sanaa
Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
ADVERTISER OF THE YEAR
In June 2003, Phil Knight (Knight), the founder and CEO of Nike Inc., (Nike), received the "Advertiser of the Year" award, at the 50th Cannes International Advertising Festival, one of the major annual advertising events in the world. It was a historical moment because Knight was the first person to win the award twice (He had received the award in 1994 also).
speaking on the occasion, Knight said, "It's the most prestigious award in the world advertising industry and I feel pretty good about it. Especially, winning it for the second time. It is a huge honor for the company. Analysts said that Nike had come a long way since it began operations in the 1960s."
In the early years of the business, Knight did not believe in advertising or marketing. He preferred instead, to rely on word-of-mouth publicity among athletes. This served Nike well enough for some years. However, in the late-1980s, Nike was overtaken in sales by competitor Reebok , which introduced training shoes designed specially for women (who had become more fitness conscious by that time). In a bid to recapture market share, Nike introduced several new models of shoes designed for different sports.
In addition to introducing new shoes, Knight also realized the importance of marketing and began to set aside a significant part of corporate revenues for advertising and marketing.
By the 1990s, Nike was one of the best advertisers in the world, Nike was well known for its unique soulful advertisements (ads), which, analysts said, appealed to viewers' emotions rather than their rationality.
Most of the ads featured celebrities from different sporting areas. The company was also attuned to the tastes and sensibilities of the public and tried to create ads that would appeal to the maximum number of people. In 2003, Nike was the market leader in sports goods and one of the most popular brands in the world.
The company's logo, the 'swoosh' was thought to be one of the best logos ever designed and had a high degree of recall value. Analysts said that the recognition of the 'swoosh' rivaled the recognition levels of the Stars and Stripes of the American Flag or the Golden Arches logo of McDonalds .
The future co-founders of Nike met in 1957, when Knight was an undergraduate student and middle-distance athlete at the University of Oregon (which was known for having the best track program in the country) and Bill Bowerman (Bowerman), the athletics coach. In the early 1960s, when Knight was doing his MBA at Stanford University, he submitted his marketing research dissertation on the US shoe manufacturing industry. His assertion was that low cost, high quality running shoes could be imported from labor-rich Asian countries like Japan and sold in the US to end Germany's domination in the industry.
BACKGROUND
In 1962, while on a world tour, Knight met the management of the Onitsuka Company (Onitsuka) of Japan, which manufactured high quality athletic shoes under the brand name 'Tiger'. He arranged for these shoes to be imported to the US for sale under the name 'Blue Ribbon Shoes' (BRS) (A name he thought up when the management of Onitsuka asked him about which company he represented. BRS became the forerunner of Nike). In late 1963, Knight received his first shipment of 200 Tiger shoes. In 1964, Knight and Bowerman formed a partnership, with each of them contributing $500 and BRS formally came into being. Knight did not have the money to do any formal advertising for his products. Instead, he crafted his 'grassroots' philosophy of selling shoes. He believed in going out to the athletes who constituted his main market, to sell his shoes. The first shoes were sold from the basement of Knight's house and the backs of trucks and cars at local track events. The athletes who wore the shoes were asked for feedback to improve future shoe designs. By the end of 1964, BRS had sold 1300 pairs of shoes with $8000 in revenues.
In June 2003, Phil Knight (Knight), the founder and CEO of Nike Inc., (Nike), received the "Advertiser of the Year" award, at the 50th Cannes International Advertising Festival, one of the major annual advertising events in the world. It was a historical moment because Knight was the first person to win the award twice (He had received the award in 1994 also).
speaking on the occasion, Knight said, "It's the most prestigious award in the world advertising industry and I feel pretty good about it. Especially, winning it for the second time. It is a huge honor for the company. Analysts said that Nike had come a long way since it began operations in the 1960s."
In the early years of the business, Knight did not believe in advertising or marketing. He preferred instead, to rely on word-of-mouth publicity among athletes. This served Nike well enough for some years. However, in the late-1980s, Nike was overtaken in sales by competitor Reebok , which introduced training shoes designed specially for women (who had become more fitness conscious by that time). In a bid to recapture market share, Nike introduced several new models of shoes designed for different sports.
In addition to introducing new shoes, Knight also realized the importance of marketing and began to set aside a significant part of corporate revenues for advertising and marketing.
By the 1990s, Nike was one of the best advertisers in the world, Nike was well known for its unique soulful advertisements (ads), which, analysts said, appealed to viewers' emotions rather than their rationality.
Most of the ads featured celebrities from different sporting areas. The company was also attuned to the tastes and sensibilities of the public and tried to create ads that would appeal to the maximum number of people. In 2003, Nike was the market leader in sports goods and one of the most popular brands in the world.
The company's logo, the 'swoosh' was thought to be one of the best logos ever designed and had a high degree of recall value. Analysts said that the recognition of the 'swoosh' rivaled the recognition levels of the Stars and Stripes of the American Flag or the Golden Arches logo of McDonalds .
The future co-founders of Nike met in 1957, when Knight was an undergraduate student and middle-distance athlete at the University of Oregon (which was known for having the best track program in the country) and Bill Bowerman (Bowerman), the athletics coach. In the early 1960s, when Knight was doing his MBA at Stanford University, he submitted his marketing research dissertation on the US shoe manufacturing industry. His assertion was that low cost, high quality running shoes could be imported from labor-rich Asian countries like Japan and sold in the US to end Germany's domination in the industry.
BACKGROUND
In 1962, while on a world tour, Knight met the management of the Onitsuka Company (Onitsuka) of Japan, which manufactured high quality athletic shoes under the brand name 'Tiger'. He arranged for these shoes to be imported to the US for sale under the name 'Blue Ribbon Shoes' (BRS) (A name he thought up when the management of Onitsuka asked him about which company he represented. BRS became the forerunner of Nike). In late 1963, Knight received his first shipment of 200 Tiger shoes. In 1964, Knight and Bowerman formed a partnership, with each of them contributing $500 and BRS formally came into being. Knight did not have the money to do any formal advertising for his products. Instead, he crafted his 'grassroots' philosophy of selling shoes. He believed in going out to the athletes who constituted his main market, to sell his shoes. The first shoes were sold from the basement of Knight's house and the backs of trucks and cars at local track events. The athletes who wore the shoes were asked for feedback to improve future shoe designs. By the end of 1964, BRS had sold 1300 pairs of shoes with $8000 in revenues.