One of the most memorable goals netted during last summer's European football championships was scored by a player who was nowhere near a soccer pitch at the time. In fact, he wasn't even included in his national team, much to the derision of just about everybody in France. And yet Eric Cantona's wry "Au Revoir" as he rocketed the ball, quite literally, through the opposition's hapless goalkeeper was seen by millions not just in England, but around the world.
Cantona and his equally famous team mates were the heroes of one of the most successful, and certainly the most original, advertising campaigns of recent times - The Devil's 11 against the rest of the world. American multinational Nike's "Evil" football match, where soccer's good guys run rings round a motley bunch of foul-happy demons marked a turning point in sports advertising. Incorporating the very latest high-tech imagery with the age-old moral of good over evil, the advertisement caught the imagination of a generation of young people.
"It revolutionised advertising regarding football," comments David Carmont, recalling the unprecedented sales boost in Nike football boots during the campaign's airing.
David Carmont is country manager for Nike Portugal. His job is to steer the company into the new millennium and like Cantona's demolition of the opposition, it's a challenge he relishes. "We're taking a particularly strong stance in football," he says. "As a result of Nike's huge investments in sports marketing and television advertising the brand is experiencing spectacular growth."
Nike is positioning itself as the most radical and exciting brand for young football players, he adds. With the buying market for boots categorised between 12 and 18 years old, it's this age group that was so mesmerised by last summer's campaign. "We've managed to pick up the major market share in football boot sales not only in Portugal but across Europe because of the impact of that one advert." With national team players Rui Costa, Figo and Dani among the sports personalities already donning Nike boots, the company intends to launch a new campaign directed specifically towards the Portuguese market in the very near future.
The company, of course, manufactures more than just football boots. But Nike's backbone has traditionally been footwear. It's this reputation, points out Carmont, that attracts the buying public. "The technology behind Nike is the selling point. We are the only brand that develops and markets a shoe with air technology. In fact we are now incorporating Zoom Air technology."
The air cushion, as the description suggests, helps protect the athlete when running and reduces the risk of injury to the knees and spine. Zoom Air technology is the new addition of a much finer cushion which means the athlete has closer contact with the ground. "So in sports where you have to move from left to right very quickly Zoom Air products are ideal."
The company has deliberately chosen to limit its sponsorship of Portuguese athletes believing that the brand is strong enough to be chosen as a matter of course by top professionals. However, a number of well known personalities, including European and Olympic gold medallists, have benefitted from corporate sponsorship, among them Manuela Machado and Carla Sacramento.
Unfortunately, running as a leisure pursuit appears to be on the decline, notes Carmont. "It was a boom in the seventies but kids today basically don't want to do what their parents did. It's just not cool." Realising this dilemma, Nike have gone to great lengths to put the fun back into the run. "We are launching a new line called Extreme Running. Nike want to introduce a new element of excitement into running. We want to make it more interesting, more `dangerous'".
The shoe is designed to rough it in extreme conditions - in mountains, forests, dunes etc. "Some people have become bored with marathons and half-marathons and this new concept is a real hit. After all, we are a running company and our roots
stem from this particular aspect of the sport."
And Nike does indeed owe its success to running. The company was founded in 1966 by Philip H.Knight an accountant who, in his spare time, made and sold running shoes to athletes at the local track. Unimpressed with this sideline his father, keen to see his son excel in the numbers game, told him to get serious. Young Knight, perhaps misinterpreting his father's advice, promptly quit his desk job and started manufacturing shoes full time. In 1972 he formed Blue Ribbon Sports, the forerunner of Nike. The corporate logo, the red tick or swoosh, was designed shortly afterwards. Later, the name Nike was officially adopted and Knight became the company's Chairman.
John McEnroe, the superbrat of Wimbledon, is widely accredited with lifting the Nike brand into the upper echelons of the sporting arena by choosing to wear the company's tennis shoes as he shot to fame around the world. Since then, the swooosh logo (the additional O accentuates the swiftness of the brand) has dominated the world of tennis and basketball as the preferred choice of footwear of superstars like as Michael Jordan and Pete Sampras.
Last year, worldwide sales topped US$6.3 billion. The company also reported that worldwide futures orders for athletic footwear and apparel scheduled for delivery between September 1996 and January 1997 total a record US$3.5 billion, 66 per cent higher over the same period last year.
Nike was launched in Portugal in 1992 with a primary focus on footwear. The company also started to sell apparel, a relatively new division of the business. Today, sales of clothing account for nearly 40 percent of turnover.
Bolstering this impressive figure is the revenue generated by the sales of accessories such as caps and bags. Nike is also set to further consolidate its number one position by launching a new line called Equipment.
Despite the fact that for many youngsters the reversed baseball cap and chunky training shoes remain de rigueur on the streets, David Carmont dismisses the notion that the Nike brand is also a fashion statement. "Nike is a brand that many people tend to think is fashionable but it's difficult to see it as such. Designer brands go in and out of fashion. Nike remains authentic to the needs of the athlete."
Nike's Headquarters in Portugal are housed in the Quinta da Fonte office park complex, situated near Oeiras. The modern showroom is draped with merchandise in a fashion Carmont would dearly like to see employed in more retail outlets across the country. "The retailing sector here in Portugal is very underdeveloped," he says frankly. "Commercial policies really don't take advantage of major brands. We have huge demands for Nike brands but very little shelf space. Nike products tend to be more expensive but this is not the reason point of sale is limited. Retailers will often go for a short term discount offered by a poorer brand rather than look for absolute margins. In this sense they are very unsophisticated."
Carmont believes the retailing sector is on the verge of a commercial revolution with several major sportswear companies poised to enter the market armed with a `no prisoners' policy. "You will see the emergence of a number of hypermarket-type sports stores in the Lisbon area within the next 12 months," he warns. "What we are doing now is to try and kick-start the retailers by offering them concept stores. Nike can take a chunk of an existing store and implement a set of merchandising standards in readiness for the year 2000. The retailers can actually take a huge leap with our brands."
Simplifying his argument, Carmont takes the issue down to a grass roots level. "Nike has nearly 300 SKU's on sale. We change products every three months because young kids today know exactly what they want. But they also remember exactly what was on the shelf last month. If it's the same item they are not interested. Kids are far more tuned in than the retailers. In fact, our consumers are a lot more sophisticated period. For Nike though, it also means that we have a large amount of uncompleted demand and that's a problem."
It's also seen as a challenge and a target which Carmont and his staff, like Cantona at the net, will bust wide open. Beware the opposition.
END - Paul Bernhardt.
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