Nike and Kellogg: MNE Internet Marketing Strategies
This paper examines how two major multinational enterprises (MNEs) — Nike and the Kellogg Corporation — leverage the Internet as part of their global marketing strategies. Drawing on their respective websites and business models, the paper contrasts Nike's experience-driven, sales-oriented online platform with Kellogg's informational and promotional web presence. It explores how each company uses digital tools for consumer segmentation, international customization, and brand building, while identifying the strengths, limitations, and potential improvements in each approach. The analysis demonstrates that no single online marketing formula suits all MNEs; strategy must align with the product type and target audience.
- Introduction to Multinational Enterprises: Defines MNEs and introduces Nike and Kellogg
- Nike's Online Marketing and Sales Strategy: Nike's website for advertising, sales, and segmentation
- Nike's Global Brand Customization and Market Expansion: Custom shoes, soccer market growth, data-driven efficiency
- Kellogg's Promotional Web Presence: Kellogg's informational and coupon-focused online strategy
- Comparing Online Strategies: Nike vs. Kellogg: Contrasting brand image and web functionality of both MNEs
- Conclusions and Recommendations: Synthesis of findings and suggested improvements
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses a clear comparative structure, placing two well-known MNEs side by side to highlight how product type drives digital marketing decisions.
- It grounds abstract marketing concepts — segmentation, brand image, online customization — in specific, observable examples from each company's website.
- The use of a primary industry source (Holmes, 2004, BusinessWeek) adds credibility and provides concrete data, such as market share figures and manufacturing efficiency gains.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates comparative analysis as an academic method: rather than treating each company in isolation, it builds a running contrast throughout, culminating in a synthesis that draws a broader conclusion about online marketing flexibility. This technique shows how juxtaposing two cases can reveal principles that neither case could illustrate alone.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief definition of MNEs and introduces both companies. It then dedicates several paragraphs to Nike's multifaceted online strategy — covering customization, international segmentation, and data-driven efficiency — before transitioning to Kellogg's predominantly promotional web model. A concluding section synthesizes the comparison and offers evaluative observations about each company's approach. The structure follows a classic compare-contrast essay format with an integrated conclusion.
Introduction to Multinational Enterprises
A multinational enterprise (MNE) is defined as a firm that is based in and operates across two or more nations. Although they began as iconic American companies, Nike and the Kellogg Corporation now have operations all over the globe and customers in almost all of the developed world and much of the developing world. Because of the different types of products they sell, however, the ways in which they reach their customer base — particularly online — are quite distinct.
Nike's Online Marketing and Sales Strategy
The multinational company Nike uses the Internet both to advertise its products and to sell them directly. Nike markets fashion-forward sportswear that serves a functional purpose while also being notable for its style. The company is most famous for its shoes, but it also sells basketball, football, and running gear. The website features slogans like "built for speed" and "without mercy" beneath images of Nike products, stressing the company's image as a brand for serious sports enthusiasts rather than casual wearers. Even non-athletes enjoy buying into the Nike ethos of competition and triumph.
The World Wide Web allows Nike to promote its newest products and technologies, such as NikeiD. The website can be tailored in a customer-specific fashion according to the user's nationality. Visitors can select both the website language and their country of origin so that their experience meets their personal, country-specific needs. This offers a significant advantage to multinational retailers like Nike in terms of segmented marketing and actual sales. A website visitor from Brazil, for example, can read the Nike website in Portuguese and have instant access to an impulse purchase of shoes in the colors of a favorite football team.
Nike's website even allows users to custom-build their own shoes, choosing the color of every design element — from laces to the Nike swoosh to the sole. Collections of new items are immediately showcased on the website so that consumers can purchase them even before they appear in local stores. There are also sport-specific virtual showrooms that allow users to select the sport and teams most popular in their home country. This is a clear advantage for an MNE like Nike, particularly in the lucrative markets of Latin America and Europe, where football (soccer) and its stars dominate, unlike the United States, where American football and baseball lead.
References
Holmes, S. (2004, September 20). The new Nike. BusinessWeek. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from
Kellogg: Promotions. (2011). Homepage. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from
Nike. (2011). Homepage. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from
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