History of Nike

Bill Bowerman

Bill Bowerman is a very successful track coach in the University of Oregon who has a very inventive and creative mind. During the 1950s, he experimented on how to make his competitors faster. When the energy drinks and the running surface were not enough, he turned to inventing the first lightweight shoes. He used a waffle soul which is now the standards for any running shoes.

Phil Knight

Phil Knight is one of the athletes that Bowerman coached. He is very passionate in performance shoes. He teamed up with Bowerman and distributed the tiger shoes during the 1960s. This partnership became the forerunner of Nike. It was in 1964 when the first supplies of Nike shoes were peddled from the trunk of Knight’s car.

Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson is also a runner. It was in the 1970s when his era in the Nike Empire began. He was Nike’s first full-time employee. He set up the first mall order of Nike and he established the first retail store for Nike. He also designed some of the shoes of Nike. He also came up with the Blue Ribbon in 1971. This is a tribute to the Greek goddess of victory.

Swoosh

The “swoosh” became very famous back in 1972. The “swoosh” logo was designed by a student in the University of Oregon named Carolyn Davidson. Back then, the company was still small, so she designed and sold it to the company for $35. Now, the logo is among the top five logos in the whole world. Their main model for the shoes was Steve Prefontaine. He was one of the best athletes in the University of Oregon. He was the face of the “new Nike” for the entire 1970s until he died in a car accident when he was still 24 years old.

Celebrity

The debut celebrity endorsement of Nike was back in the 1980s. The first most successful celebrity endorsement for Nike was a young basketball player named Michael Jordan. The Air Max campaign was the pioneer campaign back in 1987, and then it was followed by “Just Do It” which featured Bo Jackson. After that the “Bo Knows” campaign followed back in 1989. These campaigns were very successful to the point that the rising shoe company became one of the leading companies in 1980s.

Diversity

During the 1990s, the brand was focused of expansions. They started catering shoes for other forms of sports like soccer, golf and many more. Before the decade ended, a lot of soccer teams were endorsing Nike, Tiger Woods endorsed Nike, and Lance Armstrong Endorsed Nike and the Cycling sports to the mainstream.

Nike Now

At present, Nike is not just about the celebrity who endorsed it , but is more on the technology behind the shoes. This includes the Nike Shox that was researched for 15 years, the NikeID were you can customize your own shoes, and the Nike+ the largest club in the world.