Nike, Inc.: Women's campaign
Mark LaneOVERVIEW
Nike, Inc., the sports-shoe manufacturer whose use of celebrity athletes as endorsers had helped it become the dominant American brand in its category, began focusing an increasing amount of its marketing resources on women in the 1990s. By the mid-1990s Nike's women's shoes and apparel accounted for over a quarter of its total U.S. sales, and in 1995 the company released its highest-profile women's commercials to date. These early spots were among the first examples of what became known as "empowerment advertising." Nike experimented with other approaches in its women's-products advertising, and at...