A sports and fitness company with assets exceeding $3 billion.
Growth record
/kloc-in the spring of 0/985, millions of American TV viewers saw an advertisement: a basketball quickly rolled to one end of the court, and a handsome young man waiting there wore colorful sports shoes, hooked the ball into his palm with his feet and began to move with the ball. At the same time, there was the harsh noise of the engine, and the roar of the engine became louder and louder, and the young man took off. Is the last 10 second of the advertisement Jordan's? Walking in the clouds? Even people who have never watched a basketball game will marvel at his superb skills. This advertisement not only proves that Jordan has special flying ability, but also implies that the shoes under his feet must be related to this.
In this advertisement, this amazing young man is the famous NBA sports star Michael? Jordan, are those sneakers under his feet famous brands? Nike? . Before retiring, Jordan sincerely lamented:? Phil. Nate and Nike turned me into a dream. ? Is Nate in there? Nike? Founder He turned a small company into a big group, pushing Jordan, who was once unknown, to the position of a giant star.
A failed athlete
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? As an ordinary young man, Knight is very familiar with sports brands such as Adidas and Puma. Unexpectedly, it was this ordinary young man who later created a new brand Nike, even surpassing Adidas' dominance in sports.
Knight has always liked sports, and almost all his high school papers are 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 a survey report that many famous athletes and ordinary athletes actually have the same goal: to beat Adidas and let more and more athletes wear Tiger, a high-quality and cheap running shoe made in Japan. After graduation, Nate decided to go to Japan to look for opportunities.
At the exhibition in Japan, Knight met the Japanese Tiger brand sports shoes manufacturer and claimed to be from the United States? Blue Ribbon Sports Company? Tiger brand just needed an agent to enter the American market, so it gave the agent to this fledgling boy.
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 it? Nike? The predecessor of.
Nike Huang Hui
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 will be launched soon? Nike? Named sports shoes, and designed a beautiful trademark. Nike, the famous A hook? The trademark is eye-catching and visually attractive. Sports goods such as sports shoes should have a sense of movement, which symbolizes strength and speed.
For publicity, the Knights personally printed Nike T-shirts and distributed them to the venues before 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. In addition, so far, American shoe manufacturers have produced
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. Two in the heels of Nike shoes? A window? , people through? A window? You can see 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 next two years, Nike? After that, the company's sales quadrupled immediately. 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 new products to go on the market and vigorously promoting them, and finally squeezed into the original products created by Adidas, Puma and Tigers. Iron triangle? Become a sales star. By 198 1, its market share even reached 50%, far ahead of Adidas, and Knight himself ran into Forbes magazine's coveted list of 400 Americans.
Nike culture
? Sports, performance, free and easy sportsmanship? It is the personalized corporate culture pursued by Nike. This unique corporate culture, an anti-traditional corporate image,
Nike is a pioneer company with 1 adventurous spirit. It has cultivated a well-designed culture in their verdant Oregon company. 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 figures. ? Every six months, Knight's management team meets to discuss strategy. What is the purpose of this noisy party? Really? Famous.
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 and grumpy, 1 offensive. 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. Nike created a new brand with Jordan? Tengfei Jordan? (Air Jordon), which produces colorful basketball shoes and matching clothes. ? Tengfei Jordan? It is not only a successful advertising war, but also a victory of brand war. The first year's sales amounted to $654.38 billion. 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 is keenly aware that this is a good opportunity to carry out public relations activities, so it launched an advertising solidarity, claiming that? Tengfei Jordan? Because it's banned? Revolutionary design? . So Nike and? Tengfei Jordan? On the cover headlines of countless newspapers, 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!
The one that countless people know about? That's it? , the first one? That's it? The hero of the advertisement is track and field athlete Clegg in a wheelchair? Brown Hugh, the advertising slogan is black and white. 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.
Secret of success
Business strategy of skillfully using stars as models.
Admire? Care and share? People-oriented management concept.