, 2013) is deeply rooted into all manners of the business. Their new campaign, "Possibilities" is an example of this. It emphasises their mission of innovation and inspiration by inspiring participants to push their limits with a series of Nike+ challenges involving characters in a film (Nike, 2013).

Their slogan, "Just do it" may have stemmed from the last words of a Gary Gilmore sent to death for the murder of two people in Utah (Conradt, 2011), but it still ties into their cohesive corporate identity. This is shown in the connection of their slogan with their 'Possibilities' campaign. The Nike.Inc (2013) website states that the campaign takes their slogan of "Just Do It" from inspiration to action, encouraging participation from their viewers.

There is a clearly observable identity throughout Nike's various new product ranges. This allows for the alignment and maintenance of a cohesive product and corporate identity (Ceonex, 2004). An example of this is Nike's new range of shoes, which included both improvements to their shoes as well as the addition of a lumo colour theme. As seen in figures two and three, the lumo theme is present in the women and men sections. In addition, the lumo theme is evident in their various product ranges, their clothes and shoe ranges for example. This unified identity allows Nike to differentiate themselves from their competitors (Angelopulo, 2013).
Figure 3 Men and women clothes rangeFigure 3 Men and women clothes rangeFigure 2 Men and women shoe rangeFigure 2 Men and women shoe rangeNike's corporate colours, promotional material and general identity is carried through all their outlets to achieve a cohesive branding. Figure four and five were taken at two separate retail stores, one in Fourways mall and the other at Clearwater mall. As seen from these figures, it is difficult to find differences between them, if any. The continuity in identity between stores disseminates a united identity and promise of the quality that Nike is known for, regardless of the geographical location. This ensures that the service and products received from someone visiting the Sandton store will be equal to that of someone visiting the Boksburg or Soweto stores.
Figure 3 Men and women clothes range
Figure 3 Men and women clothes range
Figure 2 Men and women shoe range
Figure 2 Men and women shoe range

Figure 4 Clearwater Nike Store

Figure 5 Fourways Mall Nike Store
Figure 6 The Cross Trainer - FourwaysFigure 6 The Cross Trainer - FourwaysIn addition to selling products in their own branded Nike stores, Nike also sells their products through other sporting goods stores. One problem an organisation could face in this regard is that the corporate identity could be lost within the identity of the store their products would be featured in. It is important for the brand to maintain their prominence among competitors in the same store. As seen in figure six, Nike is one of many brands sold at The Cross Trainer – Fourways Mall. Although Nike's presence in the store is restricted, they have preserved their identity by creating a compact version of a Nike store. This includes the textile look and feel of the brand, the incorporation of wood in the frontal display for example.
Figure 6 The Cross Trainer - Fourways
Figure 6 The Cross Trainer - Fourways

Just as in other corporate communication methods, the corporate identity can sometimes be misunderstood, misinterpreted or contradicted. This could result in unhappy and disloyal stakeholders (Ceonex, 2004). Which is why is it so important to plan and synchronise all messages to an organisations stakeholders (Angelopulo, 2013). However, even in the event that an identity is successfully planned and executed; this might be rendered mute in the face of scandal or crisis.

Figure 7 Just Sweatshop It (Wong, 2013)Figure 7 Just Sweatshop It (Wong, 2013)Nike experience one such scandal in the 1990's and in 2011. According to the Corporate Governance Report (2014), Nike experienced a global boycott campaign in the 1990's because of their connections with slave labour. This boycott demonstrated just how powerful a social movement can be, and how consequences can result from corporate actions (Corporate Governance Report, 2014). After years of refuting allegations of using child labour and sweatshops, workers spoke out against their regular mentally and physically abuse at Nike's Converse factory in Indonesia (Online mail reporter, 2011). According to Peretti (2011), it was believed that Nike cared more about their brand image than the human rights of their workers. Peretti (2011) adds that their globally recognised swoosh was ambiguous and therefore made them a perfect target for media and social scrutiny. Figure seven shows one example of how the media used Nike's identity against them. Nike has since moved on from the issues of the past and shifted their focus to good CSR practices, like their goal of being toxics-free by 2020 (Corporate Governance Report, 2014).
Figure 7 Just Sweatshop It (Wong, 2013)
Figure 7 Just Sweatshop It (Wong, 2013)

After witnessing, first hand, the possible consequences that inappropriate affiliations can have on a corporate identity, Nike chooses to whom they wish to affiliate their brand. Sponsorships are therefore also a component of corporate identity. Sponsoring and advertising using these brand ambassadors are strategic, and speak volumes on how Nike wants to be perceived. Nike has sponsored prominent public figures in their chosen sport, for example Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and Cristiano Ronaldo. Nike has subsequently cancelled their contract with Lance Armstrong because of misconduct, according to Kay (2012). After irrefutable evidence surfaced that the cyclist cheated to reach his success, Nike felt they has no choice but to let him go (Kay, 2012). So why is it that Nike decided to retain Woods and let go of Armstrong? According to Kay (2014), Nike's identity revolves around quality, success and innovation; therefore their reputation would not be as adversely affected with their association to Woods as it would have been with their ties to Armstrong. The success and quality of Woods had not been questioned; he had not cheated to success as Armstrong did (Kay, 2012). Although it was discovered that his conduct had let down his public, his performance as an athlete remained unscathed.

The way these sponsorships effect their identity, the absence of a message could also communicate a message. After creating an advertisement featuring South African athlete, Oscar Pistorius, the ad was pulled because of the unfortunate wording used (Wall, 2013). The athlete was faced with murder charges for shooting his model girlfriend (Wall, 2013). Somehow, Nike felt the tag line "I am the bullet in the chamber" for their advert featuring the murder-accused athlete was an unappropriated message for the brand to send. This ad is included in figure eight. Nike then suspended a contract with the athlete said to be worth two million dollars, pending the finding of his court proceedings (Wall, 2013).

Figure 8 Nike ad campaign featuring Oscar Pistorius was swiftly pulled after the crisis broke (Wall, 2013)
Conclusion
An organisations' corporate identity is dependent on a multitude of different components as discussed above. This identity depends on all manners of external communications to an organisations' stakeholders. Nikes corporate identity was specifically crafted to disseminate a message of quality, innovation and success, which is closely linked to their mission statement. Components such as their logo, slogan, store layout and product range unification all contributed to a predetermined identity they strived to achieve. Their marketing materials, tag lines and even sponsorships were created to maximise this identity and its effect on their publics. But is isn't just the planned communication of messages, it is also the planned withholding of messages that can impact on a corporate identity as was seen in their pull of their advertising campaign featuring South African athlete, Oscar Pistorius.
Bibliography
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