Mission statement

Nike's mission is:

"To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete."

Company history

Nike was originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports, founded in 1964 by Phillip Knight, a University of Oregon track athlete, and his coach Bill Bowerman. Initially the company operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger and most of their sales were made at track meets out of Knight’s car. Company profits grew rapidly, and in 1966, Blue Ribbon opened their first retail store, located in Santa Monica, California.

By 1971 the relationship between Onitsuka and Blue Ribbon Sports was drawing to an end, so BRS prepared to launch its own footwear line, which would bear the newly designed Swoosh logo by Carolyn Davidson. They released their first shoe with the Swoosh logo in the summer of 1971, a soccer shoe named “Nike”.  In 1972, BRS released their first line of Nike shoes, where Nike was derived from the Greek Goddess of Victory. It was in 1978 that Blue Ribbon Sports officially renamed to Nike, Inc.

By 1980, Nike had achieved a 50% market share in United States athletic shoe market. Its growth was largely due to ‘word-of-foot’ advertising rather than television commercials. Throughout the 1980’s Nike expanded its range of products to include many other sport equipment lines and various types of clothing, distributing its products around the world.

 

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Geography and products

Headquarters: Washington County, Oregon, United States

At present, Nike has seven distribution centres around the world, which are located in countries such as Belgium, the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Recently Nike announced plans to build the biggest Asian distribution centre in Taicang city, Jiangsu province in order to further expand its market in China. The centre will have a total area of 120,000 square meters and first-stage construction will be used for sorting out, distributing and dispatching shoes, apparel and equipment.  

Hi-res logo

Logo

The Nike “Swoosh” logo was created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State University. Carolyn met with Phil Knight (Co-founder of Nike) to do some freelance work for his company, which at the time was known as Blue Ribbon Sports (RBS). The company needed a new brand for a new line of footwear it planned to release n 1972, so Knight approached Davidson for some design idea. Carolyn presented a number of design ideas to Knight and other executives at BRS, and they chose the mark which is now globally recognized as the “Swoosh”. The logo represents the wing of the Greek Goddess of Victory from which the name Nike was derived.

Trademarks

Cole Haan

Cole Haan is one of America’s leading luxury brands, offering high-quality men’s and women’s footwear, accessories and outerwear. Cole Haan operates more than 180 retail locations throughout the United States, Canada, the Middle East and Asia. Cole Haan is headquartered in New York City and Yarmouth, Maine and realized $518 million in sales in fiscal 2011.

Converse Inc.

Converse, Inc., established in 1908 and based in North Andover, Massachusetts, has built a reputation as “America’s Original Sports Company”™ and has been associated with a rich heritage of legendary shoes such as the Chuck Taylor® All Star® shoe, the Jack Purcell® shoe and the One Star® shoe. Today, Converse offers a diverse portfolio including premium lifestyle men's and women's footwear and apparel. Converse products are sold globally by retailers in over 160 countries and through more than 50 company-owned retail locations. Converse realized $1.1 billion in reported revenue in fiscal 2011.

Hurley International LLC

Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Hurley International LLC designs and distributes a line of action sports apparel for surfing, skateboarding and youth lifestyle apparel and footwear under the Hurley brand name. Hurley realized $252 million in reported revenue in fiscal 2011.

NIKE Golf

Located at NIKE’s World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike Golf designs and markets golf equipment, apparel, balls, footwear, bags and accessories worldwide. Nike Golf realized $623 million in reported revenue in fiscal 2011.

Umbro Ltd.

Founded in 1924 and headquartered in Manchester, England. Umbro, Ltd. designs, distributes, and licenses athletic and casual footwear, apparel and equipment, primarily for soccer. Umbro Ltd. has been associated with soccer since the 1930s and its relationship with leading national teams and professional clubs includes exclusive endorsements and distribution rights for playing kit, apparel and equipment, including playing and training kits for England’s National Team. Umbro realized $224 million in sales in fiscal 2011.

Strapline

Nike has been using the slogan 'Just Do It.' since 1998. The phrase was coined by Dan Wieden, the co-founder of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy.

Advertising

Nike focus much of their advertising on football as they have a large range of football clothing and equipment. The advert below features several of the world's best and most famous faces in the football world.

Tiger Woods is the most famous name in golf at present, and Nike hold a huge sponsorship deal with him. Following all the media surrounding his personal life, Nike released a controversial TV ad in which his deceased father's voice is featured.

Sponsorships

A key marketing tool for Nike is that of athlete sponsorships. From a range of different sports, Nike pays top athletes to use their products in order to promote and advertise them through various media. Nike started their sponsorships with Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase, and their first track endorser was Steve Prefontaine, a distance runner. Prefontaine was the prized pupil of the Nike’s (or then, Blue Ribbon Sports) co-founder Bill bowerman whilst he coached at the University of Oregon.

Other than Prefontaine, Nike has sponsored Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Sebastian Coe, several famous track and field athletes. It was in 1984, when Michael Jordan was signed, that Nike’s publicity and sales really boomed. Michael’s storied career with Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon promoted Nike’s products to the public, with Jordan’s own line and the well known ‘Air Jordans’ creating a large revenue for Nike.   

Over the last 20 years in particular, Nike has been a leader in clothing and footwear sponsorship for top tennis players, such as James Blake, Jim Courier, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams to name a few. Nike is also the official kit sponsor for the Indian cricket team for a duration of 5 years, running until the end of 2010. Nike also sponsors some of the leaders in football, such as Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands and the US national teams, Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Shakhtar, Porto, Steau, Red Star, Boca Juniors, Corinthians, Club America, Aston Villa, Celtic and PSV Eindhoven.

Nike has a huge sponsorship deal with Tiger Woods, as well as Trevor Immelman and Paul Casey, three of the world’s top golf players.  

Key people

Philip H. Knight - Chairman and Co-founder

 

Mark Parker - CEO & President