THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS — NIKE & MICHAEL JORDAN

The year was 1984. A rookie by the name of Michael Jordan was about to start his first season of the NBA looking for an athlete endorsement deal and keen to sign with Adidas. Along came Nike, a brand predominantly known at the time for long distance running shoes. Whilst everyone recognised the immense talent in this rookie, Nike were ready to put all their chips on the table and offered him a deal far more lucrative than the bigger sports apparel companies such as Adidas.

Michael Jordan had never even worn a Nike shoe at the time but was convinced by his parents to take the deal over Adidas, commencing the legendary partnership between Michael Jordan and Nike. The Air Jordan was born and the rest is history.

NBA rules meant that players could only wear white sneakers at the time. Leveraging the fact that Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls, Nike designed the first Air Jordans in red, black and white. The NBA were not best pleased and fined Michael Jordan $5,000 every time he wore the shoes. However, Nike were willing to pay the fines and have the shoes stand out from the crowd. They predicted $3 million of sales of the Air Jordan in the first four years of the deal. Nike actually sold $126 million in the first year alone.

Nike became a mainstream shoe, having previously been known mainly as a track running shoe, slipped into popular culture as the edgy must have sneaker, and are now one of the most recognised brands on the planet.

Michael Jordan went on to become arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, and off the field he has also made $1.3 billion to date from his deal with Nike, alone.

This shows the power of partnerships and how two new entrants to an arena can combine forces to make a massive impact. Sometimes, partnering with someone that understands your vision and can strategically help you scale your business is the key to long term success.

If you are looking for that partner to catapult your business to the next level, get in touch with Centuro Global today. We are on hand to help you scale into any region globally and assist with all your business growth needs.

We’ve recently been advising clients on COVID-19 related disruption, specifically relating to:

• Renegotiating Contracts
• Furloughing Staff & Dealing with Redundancies
• Applying for government relief, grants and business loans

We are also on hand to assist with our full array of services including investor readiness, international expansion support and IP advice.

Get in touch now: www.centuroglobal.com/contact-us