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Founded in 1964, Nike has always had a creative methodology for their campaigns, which helped the brand gain global success and worldwide popularity. Whether that be the endorsem*nt of celebrity figures or unique advertisem*nts, Nike has delivered countless successful campaigns which struck the hearts of audiences. In 2012, the brand released a series of advertisem*nts known as the “Find Your Greatness” campaign, which was associated with the 2012 London Summer Olympics. These ads focused on the activities of everyday athletes, who accomplished feats in their respective sports. The ads also had a narration that voiced over the footage of these athletes, providing motivational messages about finding success. All ads ended with the iconic message: “Find Your Greatness.” This campaign launched globally in the summer of 2012 and was a massive success. Specifically, an advertisem*nt featuring a little boy on a jog went extremely viral, creating a buzz on social media and bringing more attention to the brand. Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign reveals much about the media’s connection to social ideologies and how companies utilize them to create profit and marketability.
Nike’s campaign has many implications for American society and its structure. The campaign first demonstrates social diversity and sports’ ability to connect people. The advertisem*nts feature a diverse group of people, encompassing various ages, ethnicities, and genders, playing a variety of different sports: water polo, basketball, biking, running, etc. This diversity is illustrative of the large population of athletes in society and how people create social groups from such activities. It helps to emphasize the comradery of sports, bringing people together from all around the world; this comradery is well demonstrated in the Olympics, something Nike heavily emphasized. The advertisem*nts also create a narrative that every individual can be great in society. It defines success as a subjective matter, one that each individual determines for themselves. The campaign undermines social definitions of success, implying that society is unable to determine what greatness truly is; that role is instead bestowed upon the individual.
The “Find Your Greatness” campaigns do not define much about the social roles of individuals. A sporting advertisem*nt has intrinsic limitations for reflecting the complexities of society, as sports are usually shallow in displaying social values. The campaigns are also unable to clearly define social roles due to the risk of them being offensive or oppressive, potentially resulting in mass controversy for Nike. Similar to how television strays away from controversial topics and focuses on conventional ones, the advertisem*nts on TV usually avoid issues regarding sex, gender, race, or any other humanitarian distinction. Viewership is critically important for advertising campaigns, so Nike dodges controversy by defining distinct social norms for various groups. By featuring diverse athletes in the campaign, Nike instead attempts to eliminate social norms and boundaries and represent the entire populace. The only social responsibility that individuals have in Nike’s inclusive marketing project is the responsibility of defining and reaching excellence. The campaign’s motivational narrations stimulate bravery and spirit in the audience, creating a desire for individuals to also pursue greatness, just like those in the advertisem*nts. The “greatness” that is achieved in the campaigns is humane and realistic, which simplifies success from its original idealistic portrayal in society. The advertisem*nts drive focus away from global celebrity athletes with world-renowned trophies and awards; instead, the campaign is about common people, who strive to succeed in their own right. This entails individuals doing the same. Nike implies that everyone’s societal role should be to strive for greatness, no matter how big or small it may be.
Because the campaign features multicultural groups, Nike portrays many normative behaviors of everyday athletes. The advertisem*nts illustrate various realistic situations of athletes pursuing “greatness” and represent this as normative. The ads contain footage of little boys playing rugby on a dirt field, young teens playing soccer on a rooftop, two female water polo players wrestling for the ball in a match, a little girl doing cartwheels in her front yard, and many more common activities of athletes. Though the campaign does present a multitude of normative behaviors, these lifestyles are rather deviant. They deviate from the societal definitions of success, as each athlete pursues their goals in their way. Each individual performs an impressive task and finds success in doing so, which is what Nike defines as “finding your greatness”. The campaign highlights the specialty and uniqueness of each individual, which differentiates them from everyone else. The athletes in the advertisem*nts also contrast from normative behavior due to their immense work ethic. All of those featured in the campaign are shown as extremely hardworking and tenacious. This is what makes them look so charismatic and special, even if they aren’t Olympic Gold-Medalists or World Cup Champions. This slight indifference is one main reason the campaign was successful. Many were able to feel motivated and moved by the advertisem*nts because each individual was so inspiring yet relatable. Nike was able to mix both social normalities and divergences to create an effective campaign.
On the surface, the “Find Your Greatness” campaign is a series of advertisem*nts made to create market profitability for Nike. However, the collection expresses implicit ideologies that serve the interest of not only athletes but individuals across the globe. The main implicit value that the campaign has is capitalism. The “Find Your Greatness” campaign deviates from other ads because they do not promote a singular product or service, instead portraying many motivational messages. However, by doing so, Nike hopes that the audience watches the advertisem*nts, along with the Olympics, and pursues an interest in sports, which will most likely bring the brand profit. If more individuals are interested in sports, the more likely it is for Nike to gain profit from their products, services, and endorsem*nts. This is why the brand purposely creates campaigns for and affiliates itself with the Olympics. For example, Nike has sponsored the US Olympic Committee since the mid-2000s. Therefore, when everyone is tuning in to watch their national athletes perform, they see the iconic “swoosh” on athletes’ shirts, jerseys, hats, and shoes. This creates more attention for the brand and is a subtle form of marketing. Subtle marketing is also in the ads themselves. For instance, a kid that is skateboarding wears a pair of Nike shoes, and a young teen performs stunts on a bike while wearing Nike merchandise. This minute product placement brings ethereal attention to the brand, inspiring athletes to reach greatness while wearing Nike. Although the brand does a great job at hiding it in the “Find Your Greatness” campaign, the capitalistic interests of Nike are still prevalent.
The campaign also promotes other dominant ideologies of society. For one, it promotes the ideology of success and self-improvement. This story of pursuing one’s dreams or reaching success is ubiquitous in American society (i.e. The American Dream). This idealistic dream has long been associated with consumerism as well, as the middle and high class felt as though buying products was a part of reaching success. However, Nike’s portrayal of greatness and self-improvement challenges this dominant ideology. Nike implies that it is not measured by wealth, status, or any other numerical value. The campaign challenges the notion that success is living a prosperous life in an urban city with a successful career and a loving family. Rather, Nike has a much more artistic definition of greatness. Greatness requires relentless effort, time, and dedication, but it’s not always the stereotypical American Dream. Nike challenges dominant ideologies by spreading a new, creative message: “Find Your Greatness”. The multitude of advertisem*nts portraying various levels of success depict how individuals should explore their greatness, instead of following in someone else’s footsteps.
Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign was one of its most successful marketing tactics of all time. It brought new attention to the brand and helped it to reach the global popularity that it commands today. The campaign’s artistic portrayal of “greatness” and motivational sentiment reveals much about the media’s connection to American ideology, as the nation continues to promote inspirational success stories that provide hope for those in society.
