Nike is the world’s leading sports apparel manufacturing American multinational company. The brand started its business in 1964 and it has earned a global reputation for innovation, quality, style, performance, and strong commitment. An incident happened to the brand Nike when its shoes ripped apart during a basketball game; it raised serious questions over the premium price and top quality claims of the sportswear brand. Today, we’ll discuss Nike crisis communication plan; crisis event to the company; communication strategy; and key lessons learned from Nike crisis management.
Nike Crisis Communication Plan
- Preparing for the potential crisis by recognizing potential threats
- Implementing an open and transparent crisis communication strategy
- Special media spokesperson to answer any type of queries and build trust with the audience
- Evaluating social media channels to analyze the public response and
- Learning from the mistakes and making improvements in the communication strategy
Crisis Event to Nike
A crisis incident of shoe malfunctioning happened in 2019 when the shoes of basketball player Zion Williamson were ripped off during a game between the University of North Carolina and Duke University. Zion was wearing PG 2.5 basketball shoes of Nike; the failure of the shoe sprained his knee.
However, Nike immediately responded to the crisis incident and issued a statement about the safety and wellness of athletes and sportsmen. The sportswear brand promised to investigate the problem by launching an investigation and expressed its deepest concerns and sympathies for the player Williamson.
Nike Crisis Communication Strategy
Let’s discuss the main elements of the Nike crisis communication plan and Nike crisis management strategy; they’re as follows;
Immediate Response
As soon as the incident happened, Nike immediately responded to the incident and expressed its empathic concerns for the health, safety, and well-being of Zion Williamson. The sportswear brand showed its strong commitment to resolving the incident by planning to conduct an investigation and understand how and why this incident may have happened.
Open & Transparent Communication Strategy
Nike implemented an open and transparent communication strategy by regularly updating the targeted customer market about the crisis incident. It allowed the company to regularly inform the customer market about the investigation and the progress the company is making. However, the objective was to reassure customers that the company was proactively analyzing the incident and would resolve the crisis.
Conducting Investigation & Analysis
Nike conducted a thorough investigation to analyze the shoe failure incident by collaborating with the victim Zion Williamson, Duke University, and his family. The sportswear brand allocated a team of engineers to examine the shoe material, its construction, and the design to find out the root cause of the shoe malfunctioning problem. However, it showed the company’s strong commitment and dedication to comprehending various contributing factors relevant to the crisis incident.
Assurance & Accountability
Nike acknowledged the whole incident as the occasional manufacturing fault and took responsibility and accountability for its actions. The sportswear brand reassured its customers and stakeholders that the company is serious about resolving the manufacturing and designing faults within the company. However, the company puts a great emphasis on taking responsibility and assuring customers of building trust, confidence, and credibility.
Brand Advocates
Nike started collaborating with the world’s leading influencers and sports athletes to earn their support and endorsement for the sportswear brand. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James expressed their trust and confidence in Nike’s products and shoes; they had a good experience with the brand. The objective was to decrease the negative perception and reputation of the company.
Improving Product
Nike showed its strong commitment to improving product safety and the precautionary steps the company took to avoid the occurrence of such incidents again in the future. Some of the main steps the company took for the product improvement are as follows;
- Amplifying testing procedures
- Launching quality control measures
- Collaborating with sportswear organizations
- Gathering feedback about product refinement
- Focusing on continuous improvement
- Developing reliable and top-performing footwear and shoes
Collaborating with Stakeholders
Nike collaborated and engaged with various stakeholders like Duke University, victims’ families, and the basketball player Zion Williamson. The company built and maintained an open line of communication with various stakeholders throughout the incident. However, it allowed the company to show its strong commitment to resolving the issue.
Lessons Learned from Nike Crisis Communication Plan
Some of the main lessons learned from the Nike crisis communication plan; they’re as follows;
- Immediately responding to crisis incident as soon as it occurred
- Take responsibility and accountability for its actions
- Conducting a thorough investigation
- Collaborating with various stakeholders
- Showing a strong commitment to resolving the issue
- Implementing open and transparent communication
Conclusion: Nike Crisis Communication Plan | Nike Crisis Management Strategy | Lessons Learned from Nike Crisis Event
After an in-depth study of Nike crisis communication plan; we have realized that Nike is the world’s leading sportswear brand. If you are learning about Nike crisis management strategy; then you should keep in mind the abovementioned elements, plan, and strategic approach.
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