Many people in China are interested in Nike and wear Nike sneakers, but not all of them know that there is an Air Max Day until this year due to its vigorous promotion. Why did Nike pay more attention on the campaign this year?

As is known to us, the competition between Nike and Adidas gets stickier. In the early 1970s, Adidas occupies the dominant position in the sneaker manufacturing industry. At that time, Adidas, Puma and Tiger are the three companies which formed the "iron triangle" in the market, and other companies are difficult to come in for a share. However, only 10 years later, in the early 1980s, Nike’s market share reached 50% and became the world leader of the industry, while Adidas’s market share has once dropped below 20%.

Nike has always come in ahead of Adidas in terms of celebrity sponsorships, and it is famous for more varied line-up, comprised of basketball and running shoes, as well as cross-training products. (reComparison, 2010)As for its Air Max series, subsequent variations blazed new trails in technology and design every step of the way. Since Adidas has been regard less popular than Nike during last years due to a lack of swift market reaction and innovation, Nike was confident, even a little conceited, and spent little money on promoting its Air Max Day in the past.

However, Adidas has introduced a lot of successful sneakers this year in China especially NMD in its Originals series and Yeezy Boost which caused a sensation. Besides, Adidas sees sales, profits rising 10-12% this year. (Pappler, 2016) Nike felt threatened by these, and thus it put massive effort on promoting its Air Max Day 2016. For example, it put a moment with video on WeChat and advertisement on banners placed on the center road of Shanghai where its flagship store is.

Air Max Day is launched by Nike on March 26th every year to introduce new products of Air Max series in memory of the first shoe introduced in 1987 which showcase visible air. Memory is a process of acquiring information and storing it over time, and the memory can motivate people to consume renovation. Besides, it bombarded people with campaign messages imploring people via most popular social media in China to know about and to buy the new products.

In a word, if a brand doesn’t want to be transcended, it has to make a change no matter on products or attitudes.