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Nike Presentation
Zachary Bromert
February 26/27th
Topics
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Company & Job Description
Career Path
Hard and Soft Skills
Examples of Work
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Words of Wisdom
The Company
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NIKE, Inc. (NIKE), incorporated in 1968, is engaged in the design, development and worldwide
marketing of footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessory products. NIKE sells athletic
footwear and athletic apparel. It sells its products to retail accounts, through NIKE-owned retail,
including stores and Internet sales, and through a mix of independent distributors and
licensees, in over 180 countries around the world. Its products include running, training,
basketball, soccer, sport-inspired urban shoes, and children’s shoes. It also markets shoes
designed for aquatic activities, baseball, bicycling, cheerleading, football, golf, lacrosse,
outdoor activities, skateboarding, tennis, volleyball, walking, wrestling, and other athletic and
recreational uses. On March 3, 2008, the Company acquired Umbro Ltd. (Umbro), which
designs, distributes, and licenses athletic and casual footwear, apparel and equipment,
primarily for the sport of soccer, under the Umbro trademarks. On April 17, 2008, it completed
the sale of its Bauer Hockey subsidiary.
Nike's athletic footwear products are designed primarily for specific athletic use, although a
large percentage of the products are worn for casual or leisure purposes. The Company sells
sports apparel and accessories covering most of it product categories, which includes sportsinspired lifestyle apparel, as well as athletic bags and accessory items. It markets footwear,
apparel and accessories in collections of similar design or for specific purposes. It also markets
apparel with licensed college and professional team, and league logos.
NIKE sells a line of performance equipment under the NIKE brand name, including bags,
socks, sport balls, eyewear, timepieces, electronic devices, bats, gloves, protective equipment,
golf clubs, and other equipment designed for sports activities. It also has agreements for
licensees to produce and sell NIKE brand swimwear, team sports apparel, training equipment,
children’s clothing, electronic devices, eyewear, golf accessories, and belts. The Company also
sells small amounts of various plastic products to other manufacturers through its wholly owned
subsidiary, NIKE IHM, Inc
LY we ended at $18 Billion.
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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 was constantly seeking ways to give his athletes a competitive advantage. He
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, while Bowerman began ripping apart Tiger shoes to see
how he could make them lighter and better, and enlisted his
University of Oregon runners to wear-test his creations. 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.
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He created the first product brochures, print ads and marketing materials, and even shot the photographs for
the company’s catalogues. Johnson established a mail-order system, opened the first BRS retail store (located
in Santa Monica, Calif.) and managed shipping/receiving. 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.
They 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, in time for the U.S. Track & Field Trials, which were held in Eugene, Ore.
One particular pair of shoes made a very different impression – literally – on the dozen or so runners who tried
them. They featured a new innovation that Bowerman drew from his wife’s waffle iron – an outsole that had
waffle-type nubs for traction but were lighter than traditional training shoes.
With a new logo, a new name and a new design innovation, what BRS now needed was an athlete to endorse
and elevate the new Nike line. Fittingly for the company founded by Oregonians, they found such a young man
from the small coastal town of Coos Bay, Ore. His name: Steve Prefontaine.
Prefontaine electrified the packed stands of Oregon’s Hayward Field during his college career from 1969 to
1973. He never lost any race at his home track over the one-mile distance, and quickly gained national
exposure thanks to cover stories on magazines like Sports Illustrated and his fourth-place finish in 1972 in
the 5,000m in Munich.
Pre challenged Bowerman, Johnson and BRS in general to stretch their creative talents. In turn, he became a
powerful ambassador for BRS and Nike after he graduated from Oregon, making numerous appearances on
behalf of BRS and sending pairs of Nike shoes to prospective runners along with personal notes of
encouragement.
His tragic death at age 24 in 1975 cut short what many believed would have been an unparalleled career in
track – at the time of his death, he held American records in seven distances from 2,000m to 10,000m. But
Prefontaine’s fiery spirit lives on within Nike; Knight has often said that Pre is the “soul of Nike.”
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Nike entered the 1980s on a roll, thanks to the successful launch of Nike Air technology in the
Tailwind running shoe in 1979. By the end of 1980, Nike completed its IPO and became a
publicly traded company. This began a period of transition, where several of Nike’s early
pioneers decided to move on to other pursuits. Even Phil Knight stepped down as president for
more than a year in 1983-1984, although he remained the chairman of the board and CEO.
By the mid-1980s, Nike had slipped from its position as the industry leader, in part because
the company had badly miscalculated on the aerobics boom, giving upstart competitors an
almost completely open field to develop the business. Fortunately, the debut of a new signature
shoe for an NBA rookie by the name of Michael Jordan in 1985 helped bolster Nike’s bottom
line.
In 1987, Nike readied a major product and marketing campaign designed to regain the industry
lead and differentiate Nike from its competitors. The focal point was the Air Max, the first Nike
footwear to feature Nike Air bags that were visible. The campaign was supported by a
memorable TV ad whose soundtrack was the original Beatles’ recording of ‘Revolution.’
A year later, Nike built on its momentum from the ‘Revolution’ campaign by launching a broad
yet empowering series of ads with the tagline “Just do it.” The series included three ads with a
young two-sport athlete named Bo Jackson, who espoused the benefits of a new crosstraining shoe.
In 1989, Nike’s cross-training business exploded, thanks in part to the incredibly popular “Bo
Knows” ad campaign. By the end of the decade, Nike had regained its position as the industry
leader, the first and only time a company in the athletic footwear/apparel industry has
accomplished such a feat. Nike has never relinquished that position again.
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Buoyed by a series of successful product launches and marketing campaigns, Nike entered the
1990s by christening its beautiful world headquarters in suburban Portland, Oregon. In
November of 1990, Portland became the first home to a new retail-as-theatre experience called
Niketown, which would earn numerous architectural design and retail awards and spawn more
than a dozen other Niketown locations around the USA and internationally.
While Nike had designed footwear and apparel for golf and soccer for a number of years, the
mid-1990s signaled a deepening commitment to truly excel in these sports. In 1994, Nike
signed several individual players from what would be the World Cup-winning Brazilian
National Team. In 1995, Nike signed the entire team, and began designing the team’s
distinctive uniform. Nike also signed the US men’s and women’s national soccer teams, as
well as dozens of national teams around the world.
In 1996, Nike Golf landed a vastly talented but as-yet-unproven young golfer named Eldrick
“Tiger” Woods for a reported $5 million per year. Competitors laughed and critics howled at
Nike’s ‘folly,’ until Tiger won the 1997 Masters by a record 12 strokes. No one is laughing now.
Nike also began investing in the sport of cycling, including a promising young cyclist who
appeared to be on his way to success until he was diagnosed with cancer. He lost most of his
sponsors, but Nike elected to stay with him. In 1999, Lance Armstrong’s incredible comeback
resulted in the first of what would be seven consecutive Tour de France titles.
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Nike rang in the new millennium with a new footwear cushioning system called
Nike Shox, which debuted during Sydney in 2000. The development of Nike Shox
culminated more than 15 years of perseverance and dedication, as Nike designers
stuck with their idea until technology could catch up. The result was a cushioning
and stability system worthy of joining Nike Air as the industry’s gold standard.
Just as Nike’s products have evolved, so has Nike’s approach to marketing. The
2002 “Secret Tournament” campaign was Nike’s first truly integrated, global
marketing effort. Departing from the traditional “big athlete, big ad, big product”
formula, Nike created a multi-faceted consumer experience in support of the
World Cup.
“Secret Tournament” incorporated advertising, the Internet, public relations, retail
and consumer events to create excitement for Nike’s soccer products and athletes
in a way no single ad could ever achieve. This new integrated approach has
become the cornerstone for Nike marketing and communications.
Today, Nike continues to seek new and innovative ways to develop superior
athletic products, and creative methods to communicate directly with our
consumers. Nike Free, Nike+ and Nike Sphere are just three examples of this
approach.
Current Job Description
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Senior Product Line Manager, Core Performance Division-Nike Running
Manage the Global Footwear Product Line of Nike Running from $75 and
under.
Have a place on the Innovation Steering committee for new product
innovation
Drive our Closer to Consumer initiative which strives to move our product
closer to market
Write the strategic plan which includes consumer silo definitions,
marketplace mapping, analysis of our competition, and creation of our
product strategy.
Manage a Associate PLM who oversees the Women’s Running business.
Integrate with our Inline running partners to make sure we have a
cohesive running line as we Got To Market.
Hard & Soft Skills
Hard skills:
 Besides the obvious market knowledge the business sides of things is very important,
i.e. the financial side of things. I use mostly excel to analyze unit/seasonal forecast,
model profitability, and regional breakdown. Creating great product is only half of it, we
also need to be profitable.
Soft Skills:
 How you handle yourself in a professional manner is crucial. Be yourself but take your
job seriously.
 Meeting etiquette, treat others as you would like to be treated.
 How you handle success is as important as a defeat or a mistake.
 Communication: Interpersonal, Electronic, informal, and formal communication are all
included here. Actively listen. If you listen twice as much as you speak your words will
mean more.
 Know who you are working with, i.e. color insights.
Red= Be brief. Be bright. Be gone. Obey me
Yellow= involve me. Party, more margaritas.
Blue= give me details. Organize.
Green= show me you care. “I have muffins do you want some.” Hugs
Marketing Process
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Strategic Plan: This is where we do the homework and analysis of the marketplace, the competition, and the
Consumer. The focus will range from global to local in it’s scope. We will try and focus on our industry, but make
note of any major or minor changes in the product around us. On the financial side we will break down our history,
identify any trends, and build a strategy against it.
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3 Year Plan: This is where the data helps support a plan that leads us to a medium or long term goal. The goal will
obviously be put the stake in the sand, and show how we will get there. The plan should show a progression of
what steps we will take to get there.
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Current year plan: This plan manages the current year, and day to day look at what seasons and projects we are
currently juggling.
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Seasonal Line Plan: This displays a more focused look at a particular season in the calendar year. It will be
highlighted by a “theme” with a model plan lined up against it. The product creation or design theme will be used
as a filter to focus our efforts.
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Model Briefs: This is a document that shows a laser focus on a specific opportunity, performance problem,
consumer, region, and how it should look at to retail.
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Product design: Depending on the medium this will be anywhere from napkin sketches to illustrator files of the
vision for the project. We will deliberate on what the consumer will need and start to focus our efforts. This will
evolve from 2D into 3D designs and parts which help our team to make more informed decisions.
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Color and Materials are applied, which is a critical aspect of product creation. These 2 things are major factors in
the decision making.
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Process checkpoints: We have multiple sessions with our regional and merchandising partners to make sure we
have enough of the most relevant product from consumers within their regions.
Resume/Interview Advice
 Resume-Try to keep it to 1 page
Interviews
 Don’t try and BS if you don’t know the answer
 Answer the question and stop talking.
 Make and keep eye contact
 Make it Personal
 Show and bring tangible examples of your
work
 Sell Yourself
Words of Wisdom
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Work Smart and Hard
Multi-tasking and Organization is key.
Attitude, be an energy giver.
Team Player vs. ladder climber. Results = Buzz.
Get Real world Experience
Be realistic. Keep your head in the clouds but your feet on the
ground.
You create your own luck and Opportunities.
Face to face conversations and phone calls are always more
impactful than a text or email. Put the Blackberry down.
Be Prepared.
Stay Focused.
Have a nice work and life balance.
Don’t let the past define you.