Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement) Nike Inc.

Before there was the Swoosh, before there was Nike, there were two visionary men who pioneered a revolution in athletic footwear that redefined the industry.

Bill Bowerman was a nationally respected track and field coach at the University of Oregon, who experimented with different track surfaces, re-hydration drinks and – most importantly – innovations in running shoes. But the established footwear manufacturers of the 1950s ignored the ideas he tried to offer them, so Bowerman began cobbling shoes for his runners.

Phil Knight was a talented middle-distance runner from Portland, who enrolled at Oregon in the fall of 1955 and competed for Bowerman’s track program. Upon graduating from Oregon, Knight earned his MBA in finance from Stanford University, where he wrote a paper that proposed quality running shoes could be manufactured in Japan that would compete with more established German brands. But his letters to manufacturers in Japan and Asia went unanswered, so Knight took a chance. 

He made a cold-call on the Onitsuka Co. in Kobe, Japan, and persuaded the manufacturer of Tiger shoes to make Knight a distributor of Tiger running shoes in the United States. When the first set of sample shoes arrived, Knight sent several pairs to Bowerman, hoping to make a sale. Instead, Bowerman stunned Knight by offering to become his partner, and to provide his footwear design ideas to Tiger.

They shook hands to form Blue Ribbon Sports, pledged $500 each and placed their first order of 300 pairs of shoes in January 1964. Knight sold the shoes out of the trunk of his green Plymouth Valiant. In essence, the foundation for what would become Nike had been established.

But Bowerman and Knight each had full-time jobs - Bowerman at Oregon and Knight at a Portland accounting firm - so they needed someone to manage the growing requirements of Blue Ribbon Sports. Enter Jeff Johnson, whom Knight had met at Stanford. A runner himself, Johnson became the first full-time employee of Blue Ribbon Sports in 1965, and quickly became an invaluable utility man for the start-up company.

Johnson created the first product brochures, print ads and marketing materials, and even shot the photographs for the company’s catalogues. He also designed several early Nike shoes, and even conjured up the name Nike in 1971. Around this same time, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka was falling apart. Knight and Bowerman were ready to make the jump from being a footwear distributor to designing and manufacturing their own brand of athletic shoes, and went and selected a brand mark today known internationally as the “Swoosh,” which was created by a graphic design student at Portland State University named Carolyn Davidson. The new Nike line of footwear debuted in 1972, and the rest is history from there....... 

Overall, Nike is an innovative, top flight incorporation that caters to any type of athlete, and any type of person. Not only does it cater to athletes everywhere but also to an everyday person. They represent and make products for professional sports leagues, most notably the NBA and ownership of the Licensing Rights to the NFL for the next 10 years.

As President and CEO Mark Parker once  said: “At NIKE, Inc. we run a complete offense, and it’s based on a core commitment to innovation. That’s how we stay opportunistic, serve the athlete, reward our shareholders, and continue to lead our industry.” Nike as a power in the merchandise in sports market have a simply put, concise mission statement that reads : "Our Mission: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world."  The asterisk meaning, as said by founder Bill Bowerman: "If you have a body, you are an athlete."