Nike is a major sportswear company in the World. Nike is the numbe rone manufacturer of footwear and apparel in the market. Their vision is simple:
"To bring innovation and inspiration to every athlete in the World. If you have body, you are an athlete."
The story started on January 25, 1964 when two men shook hands on a partnership. One of them was Phil Knight. He was born February 24, 1938 in Portland, Oregon, the son of a lawyer and future newspaper publisher. Knight attended Cleveland High School in Portland, and then the University of Oregon in Eugene, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and earned a journalism degree in 1959.
He was a middle-distance runner at the school under track coach Bill Bowerman and ran a personal best 4:10 mile, winning varsity letters for track in 1957, 1958, and 1959.
William Jay "Bill" Bowerman (February 19, 1911 – December 24, 1999) was an American track and field coach. Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 24 NCAA champions and 16 sub-4 minute milers. During his 24 years as coach at the University of Oregon, the Ducks track and field team had a winning season every season but one, attained 4 NCAA titles, and finished in the top 10 in the nation 16 times.
Bowerman also joined the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the days following the Pearl Harbor attack. Then, Bowerman was promoted to commander of the 86th Regiment's First Battalion at the rank of Major. For his service, Bowerman received four Bronze Star Medals, a Good Conduct Medal, and a Silver Star. He was honorably discharged in October 1945.
Right after graduating from Oregon, Phil Knight enlisted in the Army and served one year on active duty and seven years in the Army Reserve. After the year of active duty, he enrolled at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In Frank Shallenberger's Small Business class, Knight needed to create a business plan. His paper, "Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes What Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras?", essentially was the premise to his foray into selling running shoes. He graduated with a Masters of Business Administration from the school in 1962.
Knight set out on a trip around the world after graduation, during which he made a stop in Kobe, Japan in November 1962. It was there he discovered Tiger brand running shoes, manufactured in Kobe by the Onitsuka Co. So impressed with the quality and low cost, Knight made a cold call on Mr. Onitsuka, who agreed to meet with him. By the end of the meeting, Knight had secured distribution rights for the western United States for Tiger running shoes.
The first Tiger samples would take more than a year to be shipped to Knight, during which time he found a job as an accountant in Portland, Oregon. When Knight finally received the shoe samples, he mailed two pairs to Bill Bowerman in Eugene in the hope of gaining a sale and an influential endorsement. To Knight's surprise, Bowerman not only ordered the Tiger shoes, he offered to become a partner with Knight and would provide some design ideas for better running shoes.
The two men shook hands on a partnership on January 25, 1964, the birthdate of Blue Ribbon Sports, forerunner to Nike.
Coach Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight
In 1965, they employed Jeff Johnson who was a friend of Phil from Stanford University. He quickly became an invaluable utility man for the start-up company. He created the first product brochures, print ads and marketing materials. Johnson also established a mail-order system, opened the first BRS retail store located in Santa Monica.
In 1971, BRS and Onitsuka Tiger relationships ended and both partners wanted to make their own
brand. Then, Jeff Johnson came with idea.
His idea was Nike, which was the name of the Greek goddess of victory. "There was also a missile, which they thought denoted speed. Phil wasn't sure with the name at the beginning.
They had a name, now they had to have a trademark for the side of the shoe. It was 1971, and Ford had spent $2 million getting a trademark. They didn't have $2 million, so Phil went by the graphic arts department at Portland State, and there was a woman there saying, 'I don't know how I'm going to get enough money for the dress for this prom,' Phil said, 'I have a job for you.' He paid her $2 an hour, and she spent 17 and a half hours. So $35 and she came up with what is now the swoosh."
Her name was Carolyn Davidson and she was given huge amount of money from Nike stock in 1983.
The swoosh first used by Nike on June 18, 1971.
Nike's first self-designed product was based on Bowerman's "waffle" design. After the University of Oregon resurfaced the track at Hayward Field, Bowerman began experimenting with different potential outsoles that would grip the new urethane track more effectively. His efforts were rewarded one Sunday morning when he poured liquid urethane into his wife's waffle iron. Bowerman developed and refined the so-called "waffle" sole, which would evolve into the now-iconic Waffle Trainer in 1974.
With a new logo, a new name and a new design innovation, what BRS now needed was an athlete to endorse and elevate the new Nike line. Fittingly for the company founded by Oregonians, they found such a young man: His name: Steve Prefontaine.
He was very famous runner from Oregon and he never lost any race at his home track over the one-mile distance, and quickly gained national exposure thanks to cover stories on magazines like Sports Illustrated and his fourth place finish in 1972 in the 5k m in Munich.
Then he became a powerful ambassador for Nike, however he died in 1975 but his spirit is still on Nike. Pre is the “SOUL OF NIKE”.
Steve Prefontaine
In 1978, Nike made a sponsorship agreement with famous Romanian tennis player Illie Nastase. He was Nike’s first professional athlete.
Sunderland FC Home Shirt 1983/86
One of Nike's most famous partnerships is with global inspiration and sports icon Michael Jordan. The company signed the basketball player in 1984.
Michael Jordan
Through the years, Michael Jordan has become a brand within the brand.
Nike's steady competition in the 1980's was Reebok. To break any similarities they had to Reebok, Nike began promoting shoes as fashion accessories. Reebok had cornered the younger, aerobics audience, so Nike started concentrating their ads around the person wearing the product rather than the product itself. In the 80's, Nike grew to hold 50% of the market share in the athletic shoe market.
In 1988, Nike employees met with advertising agency WIEDEN+KENNEDY, then JUST DO IT was born.
In 1990's Nike touched the football business slightly more.
In 1989, Monaco FC and PSG,
In 1990, Borussia Dortmund,
In 1994, Arsenal and PSV started to have long-term sponsorship agreements with Nike.
Monaco FC Home Shirt 1989/90
In 1994, Nike signed several individual players from what would be the World Cup winning Brazilian National Team.
In 1995, Nike signed the entire team, and began designing the team's distinctive uniform.
In 1996, Nike Golf landed a vastly talented but as yet unproven young golfer named Tiger Woods for a reported $5 million per year.
In 1999, Bill Bowerman passed away. According to Phil Knight; "He was about teaching you how to respond competitively to different challenges. Obviously, they were on the track, and they were about getting prepared to compete and competing well and competing better than you thought you could do, and accepting victory and defeat."
In 2000, Nike rang in the new millennium with a new footwear cushioning system called Nike Shox, which debuted during Sydney in 2000. The development of Nike Shox culminated more than 15 years of perseverance and dedication.
During the past 20 years especially, Nike has been one of the major clothing and footwear sponsors for leading athletes, players and teams.
Here are some of them:
athletes: Carl Lewis, Sebastian Coe, Michael Johnson
football players: Eric Cantona, Paola Maldini, Ronaldo, Romario, Roberto Carlos, Vieri, Fabian Barthez, Luis Figo, Hakan Sukur, Thuram, Henry, Carlos Tevez, Neymar, Adriano, Gilberta Silva, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Elano, Drogba, Arda Turan, Nuri Sahin, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Rooney, Ribery, Klose, Mesut Ozil, Gattuso, Materazzi, Ronaldo, Iniesta, Ramos and Ibrahimovic
basketball players: Toni Kukoc, Reggie Miller, Kobe Bryant, Mehmet Okur,
tennis players: Pete Sampras, Andrea Agassi, McEnroe, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Sharparova
Today, Nike continues to seek new and innovative ways to develop superior athletic products and creative methods to communicate directly with consumers.
