According to Shelly Lucas's article, "Nike's Commercial Solution: Girls, Sneakers, and Salvation", "In 1981, Reebok, one of Nike's competitors in the athletic shoe industry, chose to make women its primary target market.
Nike executives, however, did not view aerobics as a sport, and as a result, they did not immediately take advantage of the opportunity.
Finally in 1987, Nike slowly changed course with more women in its advertisements, but it was not really until the 1990s that it ramped up its focus on the woman as an athlete to compete with Reebok.
Three years later, Nike advertised in a different way this time creating ads that target women’s emotions and giving them a feeling of sense of community.
"[1] The team of women eventually created advertising campaigns that revolved around three "big ideas": empowerment, entitlement, and product emphasis, which became influential to women throughout the nation according to Jean Grow and Joyce Wolburg.