In my opinion, this post about Nike, Inc. and its successful collaborations provided an appropriate description of the company and its marketing endeavors. Sufficient evidentiary support is provided to show how the company operates and what types of collaborations it seeks as well as the effect of such collaborations on the success of the organization. Nevertheless, there are several points I would like to address to better understand the concept of collaboration in business and Nike’s approach to it.
I feel compelled to ask whether the notion of collaboration applies to most of the examples provided in the post. Business collaboration is the practice of “leveraging internal and external connections to generate ideas, find solutions, and achieve common goals” (“What is business collaboration? Types, benefits & 3 ideas to grow,” 2021, para. 4). Most of the given examples, such as work with Maria Sharapova and Christiano Ronaldo, do not necessarily meet the criteria for collaboration. They promote the company’s product but do not generate new ideas or offer solutions to existing business problems. In addition, it is a challenge to find common goals a corporation and an individual may share. Therefore, I would like to ask whether celebrity endorsement should be considered a collaboration. As you have mentioned in the post, cooperation should be part of collaborative efforts. Is there a clear cooperation element in Nike’s celebrity endorsement?
Furthermore, many companies such as Adidas or Reebok partner with celebrities to market their products. Collaborations between brands and celebrities began in the 1980s; the concept was new and intriguing (Burgess, 2020). Today, celebrity endorsements are commonplace, with sports personalities, in particular, often partnering with sportswear companies. Thus, is there an oversaturation of such endorsements in the market? Do they remain as effective, or do they result in the alienation of potential customers?
References
Burgess, W. (2020). Hip-hop sneaker collaborations. Intertext, 28(1). Web.
What is business collaboration? Types, benefits & 3 ideas to grow. (2021). RingCentral. Web.