1.The Story of Nike

The documentary video about Nike from 2008 by CNBC called "Inside the Swoosh” told the story of how small idea became the Empire known as Nike. This video presented an unprecedented look inside Nike's $16 billion empire, The Visionaries of Nike, The Elite Athletes, and most importantly The Shoes. Nike marketing strategy is developed around one the most well known slogans in the world “Just Do It”. The “Just Do It” slogan has stood tall throughout the life of Nike. This slogan has become of the most well-known phrases in the world. The key concept to Nike’s marketing strategy is simple, they obtain the best athletes in the world to market their brand for them.

 Their biggest strategy move in their history was when they signed young NBA rookie to half million dollar contract. Nike also promised this rookie his very own shoe contract. The name of this rookie was Michael Jordan, and he would eventually go down as the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. From a business aspect, Nike developed Michael Jordan’s which was named “Jordan”. In 2007 the popular Jordan had a gross profit of $800 million, this was $100 million less than the entire company made 23 years earlier. Even more wide opening statistic is that Jordan products have doubled in profit since Michael Jordan’s retirement in the early 2000’s. The Jordan exploded, the shoes were then worn by R&B and Boyz II Men as the music awards in 2008. Everyone wanted to be a part of the Jordan Brand. Nike then wanted to penetrate the skate boarding market by using the same marketing strategy they did with Jordan. Nike would continue this trend of paying famous athletes to market their product for them. This list includes Lebron James, Chris Paul, Tiger Woods, Carmelo Anthony, and many more.  

Nike approached the skate boarding market, the same way they approached the basketball market. Nike went on to sign a young skater by the name Paul Rodriguez to promote their product. Unlike the success that Nike achieved in the basketball world, they struggled to find the same success in skate boarding market. Many of the experienced skate boarders were against Nike entering the skate boarding market. The skating world pushed hard to make the younger generation of Nike entering this market. They even developed their own slogan “Don’t Do It”. They believed that Nike would bankrupt the small skating boarding companies that were developed specifically for skater. Eventually the Nike empire broke through by redesigning their own shoe brand, and having their well skaters market them for Nike. In my eyes, not everything that did to become an empire was on completely ethical. From trying to bankrupt small skating boarding companies to allowing child labor in poor countries. Though these aren't completely ethical situations, Nike has has been good as accepting the the ownership of their flaws, and has been good about correcting these issues. 

 Nike has become one most using effective marketing strategies to the masses. For as long as I have been lived, Nike has dominated the other appeal brands. I have always bought Nikes brands and will continue to buy them. This is because I feel Nike has the best quality when it comes to apparel wear.  The “Just Do It” campaign has only become more popular, and now it seems that this campaign is everywhere. Nike recently has taken over the football world by having contracts with over 90% of college teams in the United States, and recently owning every NFL teams appeal. Even with all this happing in the United States, most of the Nike’s profit comes from overseas. It’s simple, Nike has become the most popular appeal company in the world, by using effective marketing.