Each week, the People Pattern team chooses two different brands to take stock of their online marketing efforts. As winter sets in and we all start to cozy up in stretchy pants and practical shoes, we decided that now was the appropriate time to take a look at two leaders in athletic gear: Nike and Asics.
For a quick survey of each brand’s audience, the People Pattern app ingested Twitter followers of @Nike and @Asics. The data filtered through the platform, undergoing analysis in machine learning and natural language processing. After a day or so, from the sample of 2,500 Twitter handles emerged thousands or unique portraits reflecting a diverse audience with nuanced interests and demographics.
A quick look at the audience overlap we can see that the brands share a relatively small audience–roughly 33% of Nike’s total fan base.
So what makes the Asics follower distinct from the person who strictly follows Nike?
Digging into the data, the numbers show that the majority of the people interested in and talking about the two brands are mostly male. The most common age range falls within the millennial audience. It is interesting to note that the most significant segment within the Asics audience is the older, more professional crowd, whereas the Nike audience skews heavily to the younger millennial audience between 18 and 24.
Based on Nike’s top demographic segment, the Nike audience is a bit more diverse than the crowd who follows Asics. Nike is also significantly younger, with roughly 31% of the audience falling between 18 and 24.
The audience interests between the Asics and Nike audience suggests that the brands are after significantly different demographics. The top interests within the Asics audience seems to be more focused on an athlete persona. The top interests for followers of the brand–indoor fitness, outdoor fitness, major sports, etc–suggest that the Asics audience is composed of individuals who are keen on specialized, performance gear. Individuals within the Asics audience may geek out on running magazines, are involved in their local athletic communities, and, based on the demographic data, are career-focused and community driven.
Audience Interests: Asics
On the other hand, the Nike audience is much more interested in lifestyle topics. From the data, the top interests for this sample set were–photo sharing, humor and indoor fitness. Followers of Nike are less interested in a high tech, high performance product than they are an aesthetically pleasing product. Taking into account what we know about this audience demographic, we can assume that the Nike followers are social, college, and more interested in the social elements of the brand than strictly performance.
Audience Interests: Nike
Comparing the top words that the audiences use within their networks, the distinction between the two audiences becomes more apparent. Followers of Nike use more general terms and refer often to popular culture. they are talking about photo sharing, again, and reference twitter often. More interesting, though, is the fact that “starter pack”, “anaconda” and “fleek” are included amongst the most popular words that the Nike audience is using. The phrase, “starter pack” refers to a trend that has taken over social media and is a four-image compilation of images related to a designated subject. The top word “anaconda”, most likely refers to the eponymous Nicki Minaj song that went viral, while “fleek” was a bit more difficult to find for us outsiders. A quick google search revealed that the phrase took off when a Vine star Peaches Monroe posted to her Vine account. The term has since gone viral and has been translated loosely into meaning “on point”.
The Asics audience uses very different language, preferring to stick to more sport-specific lingo in online conversations. Taking a look at the top words within the sample, most of the language directly refers to running, cross country in particular, further illustrating the distinction between the two audiences.
Top words: Nike vs. Asics
As the weather gets cooler and the days get shorter, we find ourselves less inclined to zip into tight pants, and more inclined to pull on a set of stretchy pants and comfy shoes after a long day. But not all stretchy pants are the same, nor do the folks who wear them prefer the same type. Based on our sample, we can see that some folks prefer trendier tights, while others will stick to the tried-and-true technical option.
Regardless, it is clear that both Nike and Asics have a strong brand ethos and a loyal fanbase that ascribes to the dominating brand message. Nike is not often seen as a performance gear brand, while Asics caters to the serious runner. Clearly, both brands have room to improve by looking into those aspirational audiences and generating content that caters to the interests and themes that are most common in the aspirational audience.
Interested in learning how your brand can benefit from a deep dive into the nuances of your audience? Don’t hesitate to get in touch to request an audience intelligence report of your own, or request a demo below.
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