This Nike documentary tells the history of Nike, starting with Nike founder Phil Knight first imagining the idea of importing Japanese running shoes.
We’ll look at the struggles Phil had building his company, dealing with suppliers, and handing controversies Nike was involved in. We’ll also look at how Nike started out as Blue Ribbon Sports, but why they changed their name and brand to Nike. We’ll even cover Nike’s IPO and selling their shares on the stock market.
There’s plenty of entrepreneurial lessons and marketing strategies in this inspiring business success story - but as with any big company, there’s also a darker side. This MagnatesMedia mini movie aims to cover the full story of Nike, the rise of Phil Knight’s business empire.
It all began while working on an assignment to invent a new business. On a piece of paper Phil Knight wrote: "Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes What Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras?" You see, Phil had noticed how two Japanese camera companies, Nikon and Canon, had replaced German cameras in the market which used to be more dominant, and he wondered if the same thing could happen with running shoes.
Now at the time, two German companies, Adidas and Puma were the leading running shoe brands in America, and they had a very strong hold of the market. But Phil Knight had heard the Japanese were experimenting with some new shoe designs, and he also knew that it would be cheaper to produce shoes in Japan as well.
So Phil got extremely invested in this assignment for his business class, and genuinely started to believe there was a great business opportunity here to import Japanese shoes into the American market. But when Phil presented this to the class, nobody else seemed to see it that way.
He even told some of his friends about the idea, but none of them seemed to pay much attention either. Of course, if Phil did want to actually pursue this idea himself, he knew how difficult it would be.
He didn’t know anyone in Japan to reach out to, and he knew absolutely nothing about importing Japanese shoes, or even how to sell them in America for that matter. So, could he really just do it?