Nike is one name that any sports lover in the world would instantly recognize. This brand has been so famous for all these years that there must be seldom a corner present in the world where it is not known. The company’s headquarters is located near Beaverton, Oregon in the United States of Ameica. The company is considered the world’s top supplier of athletic shoes, as well as apparels. The brand’s revenue has been hovering around the USD 20 billion mark in the recent few years. More than 30,000 people globally are employed with the company.
The company was founded by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight. It was then known as ‘Blue Ribbon Sports’, when it started its operations on January 25, 1964. The company got its present name Nike only in 1978. The name has been inspired from the name of the Greek Goddess of victory. The company markets its products both under its own brand name, as well as several other subsidiaries. Some of the well known subsidiaries of the company include Converse, Umbro, Hurley International and Cole Haan. Niketown is the name of the retail outlets the company operates in several parts of the world. Several leading athletes have endorsed the brand’s products. One of the most famous sports personalities who has been associated with the brand is basketball superstar Michael Jordan.
When the company initially started its operations it was a distributor for a Japanese shoemaker by the name Onitsuka Tiger. It was in 1966 that the company opened its first retail store in Santa Monica in California. It was in 1971 that it decided to launch its own product line. It was in the same year that the first shoe named Nike was released. It was the beginning of one of the most successful brands of all time. One of the earliest well known sports personalities to sign up with the brand for endorsement was Ilie Nastase.
By the early 1980s the company had become the leading shoe maker in the United States. It was during this time that the company also started an aggressive promotional campaign on television. The advertising commercials of the company became hugely successful and were contributing factors for the company’s rapid rise to fame. It was in 1988 that the famous slogan of the company’ Just do it’ was coined. The slogan was coined by the co-founder of Widen+Kennedy agency which designed the company’s commercials, Dan Wieden. The slogan has been rated as being one of the top five ad slogans of the twentieth century by none other than the Advertising Age magazine.
It was also in the 1980s that the company began to rapidly expand its product range. It also began to spread its wings to other parts of the world. It now produces and sells a wide range of products including sports shoes and apparels. Some of the sports that it serves include, basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, baseball, cycling, volleyball, auto racing association football and skateboarding, to mention only a few. The Nike brand name is today considered among the topmost in the world.