To be able to operationalize brand strategy execution in a context of a complex global organization implementing centralized global branding and diverse and extensive network of wholesale partner network there were two significant structural transformations to be made. First, centralization of digital brand management and execution and, second, tiering of wholesale partner’s branding support

 

 

In 2014 Nike centralized digital brand management and execution within it’s EMEA headquarters in Hilversum near Amsterdam. Transferring positions, talent, decision-making and brand implementation capabilities from individual countries to headquarters, was a crucial pre-requsite for digital brand growth within wholesale.com network in EMEA region. This move enabled an executional brand consistency across the heterogeneous retail partner network’s rising tide of digital touchpoints. The rise of e-commerce meant the fall of physical national border for a digital consumer that was now able to jump from country to country with a single click. In the previous setting of national teams being responsible for local adaptation of a global campaign creative, an European digital consumer roaming the internet in search of a best offer on an e-retailer with, for example, both .fr or .de extension would have been exposed to a different creative adaptation of a same brand campaign as they would have been done by German and French team independently. This not only confused digital consumers but undermined the very pillar of global brand as a marketing strategy - consistency across markets.