Nike has becoming one of the world’s leading brands of sports shoes and gear, it‘s influence permeating all cultures, fashion, trend and becoming even a status symbol especially among youth. Many NBA celebrities even have their customized footwear and authentic NBA jerseys designed by them. How exactly did this multi-millionaire company come into existence and who was responsible? William Bowerman and Phillip Knight are recognized as the founders of Nike. Their paths crossed in 1959 at the University of Oregon with Bowerman as the coach of the university’s running team and Phillip a runner. In the early 1960’s at Stanford, Knight had a project for his MBA to create a small business including a marketing plan. Bowerman’s quest for lighter and durable shoes for his runners along with Knight’s desire to continue as an athlete became the basis of their partnership.
Knight proposed a partnership with a Japanese shoe manufacturing company, Onitsuka Tiger (known today as ASICs) and in 1964 Blue Ribbon Sports (Nike) became the official distributer of Tiger shoes in the United States. A year later, with Blue Ribbon Sports rapid growth, Jeff Johnson was hired as their first salesman. The name ‘Nike’ with “swoosh” trademark was created in 1971 and a soccer shoe was the first to bear the new name and trademark. Why Nike? In Greek mythology, Nike is the goddess of victory who seats beside Zeus in Olympus and throughout history has denoted achievement and mastery. The “swoosh” trademark was designed by Caroline Davidson then a graphic designer in Portland State University in 1971 and depicts the wing of the Greek Goddess-Nike.
Various athletes have endorsed the brand including many players in the NBA celebrity all star games. The first athlete to wear Nike shoes however, was runner Mark Covert and professional Romanian tennis personality Ilie Nastase signed to wear Nikes on the court thus becoming their first official endorser. In 1984 NBA all star Michael Jordan signed Nikes endorsement contract and released his first signature shoe, Air Jordan a year after. Not only did Nike provide athletes footwear but dressed them from head to foot, including authentic NBA jerseys for basketball players and even golf apparel with Tiger Woods now and endorser. Their tagline “Just do it” was formulated in 1988 and remains to be one of the most famous taglines in the industry today. Nikes strategy of getting the popular sports icons to wear their shoes when playing has proven very effective resulting in the company’s expansion. Even outside the sporting world, kids ‘must’ have Nikes to be praised by their peers, athletes must have a signature as a sign of their popularity- Nike has definitely become a cultural signifier inspiring many to lead healthy lifestyles and view exercise as something enjoyable.
Just how big is Nike now? It is undoubtedly the world’s leading supplier of sports equipment with revenue of $18.6 billion in 2008. Nike sponsors a number of football clubs worldwide, it has sponsored cricket players for quite a while now and even sponsors minor sporting events and has websites for individual sports. From its humble beginning, Nike is now one of the most respected sports brands and is here to stay.