Filed under: International markets, Other issues, Products and services, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising, China, NIKE, Inc’B’ (NKE), Politics
With this year’s summer Olympics just around the corner, athletic outfitter Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) unveiled its new Olympic products yesterday.
While Nike has never really embraced the concept of being a sponsor for the Olympics, it prides itself on being an outfitter for the competing athletes. This year there will be thousands of Olympic hopefuls from over a hundred companies that will be sporting the famous “Nike Swoosh” on themselves for millions of watchers to see.
Nike will definitely leave its own footprint all over this summer’s Olympic games. For the first time ever, BMX will be an Olympic medal sport, and the new Nike gear for the sport is being heralded by Nike’s global director for action sports, John Martin, as the “illest BMX product ever.” I honestly thought the word “illest” vanished from the vocabulary around the same time as Run-DMC; guess I was wrong. But I will definitely look forward to seeing the “illest” BMX gear ever, Nike definitely got my attention on that one!
The Olympics this year are definitely going to be one of interest for many around the world, and controversy over it being held in China has already led to protests, riots and deaths over China’s record on human rights. It’s a touchy subject for Nike, considering that roughly 33% of all Nike shoes in the world are made in Chinese factories.
One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a colorful summer for sports. Will any athletes outdo former Olympic superstar Michael Johnson’s gold Nike’s from the ‘96 Olympics? I doubt it, but then again, you never know what some of these athletes have up their sleeves.
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor’s Observer.
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