Lesson #1: Become a Remorseless Marketing Machine
Lesson #1: Become a Remorseless Marketing Machine
In creating the Nike empire, Knight not only rewrote the rules when it came to sports shoes, he also rewrote the marketing book. Knight understood that he wasn’t just in the sports business, he was in the sports marketing business, and he redefined what it meant to be so. Although he has never personally written an ad or directed a television commercial, Knight has cast a wide shadow over the marketing world, and Nike has been all the better for it.
The Nike ‘swoosh’ logo might be one of the most recognized in the world, but the Nike marketing machine extends far beyond its logo. For more than 20 years, Knight has worked closely with the ad agency Wieden & Kennedy to produce some of the most memorable campaigns in marketing history. In 1988, the team came up with the “Just Do It” slogan, which has today become an icon of pop culture. Nike made similar history when Knight signed a young basketball player by the name of Michael Jordan to endorse his shoes. In little time, Jordan was recast as Air Jordan and was one of the world’s most famous product endorsers. A Nike Super Bowl spot featuring Jordan and Bugs Bunny even became the 1996 feature film Space Jam.
Knight has carved out a unique reputation in the marketing world by producing ad messages that seemed to honestly come from the athletes themselves. In 1996, Knight became a figure of controversy with his “Search and Destroy” line of ads that featured Olympic athletes with defiant slogans such as “I didn’t come here to trade pins” and “You don’t win silver, you lose gold.” Almost overnight, Nike had become a symbol for bad sportsmanship. Knight, however, believed the ads were an honest reflection of the competitive nature of athletes. He refused to back down in the face of criticism, and sat back to watch the popularity of his ads grow.
Since then, Knight has used his ads to sound off on social issues he feels are important in the world of sports. In 1994, Charles Barkley declared, “I’m not a role model,” in one Nike ad. In another, golf player Tiger Woods criticized those golf courses that refused him play because of his skin colour. In yet another, young girls addressed the issue of Title IX by saying, “If You Let Me Play,” in a series of 1995 Nike ads.
Knight knows he might be offending some with his ads, but he says it is necessary in order to compete with those companies that are bigger and have more time and money to spend on marketing. “Good campaigns define who you are,” says Knight. “We have to get consumers’ attention. We don’t have six months to check with focus groups.”
In 2003, Knight won Advertiser of the Year at the 50th Cannes Lions advertising festival week. When he first started out in the business, he readily admits that he hated advertising. Now, he can’t get enough of it. What was it that changed his mind? “It worked,” says Knight.
Lesson 1 Become a Remorseless Marketing Machine
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“Our job is to wake up the consumers” says Knight. “If we become predictable, that’s not waking them up.”
In creating the Nike empire, Knight not only rewrote the rules when it came to sports shoes, he also rewrote the marketing book. Knight understood that he wasn’t just in the sports business, he was in the sports marketing business, and he redefined what it meant to be so. Although he has never personally written an ad or directed a television commercial, Knight has cast a wide shadow over the marketing world, and Nike has been all the better for it.
The Nike ‘swoosh’ logo might be one of the most recognized in the world, but the Nike marketing machine extends far beyond its logo. For more than 20 years, Knight has worked closely with the ad agency Wieden & Kennedy to produce some of the most memorable campaigns in marketing history. In 1988, the team came up with the “Just Do It” slogan, which has today become an icon of pop culture. Nike made similar history when Knight signed a young basketball player by the name of Michael Jordan to endorse his shoes. In little time, Jordan was recast as Air Jordan and was one of the world’s most famous product endorsers. A Nike Super Bowl spot featuring Jordan and Bugs Bunny even became the 1996 feature film Space Jam.
Knight has carved out a unique reputation in the marketing world by producing ad messages that seemed to honestly come from the athletes themselves. In 1996, Knight became a figure of controversy with his “Search and Destroy” line of ads that featured Olympic athletes with defiant slogans such as “I didn’t come here to trade pins” and “You don’t win silver, you lose gold.” Almost overnight, Nike had become a symbol for bad sportsmanship. Knight, however, believed the ads were an honest reflection of the competitive nature of athletes. He refused to back down in the face of criticism, and sat back to watch the popularity of his ads grow.
Since then, Knight has used his ads to sound off on social issues he feels are important in the world of sports. In 1994, Charles Barkley declared, “I’m not a role model,” in one Nike ad. In another, golf player Tiger Woods criticized those golf courses that refused him play because of his skin colour. In yet another, young girls addressed the issue of Title IX by saying, “If You Let Me Play,” in a series of 1995 Nike ads.
Knight knows he might be offending some with his ads, but he says it is necessary in order to compete with those companies that are bigger and have more time and money to spend on marketing. “Good campaigns define who you are,” says Knight. “We have to get consumers’ attention. We don’t have six months to check with focus groups.”
In 2003, Knight won Advertiser of the Year at the 50th Cannes Lions advertising festival week. When he first started out in the business, he readily admits that he hated advertising. Now, he can’t get enough of it. What was it that changed his mind? “It worked,” says Knight.
Lesson 1 Become a Remorseless Marketing Machine
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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