Nike 2004 Annual Report Download - page 6

focused on what’s really relevant in putting the brand and the product in
a more compelling position with the consumer.
It’s been a year since we promised LeBron James more money
than he could ever spend. Since then, Nike’s spent big bucks
on Freddy Adu and Serena Williams. How do you explain to a
shareholder who’s wondering whether we’re spending responsibly
that this is the right thing to do?
CD:It’s our history, and our history has served us well. It’s what we do
and it’s how we do it. When you’re with these types of individuals on an
almost daily basis, it becomes a fairly easy call to say this athlete or this
person is someone special.
education programs and turn recycled shoes into sports surfaces, just
two of the many initiatives we drive to help Nike be a responsible part
of the community.
On the product side, we’re excited about Nike Free, a footwear
technology designed to mimic the bare foot. We’ve learned that training
barefoot can strengthen the foot, the leg, the entire body. Basically, we’ve
found that natural motion makes athletes stronger, and Nike Free is about
the closest thing you can get to natural motion in a performance athletic
shoe. And Nike iD — consumers can go online and customize product.
It is the future, and we’re just beginning to see its emergence. It will allow
us to build an even more intimate relationship with consumers than we
have today. We’ve always thought of ourselves as the brand that listens
to athletes, and both Nike Free and Nike iD reflect that.
Let’s finish with Nike’s biggest challenges as a brand and as a company.
MP:We have so many opportunities in front of us that the degree of
our success will be based on what choices we make and how we focus
our energy and our investments against those decisions. And then making
sure that we have the talent and the strength in the organization to build
on what we’ve got and we’ll execute against those new opportunities.
CD:I find myself thinking more and more about the next phase. What
will take Nike beyond our current growth strategy? What does a better,
bigger Nike look and feel like? The one thing we have learned to count
on is that the world of sports will continue to supply us with the stories,
the personalities and the challenges to improve our product, our brand
and our performance.
Who are your favorite athletes?
CD:It’s impossible to have just one. One great thing about this job is that
you have an opportunity to experience athletes in different phases of their
careers. You can be energized by the youthfulness and optimism of a
LeBron James, a Carmelo Anthony, a Serena Williams, a Freddy Adu
—
athletes who have their entire careers in front of them. The enthusiasm
that oozes from them is fun to be around. Then you see people like Tiger
Woods who are focused on being the greatest of all time or someone like
Michael Jordan who’s stepping into a continuation of that career from a
business standpoint
— you just can’t pick a single person. That would be,
in a sense, a disservice to the job.
MP:This past year I’ve been more involved with my kids in sports, my
son particularly. He got involved in cross country and track and was very
successful in his first year. It was a reminder to me of the power of
sports for kids and how important that is. To see my son get involved
in a sport and a team, set goals and discipline himself to try to achieve
those goals and to see him transform and gain confidence that helped
him be a better student, interact with other kids at a higher level, and
help make him an overall better person was inspiring. It’s not all about
the big global, megastar athletes — we’ve got to remind ourselves of the
power of sports when it comes to kids and their development…and how
inspiring that can be.
MP:LeBron James is one of those very special athletes who comes
along with that rare level of talent and charisma that gives us the license
to take the consumer somewhere totally new. So in a sense, that makes
it a bargain. LeBron helps authenticate and legitimize new directions in
product design to levels beyond most other athletes.
Wish to address some highlights of the past year?
MP:Two areas in particular: product and community affairs. Our new
line of soccer products, such as the Air Zoom Total 90 III shoe, has
helped put us in a market leadership position in soccer footwear in
Europe. We’ve seen incredible advances with Nike Shox footwear in
the last year with women’s-specific performance product. In Apparel,
Nike Sphere continues its quiet revolution in performance comfort.
The product you’ll see this year around our Speed initiative will really
change the way athletes look at footwear, apparel and equipment and
competitive advantage.
We’re also very proud of our work in community affairs. We give 3% of
our pretax profit back to the communities where we live with a lot of our
energy and investments focused on supporting physical activity for youth.
CD:I agree with Mark — we’re proud of our Community Affairs efforts.
We’re proud of the work NikeGo is doing to help reinstate physical
A new beauty has been added to the splendor
of the world — the beauty of speed.
– Tommaso Marinetti, Italian playwright
Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman,
when asked how a runner could
improve his times: Run faster.
Speed gets faster over time: the Oregon 2004 state
high school 100m champion’s time was 11.17. That
would’ve won silver at the 1904 games in St. Louis.
When Michael Johnson won the 200m and 400m
at Atlanta in ’96, the gold chain around his neck
outweighed the spikes on his feet.
The current mile record is 3:43.14,
held by Morocco’s Hicham el Guerrouj.
A predator never attacks the front of the herd.
“We need to focus on knowing who our consumer is,who we’re competing
against and who we are. When we know those answers,we think we can win.”
— Charlie Denson