Theme 7 Final copy and analysis

Nike’s Excellent Fortune
Nike has been a leader in athletic apparel since it started out as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964. Its founders were Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. In the beginning, Nike produced comfortable and versatile track shoes. What is the key to Nike’s success? Could it be the crafty swoosh logo created by Portland State University graduate, Carolyn Davidson? Nike has become a worldwide phenomenon. They produce variations of clothing, accessories, shoes, and athletic equipment. However, Nike’s true success can be attributed to one man. This man is a 5 time National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player, a 6 time NBA Champion, and a Slam Dunk Champion. Michael Jordan was the greatest thing that ever happened to Nike. Jordan single-handedly turned Nike into a multimillion dollar corporation. Jordon immediately impacted Nike in a positive manner by getting Nike up and running as a young stud coming out of North Carolina University accepting the role as the face of Nike, and helping produce a successful sneaker and clothing company.
Jordan came out of college as one of the top prospects in the NBA draft. Bowerman and Knight saw Jordan’s NBA potential and gave him a Nike endorsement instantaneously. Phil Knight hoped that this endorsement would help increase Nike’s popularity. The deal did just that; Jordan won the rookie of the year award in his first year in the NBA. He averaged over 28 points per game, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists. It was obvious from early on that Michael Jordan was destined for greatness. Revenue increased to $946,371 in the first year alone. By 1986, Nike’s Revenue had exceeded the $1,000,000 barrier. All of this success helped Nike expand overseas and to form Nike-Japan. Nike knew from that point on that Jordan was someone special. As Jordan became more successful in the NBA, Nike became more successful in the market place.
After Jordan’s extraordinary rookie campaign, he became the face of Nike. Jordan’s contribution to Nike came well before golf mogul Tiger Woods (who is also very popular today). Jordan’s face was everywhere. Jordan had a television star-like personality, and was a very natural actor in all of his commercials. When kids of all ages see someone they idolize on T.V, they want to be just like that person. If Michael Jordan was seen wearing Nike products, everyone wanted to wear Nike products. All good figureheads are idolized by many which contribute to increase sales. Michael Jordan also appeared in a plethora of commercials for Nike throughout his career. The most famous commercials he appeared in were the series of commercials with Spike Lee. He acted superbly in all of the commercials he appeared in. These commercials were all over T.V at the time. They were as popular as the Geico commercials are today. Jordan’s face was on billboards around the world. Believe it or not, Jordan had his own scent; it was called Michael Jordan cologne. The thinking behind this product was, if you can’t play basketball like Michael Jordan; why not smell like Michael Jordan. Nike also sponsored Michael Jordan’s own company known as Jordan.
The Jordan brand first burst onto the scene in 1984. In its first year, Michael Jordan’s brand sold nearly $130 million in merchandise. These numbers are among the highest for any company in its debut selling sportswear. Jordan (the company) started out primarily producing athletic shoes. Jordan’s first shoes were the Jordan 1s, which were made in 1985. Twenty one other models of shoes would hit the market from 1985 until present day. After the company tasted great success, it began to sell clothing and accessories as well. Today, Jordan also manufactures sunglasses, watches, wrist and head bands, socks, shirts, shorts, warm-up gear, and more. In 1998, Jordan earned $2.6 billion for Nike. Jennifer Black, a footwear analyst, estimated that the “Jordan Effect” has been valued at around $9.53 billion. These numbers are the largest contribution of any individual endorsement deal in the history of athletic retail. After Jordan’s retirement in 2003, talk arose about the Jordan brand fading because he would no longer be on the court. However, since his retirement, Nike sales have actually doubled around the world and there is no slowdown in sight, says Nike founder Phil Knight. New ideas from the Nike marketing division are arriving each year to keep the Nike brand name fresh. To keep success alive, Nike has developed ways to connect the Jordan name with many young and prominent stars in today’s sports world. Some of these names include Derek Jeter, and Roy Jones Jr., as well as rising basketball stars, Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James. Athletes have embraced the Jordan name by incorporating its logo on their own personal athletic shoes.
If you flip on the television today, you will most likely find a Jordan advertisement. He is considered by many to be the greatest NBA player of all time. Jordan’s skills on the court and his personality off the court are what helped Nike become one of the most successful companies of all time. He was able to help Nike build its name when he was a young star coming out of North Carolina. He was a tremendous face for Nike for many years, and his shoe/clothing company helped skyrocket Nike’s sales.


Analysis

My story started out with a solid focus. I stayed on point for most of the story. I just added a more concise explanation about why Michael Jordan’s role as the face of Nike. I got a bit off topic but I fixed it.

The content is now great in my paper. I use a lot of detail to try and give the reader the clearest picture. I added more content about the particular products that Jordan advertised for. For example I mentioned the cologne that he made. I also added info about the commercials that he appeared in with spike lee.

I feel that the structure of my paper needed a lot of work. I had a lot of ideas jumbled up in a paragraph. I would hit on a point then go to a new point but then I would reference back to the first point. It was very confusing for the reader of my essay. I took all of the ideas the were scrambled up and I organized them in an order that made more sense.

I used the style packet to make every word tell. I tried not to use any pointless words. I usually get in a habit of doing that. I feel that my paper has a good style/attitude because that is the way I write. Theme readers have always commented positively on my writing style. I like to use very descriptive words.

My Conventions needed a lot of work. I did not read through my rough draft very well and I found a lot of errors that I fixed. They were mostly simple mistakes like missing commas or periods. There were some spelling errors and some words with the incorrect tenses. The conventions should be close to perfect now.