Phil Knight's Informative Speech

Nike is the world’s single largest producer of sporting wear, clothing, shoes and accessories. An Oregon based company founded in 1972 by Phillip H. Knight and William J. Bowerman. Nike’s broad range of products is the key to it’s success, it’s range includes Nike Skateboarding, Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike +, Nike Air Jordan and owns other big names such as surf brand Hurley; shoe manufacturer Cole Haan; and two large sports companies – Converse and Umbro. Having such huge sponsorship contracts with many of the world’s biggest athletes and sports teams, these huge profiles are simply another outlet for Nike to promote their products. Nike currently employs over 31,000 people

Phil Knight started a company that wasn’t even real just to make to build his real vision, which was the company Nike. After Knight graduated at Stanford he met with Bill Bowerman and they became business partners. His dad gave him a small amount of money to start his company that would later become Nike. Knight met with the company Onitsaku Tiger and told them that he wanted to sell their shoes at Blue Ribbon Sports, which wasn’t even a real company (Entrepreneur.) Knight and Bowerman began selling the shoes at high school track events across the state of Washington. After Phil Knight had made three million dollars he and Bowerman decided to cut ties with Onitsaku Tiger and started Nike. The company’s name came from the

Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan, are just a few of the big names that help to sell Nike products. The line of Air Jordan products has been hugely successful for Nike. The Jordan line of shoes and apparel has been extremely successful since it’s beginning. The products are very expensive but the demand allows for the high prices to bring profit. The competitors are now bringing in celebrity and athlete endorsements as well. In many different ways Nike sets the standard for athletic shoes and apparel.

Nike is now one of the biggest and most recognizable brands in the world is largely due to Phil Knight who transformed Nike into a global powerhouse, known both for its successes and its controversies. In the process he turned athletic footwear into fashion. In the article titled, "How Nike Turned Running Shoes into Fashion," the author talks about how Knight used marketing as a strategy to advertise the most practical of footwear, as fashion. Sneakers started as luxury items in the 1890s when the first rubber-soled athletic shoes debuted in the U.S.

Since the early days of its inception, Nike, Inc has stood out as one of the most dominant competitors in the athletic apparel and fashion industries. With a net worth of over $15.9 billion dollars and the title of most valuable brand in the sporting world, the brand has proven that it has no intention of slowing down in terms of success and innovation (Ozanian, 2018). This research paper will explore the brand, Nike’s, creation, evolution and growth and deduce why it has found such tremendous achievement within the last fifty four years (O'Reilly, 2018).

Nike which started out as Blue Ribbon Sports is today world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparels as well as manufacturer of sports goods. So, what makes Nike successful than others. “Nike raced ahead of the pack by exploiting its brand power to move from sports footwear into athletics clothing, turning itself into a symbol of fitness and well-being. It then went several steps further, positioning itself as an athletic lifestyle company which, by using celebrities such as the basketball star Michael Jordan and the golfer Tiger Woods to endorse its goods, enabled customers to identify with the lives of their sporting heroes. Today, the company offers innovative and stylish products, backed by marketing that combines traditional advertising with imaginative schemes to build basketball courts in inner cities and donate free Nike gear to high schools” (Larson, 2011, pp.4).

Nike, the world’s largest and leading innovator in athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment, is considered to be the quintessential global corporation. The company was founded in 1972 by Phil Knight, a former track star from the University of Oregon. Their company logo, “Just Do It”, has become one of the most recognizable marketing phrases throughout the world as well as their celebrity sponsors, which include Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, are also some of the most recognizable athletes. In 2006, Nike employed an estimated 650,000 people in 600 different factories scattered throughout the globe and had an annual revenue of

Phil started Nike all because of his interest in athletics. He wanted to improve the design of Tigers (Ribbon Sports, first shoes) and do more than sell shoes of other brands. Phil’s interest in athletics made him very successful. His small business of selling shoes in college turned into Nike one of the most popular sports brands today. In 1993 Phil Knight was voted “the most powerful person in sports”, what amazes me is that he isn’t even an athlete, or team manager, he is just a very popular icon for sports. It’s unbelieveable how an interest as simple as sports made Phil Knight the man he is today.

Nike’s company strategy is a clever one. One that founder Phil Knight thought of while still in school at Stanford. Instead of paying Americans to put together Nike’s shoes, Knight thought that it would be a better

Next, there is no other way about it, a large part of Nike’s success is based on the perception of the brand. As a manufacture of goods, Nike is dependent on customers buying its products. They need people that will purchase, and continue to buy Nike products over and over again. Not only do they need to worry about establishing brand loyalty, but they also need to focus on getting customers to choose Nike over the competition. By creating the image of Nike as the premier sporting goods brand, they empower their customers to feel like they are the premier athletes; Nike is selling more than a product, they are selling an image. (Gary Gonzalez. 2011)

Nike is a huge supplier if athletic shoes for the world these days. Philip H. Knight, the founder of this corporation came up with an idea of an athletic shoe at the track field of the University of Oregon.

The Nike Corporation originated from two sources, "Bill Bowerman's quest for lighter, more durable racing shoes for his Oregon runners, and Phil Knight's search for a way to make a living without having to give up his love of athletics" (Hincker 1). Their ideas and actions within Nike have radically changed the way sports, business, and popular cultures interact. This influence is seen best through the history of Nike's formation in its beginning years.

Let’s talk about Nike shoes, everyone here and there knows about Nike shoes right? Why everyone knows about Nike? What is the reason behind this? Well, everyone knows about Nike because Nike didn’t just provided good athletic shoe, Nike builds good customer relationship. In the late 1990s, Nike sales were dropping as creative work was dying. They were looking like every other sports equipment providing company. Right after that things turned around as Nike looked into their roots and focused on product innovation and developing good customer relationship. Like, Nike every outstanding marketing organization should focus

The brand name “Nike” is one of the most recognized around the globe. The name is synonymous with high-quality athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories in the minds of many people worldwide. Perhaps it is the compelling marketing that commands attention. Or maybe it is the association between the brand name and its famous endorsers, such as Tiger Woods and

Nike, Inc. Is involved in the design, enlargement and universal marketing and vending of footwear, equipment, attire, accessories and services. Nike has a solid worldwide brand which everybody will know by its logo. Due to the Powerful brand, the company can be seen as manipulative and insatiable, That is the biggest weakness of Nike , However The business could likewise be produced universally, expanding upon its solid worldwide brand identification and the product development offers Nike many opportunities (Friesner, 2014). Nike is threaded by presenting itself to