Nike’s valuable lesson for media brands about empowering community

When brands embrace community values, customers feel more emotionally connected and appreciated, which boosts their trust, loyalty, and investment in the brand. We’ve heard this time and time again from consumers.

It’s why we ask research study participants about community – a lot. For the media brands Magid works with, defining what community means and what people want from it offers lots of meaningful information for coverage and execution choices. Often, we will ask rooms full of study participants, “What brands do you think of when you think of the word ‘community’”? Inevitably, one brand always gets named: Nike.

Although it’s a massive global brand, Nike has made an indelible imprint on the way everyday people think of their community values. When we probe deeper on how Nike accomplishes this, we consistently hear versions of the following:

• ​​Partners with local influencers to support community 
• Sponsors/supports youth athletics 
• Makes you feel more connected to community
• Reflects the community and people who live in it
• Gives a voice to those in the community that need to be heard
• Keeps you informed of community political issues
• Has experts connected to community that give insight on stories
• Stories that shine a positive light on the community
• Shows they are proud of the community
• Actively involved with the community  

These tenets can and should be echoed by media brands to establish deeper relationships with their audiences.

Nike is a Fortune 500 company that proves that community isn’t just about local presence. For example, Nike empowers communities with programs dedicated to powering the future of youth sport, getting kids active, and giving back to communities through initiatives like Black Community Commitment, Homeboy Industries x Converse, and the Inclusive Community Investment Program.

Applying Nike’s wisdom to local news group strategies

As a community-engaged brand, Nike’s model holds a lot of valuable wisdom for other brands hoping to strengthen their own community connections.

For brands in the business of local news and information, Magid research emphasizes two primary consumer drivers to engage: community and coverage. These are the only elements that have a causal impact on people consuming local news regularly. This means that every story and brand extension must be channeled through one or both of these drivers.

Local news brands must identify what community means in their markets and align their coverage plan with that community vision, stick to it, and evolve it as necessary.

Make sure your brand vision is community-aligned

Nike’s mission statement is: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

*If you have a body, you are an athlete.”

Every company initiative and act of community engagement stems from that mission statement. News groups need to get as clear on their own brand vision and ensure that it aligns with community needs and values.

The hope is that community members readily identify their local news station as a representation of their community. Ideally, when we conduct in-person consumer studies, we start hearing some of those brand names in addition to the one we inevitably always hear: Nike.