Thread by @NithilaT

𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 "𝐀𝐢𝐫"

Watched the movie "Air" a couple of days ago, it's a biographical drama about the creation of the @Jumpman23 shoe line, I was particularly keen to watch it after reading Phil Knights memoir "Shoe Dog" last year

📸 @Nike

The movie tells the story of how Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro signed Michael Jordan to a shoe deal, and how the Air Jordan shoe line went on to become one of 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒇𝒖𝒍 shoe lines in history.

"Air" can teach us a number of valuable business lessons.

𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. Sonny Vaccaro believed that Michael Jordan could be a global icon, and he was willing to put it all on the line for him. This belief in his vision paid off, as the Air Jordan shoe line became a huge success.

𝐁𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬. Nike was a relatively small company when it signed Michael Jordan to a shoe deal, much smaller than Converse (which it later acquired) and Adidas. However, Nike was willing to take a risk on Jordan, and this risk paid off.

𝐁𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞. Nike was not the first company to make basketball shoes. However, Nike was able to differentiate itself from the competition by being creative. The Air Jordan shoe line was designed to be stylish & high-performance, and this made it stand out!

𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭: Nike was willing to against all the "norms" of sports marketing of the time, they offered Jordan something no one else was offering, they even agreed to pay him a share of the profits!

they created a shoe that would incur fines from the @NBA due to the color and in doing so blazed a new path and changed the "game" forever!

#Nike #michaeljordan #business #sports