.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }
Today, Nike is the most popular, recognizable and profitable sports brand on the planet. Forbes has the Swoosh listed as the number one most valuable brand in sports at $19 billion, besting ESPN (ESPN!) by $2 billion and change. Their next closest competition as far as sports apparel goes is adidas, which is valued at a mere $5.8 billion. Nike is literally lapping their competition.
Simply put, Nike is on top of the world and there seems to be no stopping the brand from solidifying its long running dominance in the sports brand world.
Considering the company’s history, this may come as a bit of a surprise. It would be harder to find a more humble origin story for a brand.
For instance, did you know that Nike was founded by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman under the name Blue Ribbon Sports? Or that they started off their business by selling Japanese running shoes out of Knight’s car? How about the fact that the Swoosh was designed by one of Bowerman’s students and bought for $35? Unbelievably, that’s all true. Check out the video above to get your crash course in the history of Nike in the time it would take you to watch a Nike ad campaign for LeBron James.
