1938, an ordinary boy was born in America. Like most of his peers at that time, he likes sports, playing basketball, baseball and running. His name is phil knight. As an ordinary young man, he is very familiar with sports brands such as Adidas and Puma. Unexpectedly, it was this ordinary boy who later created a new brand-the knight always liked sports, and almost all his high school papers were related to sports. Even universities have chosen the University of Oregon, the base camp of American track and field sports. Although Knight likes sports, he is just a mediocre 1 mile runner. His worst performance was 4 minutes 13 seconds, and he hardly entered the ranks of world-class athletes (score 4). There are so many people just like him! But thanks to this, we won't see a great entrepreneur today. In Oregon, Nate met his lifelong mentor, his coach Bill Ballman. Ballman broke the world long-distance running record in 1950s, and Eugene, Oregon, became famous for it. He is a man with a strong sense of career, bent on making his sports team surpass other teams. In training competition, beriberi is the most common culprit, so Ballman wants to design a shoe with light bottom, good support, low friction and strong stability, which can reduce beriberi pain and run well.
Therefore, Ballman carefully designed several patterns of sports shoes. He found several shoe-making companies, but no one paid attention to him. Stubborn Ballman simply consulted a shoemaker himself and learned how to make shoes. At a sports meeting, his athletes put on their own shoes, which were ugly, but light and comfortable, and the result was better than any previous competition. After graduation, Knight continued to study for an MBA degree at Stanford University, while Ballman continued to work as a track coach and design sports shoes at the university. 1960, knight graduated. During this period, he mentioned in an investigation report that many famous athletes and ordinary athletes actually have the same goal: to beat Adidas and let more and more athletes wear high-quality and cheap running shoes made in Japan-Tiger Puff. After graduation, Nate decided to go to Japan to look for opportunities. At the exhibition in Japan, Knight met the Japanese manufacturer of Tiger brand sports shoes. He calls himself "Blue Ribbon Sports Company" from America. Just when Tiger brand needed an agent to enter the American market, he gave the agent to the fledgling young man. Nate, who got the agency, immediately found Ballman. The two of them invested 500 dollars to set up a real blue ribbon sports company, became the exclusive distributor of Tiger brand sports shoes in the United States, and started their initial business. This "blue ribbon" is the predecessor of "Nike".
At first, there was no warehouse, and Nate put the inventory in the basement of Nate's father-in-law's house. He and Ballman were in charge of finance and design respectively, and they cooperated very well. Facts have proved that his prediction of the market is correct. This kind of low-priced sports shoes sold very well, with goods worth $8,000 sold in the first year. From 65438 to 0968, Cortez shoes after the reform in Ballman became the best-selling products of Tiger brand sports shoes, and Knight laid a solid financial foundation for the company's development. The company's business began to improve gradually. Soon, the Japanese head office noticed that the products were selling well and asked them to remit money before delivery. As a result, the cost in Ballman has greatly increased, and they have to redouble their efforts to promote sales. However, the Japanese side often fails to deliver the goods on time, and even secretly leaves the first-class products for sale in Japan and sends the inferior products to the United States. Once, they received a batch of shoes in Ballman. After the customer wears it for two weeks, the sole and upper are separated. They had to submit to humiliation, and in order to maintain their reputation, they returned it to customers in time. Even more exasperating, Tiger Brand sent representatives to Eugene and proposed to buy 5 1% of the shares of Ballman Company, accounting for two of the five directors. If this request is rejected, the supply will be stopped immediately. Ballman and Knight, who suffered from Japanese businessmen's difficulties, couldn't bear it any longer and flatly rejected this unreasonable request.
Nate and Ballman decided to start their own company. He named it Nike, which was named after the Greek god of victory. The name Nike, in the eyes of westerners, is very auspicious, easy to read and remember, and can be shouted. They soon launched sports shoes named after "Nike" and designed exquisite trademarks. Nike's famous "one hook" trademark is very eye-catching and visually attractive. It is the kind of sport that sports shoes and other sporting goods should have, symbolizing strength and speed.
For publicity, the Knights personally printed Nike T-shirts and distributed them to the preliminary venues of the Olympic Games, but everyone who saw them asked, "Who is Nike?" However, in the competition, Knight made a fuss, and the marathon runner who was persuaded to use new shoes won the fourth to seventh place, while the athlete wearing Adidas shoes won the third place before the preliminary competition. In the sports shoes industry, Nike faces fierce competition. Knight and Ballman realized that if we can't develop new products better than the existing ones, there is no hope of increasing market share. Moreover, so far, the shoes produced by American shoe factories are far less than the foreign shoes produced by Adidas in the former Federal Republic of Germany. 1975 On a Sunday morning, Ballman fiddled with a polyurethane rubber in the iron mold for baking waffles, and made a new type of sole with it. This kind of waffle shoe is equipped with small rubber round nails, which makes the sole more elastic than other shoes popular in the market. This seemingly simple product improvement became the starting point of Knight and Ballman's career.
1976, Nike soared from $8.3 million in the previous year to140,000. It developed like wildfire, and the company spent a lot of money to develop new styles of running shoes. In these improvements, Nike air cushion left a deep impression on people. Nike air cushion is an inflatable cushion embedded in the heel, which is a trump card in the company's shoemaking technology. It can keep elasticity longer than foam sponge or rubber. Comfortable and smooth to wear Now almost all genuine Nike sneakers produced by Nike are embedded with this kind of air cushion. Interestingly, consumers don't know the secret, however, this is the high quality, high performance and high quality of Nike. What do we do? Sales planners then put their brains into advertisements. Soon a very distinctive and attractive advertising picture appeared. There are two "windows" in the heel of Nike shoes, through which people can see the Nike air cushion on the sole. This advertising painting has greatly attracted consumers and made them understand at a glance that Nike is superior to other sports shoes.
In the following two years, the sales of Nike quadrupled. By the end of 1970s, Nike had nearly 65,438+000 researchers, many of whom had degrees in biology, chemistry, experimental biology, engineering technology, industrial design, chemistry and various related fields. This powerful research force has developed 140 products with different styles, many of which are the most novel and technologically advanced in the market. These styles are designed according to different foot types, weights, running speeds, training plans, gender and different technical levels. These products with different styles, different prices and diverse uses have attracted thousands of runners, making them feel that Nike is the most comprehensive running shoe manufacturer, and millions of runners of all types and abilities have this idea. Relying on the never-ending corporate philosophy, by 1979, Nike had achieved 33% market share by planning the launch of new products and vigorously promoting them, and finally squeezed into the "iron triangle" originally built by Adidas, Puma and Tiger, becoming a sales star. By 198 1, its market share even reached 50%, far ahead of Adidas, and Knight himself ran into Forbes magazine's dream list of the 400 richest people in the United States.
"Sports, expression and free and easy sportsmanship" is the personalized corporate culture pursued by Nike. This distinctive corporate culture is a corporate image that opposes traditional ideas. Nike is a pioneering company with adventurous spirit. Just where their lush Oregon company is located, a well-designed culture has been cultivated. A senior manager of Nike once recalled: "It was like working in an environment full of brotherhood. Colleagues drink happily together, talk endlessly about sports, and claim to be positive and anti-traditional people. " Every six months, Knight's management team meets to discuss strategy. This noisy party is called tit for tat.
Knight always encourages confrontation, even confrontation. Like everyone else, he accepts loud accusations from others. The location of Nike enterprise, just like campus, has forests, jogging tracks, lakes and football fields. Knight hopes to create a peaceful working environment. He thinks that the world is chaotic enough, and working hours should be as free as at home. Even in Nike's famous advertising strategy, it has shown its unique vitality. Nike is looking for different types of athletes from Adidas. They are maverick, strong-willed, grumpy and aggressive. For example, tennis star mcenroe is always seen losing his temper on the tennis court and arguing with the authorities. There is also tennis star Agassi, who has a beard and unkempt long hair, and cut jeans short as tennis pants, which has become a characteristic product of Nike. With these big-name sports stars doing live advertisements, Nike sports shoes have become not only sports shoes, but also idols and social status symbols.
From 65438 to 0984, Nike began to re-establish its image with the strategy of advertising spokesperson. He signed a five-year contract with Jordan, and the conditions for Jordan also included giving shares to Nike and using Jordan's name on Nike sneakers with unprecedented courtesy. Almost everyone thinks that this is a fool, just a spokesperson. But Knight insisted on doing so, and Jordan's influence on Nike was enormous. Jordan embodies vitality, prestige, superb competitive level and exciting sportsmanship, and his weight exceeds any ideal symbol of Nike. With the help of Jordan, Nike founded a new brand "AirJordon", producing colorful basketball shoes and matching clothes. "Tengfei Jordan" is not only a successful advertising campaign, but also a victory in the brand war. The first year's sales amounted to 1 100 million USD. When Jordan first put on this kind of sports shoes, it was banned by NBA officials, who thought it violated the dress code of the league. Nike keenly felt that this was a good opportunity for public relations activities, so it launched an advertising support campaign, claiming that "Tengfei Jordan" was banned because of its "revolutionary design". As a result, Nike and "Tengfei Jordan" became the headlines of countless newspapers, and the NBA was besieged. The incident ended in favor of Nike. Many people will think of advertising athletes, but the most successful one is Nate! There are also "justdoit" that countless people are familiar with. The protagonist of the first "Justdoit" advertisement is Clegg Blancho, a track and field athlete in a wheelchair, and the advertising slogan is anti-white people appearing on a black background. The slogan is not loud, but it has aroused the condemnation of a generation. It reminds people of an obese person who put off his weight-loss plan, a busy worker who was disturbed by other things, and all the people who dreamed of participating in sports but were interrupted by various affairs. It's as if Nike is urging people to exercise, take immediate action and realize it.