It helps to have an enormous budget, no doubt, but Nike earns that budget through brilliant marketing.
By brilliant, I don’t mean vastly creative. I don’t mean trying to make viral campaigns or anything like that.
By brilliant, I mean that Nike knows its target audience perfectly, knows what it wants, and knows that it will want in 1, 2, 5, and 10 years.
Michael Jordan retired for the last time in 2003. Ten years later, in 2011, Nike earned $2.3 billion dollars on Jordan-related merchandise. BILLION. That’s $2, 300, 000, 000. That’s a lot of zeros for someone who retired a decade ago.
And Nike is simply too smart to not multiply this formula onto other stars. Roger Federer, one of the most beloved athletes in all sports, will be retiring in the coming years.
But Nike’s wallet will be young and constantly rejuvenated, because they are going to apply their Michael Jordan formula to Roger Federer.
Bring in the billions.