Why is Nike so Successful? Nike History | Nike Marketing Strategy

Why is Nike so successful? A company that has signed a lifetime contract with Ronaldo must have something up its sleeve to be successful. We will talk about what marketing strategy Nike follows to bring in so much business. Nike is a world-renowned shoe manufacturer that makes world-class shoes, especially for athletes around the globe. Let’s know about the history of Nike and how it captured a major portion of the market.

Nike's swoosh dominates the footwear industry. This undisputed field titan has risen through high-profile celebrity endorsement, sleek design concepts, and successful public relations campaigns. But LeBron James', Tiger Woods', and Michael Jordan's brands did not appear anywhere. To know about the present NIKE, it is necessary to first comprehend a story that originated with a self-described ordinary track runner straight out of college and a coach fixated on the relationship between speed and design.

Why is Nike so Successful? Nike History | Nike Marketing Strategy

History of Nike

The origins of Nike can be traced back to 1964, to Blue Ribbon Sports. Phil Knight had recently graduated from the University of Oregon, accompanied by a stint at Stanford for his MBA, having left him with two pivotal experiences that would shape his future.

He ran for the University of Oregon's track and field team, which introduced him to their mentor, Bill Bowerman. Aside from his intense competitiveness, Bowerman was obsessed with optimizing his runners' shoes, constantly experimenting with different designs after gaining knowledge from a local cobbler. Nike claims that Knight was the first freshman to try on one of Bowerman's shoes. Bowerman volunteered to take one of his shoes and fix them up with his specific design, seeing him as a safe-unimportant runner to test his shoes on. Knight accepted the offer, and the shoes allegedly performed so well that his team member Otis Davis took them and used them to win gold in the 400 m dash at the 1960 Olympics. Otis Davis still insists that Bowerman made the shoes for him.

After graduating from the University of Oregon, Knight attended Stanford's MBA program, where he wrote a paper proposing that the manufacturing of running shoes be relocated from Germany to Japan, where labor was cheaper. Knight had the opportunity to put this plan into motion with a trip to Japan right after graduating in 1962. He struck an agreement with a group of Japanese business owners to sell the country's popular Tiger shoes in the United States.

Coach Bowerman, who had long believed that German shoes, while the best on the market, were not too special to be recreated or even improved upon, backed Knight's venture, entering into a 50-50 business agreement for possession of their new company, Blue Ribbon Sports, which was founded on Jan. 25, 1964, in Eugene, Oregon. Knight started testing the waters for his imported shoes after founding Blue Ribbon Sports, initially selling them out of his vehicle when he returned to the United States. It quickly became clear that there was a market for these less expensive but still high-quality alternative options to the market's dominant Adidas (ADDYY) and Pumas (PUMSY). Bowerman, ever inventive, proposed an alternative shoe design to Tiger shoe company in 1965, one that sought to provide adequate support for athletes with a padded innersole, soft sponge neoprene in the forefoot and top of the heel, hard sponge rubber in the center of the heel, and a firm rubber outsole.

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