How A Failed Athlete Built NIKE | Hindi

Summary

This video recounts the inspiring journey of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. Initially a failed athlete, Knight started selling Japanese Tiger shoes from the trunk of his car. Partnering with coach Bill Bowerman, they created Blue Ribbon Sports, later rebranded as Nike. Despite challenges, including a betrayal by their Japanese supplier, they launched their own brand. With innovative marketing, including athlete endorsements, and a focus on quality and design, Nike grew into the world's largest sportswear brand. The story emphasizes perseverance, execution, and following one's passion.

Takeaways

• 👟 Nike is the world's largest sportswear brand, earning around thousand crore rupees every day.
• 🏃‍♂️ Phil Knight, Nike's founder, was a failed athlete who started his business selling shoes from the trunk of his car.
• 🎓 After realizing he couldn't become an elite athlete, Phil used his MBA research on Japanese shoes to start his business.
• 🇯🇵 Phil partnered with Onitsuka, a Japanese company, to import Tiger shoes to the USA, initially operating under the name Blue Ribbon Sports.
• 🤝 Phil's college coach, Bill Bowerman, became his 50% business partner, contributing his expertise in shoe design.
• 🚗 Phil sold the shoes directly from his car at athletic events, quickly gaining popularity among athletes.
• 💰 Despite initial financial struggles and needing loans, Blue Ribbon Sports grew, eventually rebranding as Nike.
• ✔️ The Nike logo, inspired by a thick check mark, was created by a graphic design student for $35.
• 🏅 The brand name 'Nike' was inspired by the Greek goddess of victory and suggested by an early employee.
• 🏀 Nike's innovative marketing, including athlete endorsements like Michael Jordan, helped it become a global leader in sportswear.

Q & A

Who is Nike's founder and what was his initial career ambition?

Nike's founder is Phil Knight, who initially aimed to become a great athlete, particularly excelling in running.

What was the turning point for Phil Knight that led him to start his own business?

The turning point for Phil Knight was when he realized he could not become a national or international level athlete and decided to stay close to sports by starting a shoe business.

What was the name of the company Phil Knight initially represented when he first met with Onitsuka?

Phil Knight initially represented a company called Blue Ribbon Sports, which did not actually exist at the time of his first meeting with Onitsuka.

What was the significance of the shoe model 'Cortez' in Nike's history?

The Cortez was a shoe model designed by Bill Bowerman, tailored for Americans' longer and heavier bodies compared to the Japanese. It became super successful and contributed significantly to Nike's rise in the American market.

How did Nike overcome the challenge of Reebok's growing popularity in the 1980s?

Nike overcame the challenge by signing Michael Jordan as a brand ambassador and launching the Air Jordan sneakers, which combined performance and style, appealing to the changing preferences of consumers.

What was the key strategy Phil Knight used to sell the Tiger shoes effectively?

Phil Knight's key strategy was to sell the Tiger shoes directly at athletic competitions, leveraging his own experience as an athlete to understand and convince customers of the shoes' benefits.

What was the reason behind Nike's initial struggle to secure sales in sports shops?

Nike initially struggled to secure sales in sports shops because the shops refused to sell Tiger shoes, likely due to being unfamiliar with the brand or its quality.

How did the relationship with Onitsuka end and what was the consequence for Nike?

The relationship with Onitsuka ended when they demanded to buy 51% of Blue Ribbon's stake, which Phil Knight refused. Consequently, Nike decided to create its own brand, leading to the birth of Nike as we know it today.

What was the inspiration behind Nike's logo and how much was the design fee paid to the graphic design student?

The inspiration behind Nike's logo was to evoke a sense of running, motion, and victory, and it needed to fit the side of the shoe. The design fee paid to the graphic design student was 35 dollars.

Who suggested the name 'Nike' for the brand and what is its significance?

The name 'Nike' was suggested by Jeff Johnson, the first salesman of the company, who dreamt of the name. It is significant as Nike is the Greek Goddess of Victory, aligning with the brand's focus on athletics.

What was Phil Knight's advice in his book 'Shoe Dog' about pursuing one's ideas despite challenges?

In his book 'Shoe Dog', Phil Knight advised to keep going and not to stop until achieving the goal, regardless of what others say, and to take calculated risks when passionate about an idea.

Outlines

00:00

🏃‍♂️ The Rise of Nike and Phil Knight's Journey

This paragraph tells the story of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, who started from humble beginnings in Portland, America. Despite being a talented runner, he failed to achieve national and international success in athletics. After completing his MBA and facing the end of his athletic career, Phil turned to selling shoes, inspired by his research on the potential of Japanese shoe brands in the American market. He established a partnership with Onitsuka, a Japanese company, under the fictitious name Blue Ribbon Sports, to import and sell Tiger brand shoes in the USA. Phil's initial challenges included not receiving the shoe samples on time and needing to work as an accountant to sustain himself while waiting. Eventually, with the support of his college coach, Bill Bowerman, who became his business partner, Phil began to sell the shoes out of his car's trunk at athletic events, leveraging his understanding of athletes' needs to drive sales.

05:02

🛍️ Blue Ribbon Sports' Growth and Challenges

The second paragraph outlines the growth of Blue Ribbon Sports, initially facing difficulties in getting sports shops to sell their Tiger shoes. Phil's innovative approach of selling directly from his car's trunk at athletic events led to rapid sales. The partnership with Bill Bowerman, an expert in shoe design, proved invaluable. Bowerman's modifications to the shoes for better performance attracted more customers. Despite the initial success, Blue Ribbon Sports faced challenges such as an unexpected claim to the exclusive distributorship of Tiger shoes in America by a wrestling coach, which threatened the business. Phil's trip to Japan to confront Onitsuka resulted in the reaffirmation of their partnership. However, financial difficulties due to aggressive growth strategies and negative cash flow led to debt and the need for Phil to work as an accountant again. Bowerman's design of the Cortez shoe, tailored for the American market, helped turn the tide, leading to significant sales growth over the next few years.

10:06

🚀 Nike's Birth and Strategic Expansion

In the third paragraph, the narrative shifts to the birth of the Nike brand after a dispute with Onitsuka, which tried to take over Blue Ribbon Sports. Phil Knight's decision to create their own brand led to the development of a new logo and the choice of the name 'Nike,' inspired by the Greek Goddess of Victory. Nike's marketing strategies, including athlete endorsements and a sales team of passionate athletes, set them apart. The launch of Nike shoes in 1971 and the use of innovative marketing tactics helped them compete against established brands. By 1980, Nike had grown significantly, becoming the largest athletics company in the USA. However, the entrance of Reebok, with its focus on style and fashion, posed a new challenge for Nike, leading to a period of losses and the need for strategic reevaluation.

15:08

🌟 Nike's Resurgence and Global Dominance

The final paragraph describes Nike's resurgence in the face of competition from Reebok by signing Michael Jordan as a brand ambassador and launching the iconic Air Jordan sneakers. This move revolutionized basketball shoes with its bold designs and performance, creating a new sneaker culture. Nike's sales skyrocketed, and they overtook Reebok to become the leading athletics shoe company. The 1990s saw Nike's global expansion, entering new markets and sportswear categories, ultimately establishing itself as the world's largest sportswear brand. The story of Nike and Phil Knight emphasizes the importance of passion, calculated risks, and relentless execution, encapsulated in Nike's famous tagline, 'Just do it.'

Keywords

💡Phil Knight

Phil Knight is the founder of Nike, the world's largest sports wear brand. He is a central figure in the video's narrative, as his journey from a failed athlete to a successful entrepreneur forms the backbone of the story. The script illustrates his determination and innovative approach to business, starting with selling shoes from the trunk of his car and eventually building a global brand.

💡Athlete

An athlete is a person who competes in sports, often at a professional level. In the context of the video, Phil Knight's initial dream was to become a great athlete, and his deep connection to the sport influenced his decision to enter the sports wear industry. The script also mentions world-class athletes like Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal, who endorse Nike products, highlighting the brand's association with high-performance sports.

💡MBA

MBA stands for Master of Business Administration, a postgraduate degree that equips individuals with business and management skills. Phil Knight completed his MBA in 1962, which provided him with the knowledge and research insights that led to the idea of importing Japanese shoes to the USA, as mentioned in the script.

💡Japanese shoes

The term 'Japanese shoes' in the script refers to the Tiger brand shoes that Phil Knight decided to import and sell in the USA. The script explains that these shoes were of high quality and low cost, which could potentially disrupt the American shoe market, similar to how Japanese camera companies had done with the camera market.

💡Blue Ribbon Sports

Blue Ribbon Sports is the original name of the company that Phil Knight claimed to represent during his meeting with Onitsuka, the Japanese shoe manufacturer. Although the company did not exist at the time, it later became the official business entity that Phil Knight and his partner, Bill Bowerman, used to sell Tiger shoes in the USA before eventually creating the Nike brand.

💡Bill Bowerman

Bill Bowerman was Phil Knight's college coach and later his business partner. He is depicted in the script as an expert in shoe design, with a focus on making shoes lighter for better athletic performance. Bowerman's innovative approach to shoe design, such as the creation of the Cortez shoe, played a significant role in the success of Nike.

💡Cortez

Cortez is the name of a shoe model designed by Bill Bowerman for Blue Ribbon Sports. The script describes it as an ultimate distance training shoe tailored for Americans, which became highly successful upon its release in the American market, contributing to the growth of the company.

💡Distributorship

Distributorship refers to the right granted to a company or individual to sell a product in a specific region. In the script, Phil Knight initially secures the exclusive distributorship rights for Tiger shoes in Western USA, which is a key step in the establishment and growth of what would later become Nike.

💡Nike

Nike is the brand name that Phil Knight and his team eventually chose for their own shoe company, after breaking ties with Onitsuka. The script explains that the name was inspired by the Greek goddess of victory, symbolizing the brand's aspiration to excel in the sports wear industry. Nike's launch and subsequent growth are central to the video's narrative.

💡Air Jordan

Air Jordan is a line of basketball sneakers named after the legendary basketball player Michael Jordan, who was signed as a brand ambassador by Nike. The script highlights the impact of the Air Jordan launch, which revolutionized the basketball shoe market with its bold colors and stylish designs, and played a crucial role in Nike's comeback against competitors like Reebok.

💡Shoe Dog

Shoe Dog is a memoir written by Phil Knight, which provides an in-depth account of his journey in building Nike. The script references the book as a source of inspiration and a testament to the importance of perseverance and execution in achieving success, as encapsulated by Nike's tagline 'Just do it'.

Highlights

Nike, founded by Phil Knight, is the world's largest sportswear brand, earning around a thousand crore rupees daily.

Phil Knight was a failed athlete who started selling shoes from the trunk of his car, eventually building Nike.

Phil Knight partnered with his college coach Bill Bowerman, who was obsessed with improving running shoes.

Phil Knight's business journey began by importing and selling Japanese Tiger brand shoes, manufactured by Onitsuka.

Blue Ribbon Sports was the original name of the company, later renamed Nike, inspired by the Greek Goddess of Victory.

Nike's iconic 'swoosh' logo was designed by a graphic design student for $35.

Nike became one of the first brands to use athlete endorsements as a marketing strategy, starting with runner Steve Prefontaine.

The innovative design of the Nike Cortez, tailored to American needs, contributed to the brand's early success.

Nike faced a significant challenge when Onitsuka attempted to take over Blue Ribbon's distribution rights.

Nike's strategy of hiring former athletes for their sales team helped them understand customer needs and improve product quality.

In the 1980s, Nike faced competition from Reebok, which focused on stylish designs, prompting Nike to enhance their product aesthetics.

The partnership with Michael Jordan and the launch of Air Jordan basketball sneakers were pivotal in Nike's resurgence.

Nike's Air Jordans became a cultural phenomenon, merging performance and style, and contributing to Nike's global expansion.

By 1980, Nike had become the largest athletics company in the USA, surpassing Adidas.

Phil Knight's philosophy, encapsulated in Nike's tagline 'Just Do It,' emphasizes the importance of execution and perseverance.

Transcripts

Nike is the world's largest sports wear brand.

They earn around thousand crore rupees every day.

World class athletes like Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal use their products.

Would you believe that the one who built Nike

was a failed athlete himself and started his business from

selling shoes in the trunk of his car.

This is the story of Nike's founder Phil Knight.

Phil Knight was born in 1938 in a small town named Portland, America.

Since childhood, he used to run very fast and his ultimate dream in life

was to be a great athlete.

In school and college he worked hard on his running and won many races.

Along with running, Phil continued his education and in 1962

he completed his MBA. He still wanted to continue running but

one morning during his practice he faced reality. After dedicating his entire youth

running, he had become one of the best athletes of his state but

he could not become a national and international level athlete.

Sadly, he was good, but not great.

He was twenty-four years old and now there was no scope to

get better in athletics. Hence that morning, Phil with a heavy heart

accepted that this was the end of his athletic career.

He had failed in his dream of becoming an elite athlete but still

he wanted to do something that would always keep him close to sports.

Phil was deeply connected to his running shoes like every runner.

That's why he decided that he would do shoe business.

Then he remembered that during his MBA,

he had studied for several weeks during and

wrote a detailed research paper on the business of running shoes.

In his research he came to know that Japanese camera companies

due to their improved quality and low price, they had

disrupted the American camera market.

According to his research paper, Japanese shoes

could disrupt USA shoes market similarly.

And could overtake Adidas and Puma, the biggest companies of that time.

It was a big risk to start a business on the basis of his college project.

but Phil had no other option and he decided

that he will import Tiger brand shoes from Japan and sell them in USA.

Tiger shoes were manufactured by a Japanese company named Onitsuka.

So, Phil collected its entire savings and took a flight to Japan.

Finally, he reached Japan and

took appointment from Onitsuka's office. He was very nervous before the meeting.

A boy who was very shy and introverted by nature,

set out to partner with a big company. Moreover Onitsuka's executive

asked Phil for the company name at the very beginning of the meeting.

Don't know how, but Phil imagined the blue ribbons in his house.

The same blue ribbon which he got for winning many races and he said Blue Ribbon

He said he represented a company called Blue Ribbon Sports.

No such company existed back then.

But Onitsuka's executives were happy with the name.

Meeting progressed and Phil repeated his college project line by line.

At the end, Onitsuka's employees were so impressed that

they wanted his company Blue Ribbon to sell Tiger shoes in America.

It was a deal! Phil gave them his address and asked them to send

some of Tiger's training shoe samples.

There was no limit to Phil's happiness, he transferred money to Onitsuka for the

shoe samples and returned to America and waited for samples. 4 months passed

and he didn't receive any shoe. In response to the letter, Onitsuka said

that the shoes will arrive soon.

But this did not happen in reality.

Phil had not given up hope but

he needed a job to survive until shoes arrived.

So he took the job of an accountant in a short firm.

It had been almost a year since the meeting with Onitsuka.

By then Phil had almost lost hope when a notice came from the customs.

There were 12 shoes from Japan. After collecting the shoes,

Phil unboxed them and showed the shoes to his college coach Bill Bowerman.

And told him about his business plan. Bowerman liked the shoes so much that

the very next day he offered Phil to be a 50% partner.

Phil was quite surprised with this offer.

Bill Bowerman throughout his coaching career

was obsessed with one thing and that was shoes.

He had been experimenting with shoes for years and

had become an expert in shoe design.

His full focus was on making the shoes lighter.

He would often take away shoes of his students without asking and would return

after tearing the shoes, performing minor modifications for several days.

The athlete's performance would massively increase after his modifications

Bill Bowerman was also a genius coach and a natural leader.

He was a god-like figure for Phil and rest of the runners.

And today, the same god-like figure wanted to become Phil's business partner.

It was a no brainer.

They shook hands and now both of them were fifty fifty partners.

The same day Phil wrote a letter to Onitsuka and asked

for exclusive distributor ship rights to sell the Tiger shoes in Western USA.

Also placed first order of 300 shoes, at a cost 1000 dollars.

This time shoes came on time and blue ribbon got

exclusive distributorship rights for West USA.

This is what Phil was waiting for.

He immediately quit his accounting job so that he

can focus completely on business.

He stored the shoes in the basement of his parents' house.

This was the office of Blue Ribbon now. It was time to sell shoes now.

Phil requested many sports shops to sell the Tiger shoes.

Everyone refused to sell Tiger shoes in their shop.

PhilI didn't have money to open his own shop.

So, he came up with an idea. He'd fill the trunk of his car with shoes

and started reaching wherever there was an athletic competition.

He spoke to coaches, athletes and spectators

and started presenting his shoes. Phil had tried sales job before

but was not successful.

This time the response of the customers shocked Phil.

His shoes were selling like hot cakes.

He'd been an athlete himself and so, understood athletes' problems very well.

Hence he was easily able to convince customers that

Tiger's shoes were best for them.

In just two months he sold the first shipment of 300 shoes.

And placed an order of 900 shoes this time.

But his total earning was just 2000 dollars

and the total cost of the order was three thousand dollars.

So Phil asked for a thousand dollar loan from the bank for the first time.

Looking at the strong business of Blue Ribbon,

approved the loan and Phil finally had a career that he was enjoying deeply.

He had a trusted partner like Bill Bowerman

and a product that was selling by itself.

In short, Phil was having a great time!

But then, there comes a twist in the story.

A wrestling coach wrote a letter to Phil.

He claimed that he had just returned from a meeting with Onitsuka in Japan and

that Onitsuka has given him rights to be exclusive distributor for whole of America

Coach orders Phil to immediately stop Tiger Shoes business.

Only two months had passed since Phil started business

and was on the verge of closure.

He immediately wrote a letter to Onitsuka asking for clarification but

there was no response from them. So, Phil decided that

he'll go to Japan and confront Onitsuka.

During this meeting Phil made it clear on how he had been wronged.

He presented his argument for strong sales and

explained future plans. Next day he directly met company owner Mr.Onitsuka.

He instantly trusted Phil.

Mr. Onitsuka said that Phil's passion reminded him of his youth days.

and he gave Phil Western USA distributorship again.

Phil was relieved but the problems were far from over.

Blue Ribbon achieved 8000 dollars in sales at completion of first year of business.

They hired a salesman named Jeff Johnson to expand in another city.

Jeff's specialty was that he had also been an athlete like Phil.

He was extremely passionate about his work.

And that's why sales reached 16,000 dollars in second year of business.

That means it was going to be double but surprisingly

this became a big problem for them.

Phil wanted to grow very fast.

So, as soon as one shipment is sold out, he'd double or triple the order.

They had to reinvest their entire profit for payment of the order

and also had to take loan from bank.

Basically after one year's business

Blue Ribbon had incurred a debt of thousands of dollars.

And cash flow was negative due to which the bank

refused to give him further loan and

suddenly there was no cash to run the business.

Phil had to arrange for the money somehow for Blue Ribbon's survival.

Hence he took up the job of an accountant at PwC.

He started investing his entire salary in the business.

On the other side, his partner Bill Bowerman was working to

improve Tiger shoes.

Bowerman realized that Americans' body is longer

and heavier in comparison to Japanese.

That's why their shoes should also be different.

Bowerman tore Tiger shoes too and conducted many experiments.

A turning point came when he

combined the best features of different Tiger shoes

and designed an ultimate distance training shoe for Americans.

And named the shoes Cortez.

Onitzuka started manufacturing of Cortez shoes and the shoes

became super successful as soon as they entered the American market.

Due to the Phil's management and Bowerman's shoe design,

Tiger shoes was one of the top shoe brands in the entire America in the next 5 years.

Sales touched 1.3 million by 1971

and the business was doubling every year. With this, Phil quit his job

and joined Blue Ribbon full time.

It was going absolutely perfect when a huge blow came from Japan.

Seeing the success of Blue Ribbon, Onitsuka felt greedy.

They wanted to keep the entire income from Tiger shoes for themselves

They gave an ultimatum to Phil that if he doesn't sell 51% of

Blue Ribbon's stake to Onitsuka,

they will give the distributorship of America to someone else.

Phil felt quite shocked and hurt!

It was a big fraud.

Onitsuka had crossed all limits by talking to them about buying Blue Ribbon.

And so, Phil took the biggest decision of his life.

Phil gathered his team and told them that this was the moment

which we all were waiting for. The time to sell someone else's brand was over.

Now is the time to create our own brand!

With this he broke the partnership with Onitsuka and decided to

manufacture shoes of his own brand.

The first step was to create a new logo.

Phil wanted his brand's logo to awaken a sense of running,

sense of motion and a sense of victory.

Plus the logo must fit the side of the shoe.

He hired a graphic design student, to design the logo.

After a few days the student showed several designs.

Employees selected a curved logo that looked like a thick check mark.

Phil thanked the graphic design student for the help and paid a fee of 35 dollars.

After the logo, the next step was to choose the brand name.

Many names like Falcon and Dimension 6 were suggested.

But the first salesman of the company, Jeff Johnson told everyone

that he saw a very good name in his dreams last night and the name was Nike.

In Greek the Goddess of Victory is called Nike.

That's why the name was suitable and accepted.

After this Phil hired a third party manufacturer to make shoes.

Nike sent them designs and shoe manufacturing started.

Finally Nike brand shoes were launched for whole world officially on 30May1971.

But unlike today, no one knew Nike at that time.

Plus brands like Adidas, Puma and Tiger

were big competitors for Nike

which were capable of crushing a new brand.

That's why Phil used a strategy for marketing Nike

which nobody used in 1970s. They saw that the runners

liked to wear shoes of the same brand

which the world's best athletes wore.

So, Nike got into a deal with best runner of that time Steve Prefontaine

to promote it at 5000 dollars annually.

And Nike became one of the first brands

that used athletics brand endorsements as a marketing strategy.

Phil's second strategy was to strategically select his sales team.

Nike always choose to hire people for the sales team

who were either athletes themselves

or were very passionate about athletics.

This meant that the sales team could understand

problems and needs of its customers who were mostly athletes.

which ultimately lead to improved quality of product design, sales

and after sale service.

Apart from these two strategies, Phil grew Nike using

his experience, old customer base and

taking advantage of Bowerman's shoe design.

As a result Nike became a team of 2700 employees by 1980.

Had recorded sales of 270 million dollars

and had become USA's largest athletics company by beating Adidas.

Phil finally felt that he had created the strongest athletics brand in USA.

But then a company entered which

shook up Nike was it was Reebok.

Nike's main focus was always to make it best for sports.

Looks and style was never their focus.

But in 1980s a major change came through in fashion trend and athletic shoes taste.

People were not happy with just a strong and better performing shoe.

They wanted shoe that had attractive looks and was stylish along with performance.

And Reebok gave the customers just that.

Eventually customers started getting disconnected with Nike.

The company suffered losses for the first time and had to lay off employees!

Reebok surpassed Nike in 1986 as the biggest athletics shoe company.

Nike had to do something magical quickly to survive and grow.

And for this purpose Nike chose a magical basketball player.

Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan was an emerging player then.

and Phil knew that he would be a great and legendary player in future.

Nike signs Michael Jordan as brand ambassador.

Nike also launched basketball sneakers called Air Jordan named after Jordan.

Earlier, basketball shoes were quite ordinary and boring before Air Jordan.

Air Jordan changed basketball shoes trend with its bold colors and stylish designs.

Air Jordan became the historical shoe that brought sneaker culture in the whole world

Also Michael Jordan was also in his phenomenal form then.

Michael promoted the shoes by wearing it during games.

Along with this Nike also released shoe ads with Michael.

Air Jordan, it's all in the imagination.

This led Air Jordan to emerge as powerful combination of performance and style.

Nike sold 100 million dollars' worth Air Jordans in the first year of launch.

And finally overtook Reebok.

Nike never stopped after this success.

In the 1990s they expanded globally.

They started conquering countries one after the other.

Took entry in other sports wear other than shoes and today

Nike is world's largest sports wear brand with valuation of around Rs 12 lakh crore.

Phil and Nike's journey is really phenomenal!

The most important lesson of this journey is execution.

Phil said in his book Shoe dog, let everyone call your idea crazy.

Just keep going. Don't stop.

Don't even thing about stopping until you get there.

No matter what anyone says, if you are

passionate about an idea then take calculated risks and execute it.

Nike's tagline also says the same thing.

Just do it.

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