Post by Bijin Azeez

In 1964 Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman founded a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. 7 years later that company was rebranded as Nike. Nike being associated with the best players has undoubtedly fueled their tremendous growth. In 1984 Nike signed a sneaker deal with Michael Jordan. Nike's expectation for the deal was that by the end of year 4 they would sell $3m worth of Air Jordan's. In year 1 of the deal they sold $126m. In December 2019, Nike CEO said the Jordan Brand had earned its first ever $1bn quarter. The success of Michael Jordan's deal was an anomaly, but it proved to Nike that they could build brands around athletes in team sports, just as well if not better, than players in individual sports. #sports #nike #marketing