Tim Carden Profile picture
Aug 9, 2024 19 tweets 6 min read Read on X
In 1996, Reebok paid $50 million to sponsor the US Olympic team and thought they hit the jackpot.

But Nike came up with a genius stunt to steal the show and win the Olympics branding war.

Here's how Nike outsmarted Reebok at the Atlanta Olympics: Image
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were set to be a landmark event.

Not just for athletics — but for marketing too.

10 official sponsors including Coca-Cola, IBM, and Kodak had collectively spent $400M on sponsorship...

What did this mean for Nike?
Nike had to compete without official status. What's more:

In 1995, Nike's revenue was $4.8B. Reebok was close behind at $3.5B, & the Olympic showdown could tip the scales in the fierce "sneaker wars."

What did Nike do?
Nike's CMO said: "We're going to show that you don't need to sponsor the Olympics to win it."

Reebok was an official sponsor. But Nike wasn't going to sit this one out.

Their plan? An ambitious, ingenious guerrilla marketing campaign.

Let's break it down: Image
Step 1: The Nike Center

Nike constructed a 15,000 square foot hospitality center just 150 yards from the Olympic village entrance.

A 15,000 sq ft, multi-story glass and steel structure.

Free for athletes to meet family, relax, and conduct interviews.

That's not all: Image
Step 2: Billboards galore

Nike purchased 1,000+ billboards throughout Atlanta.

One famous slogan read: "You don't win silver — you lose gold."

Total outdoor ad spending? Image
$5.7M - far exceeding any official sponsor, who focused on traditional avenues.

These ads were everywhere except Olympic venues themselves.

Nike estimated 632 million impressions from this outdoor campaign.

But their biggest winner:
Step 3: Spotlight on star athletes

Despite Reebok being the official sponsor, athletes were free to choose their footwear.

The most iconic: Michael Johnson's gold shoes in the 400m final.

Custom-made by Nike, the metallic gold spikes drew every eye to Johnson.

Result?
Johnson not only won gold, but smashed the world record.

The image of him in his golden Nike shoes became iconic.

It was splashed across newspapers and TV screens worldwide.

Nike couldn't have asked for better publicity. Image
4, Flags for fans

Nike produced thousands of branded flags & distributed them free to spectators entering Olympic venues.

TV cameras panned across seas of Nike swooshes in the stands.

A clever workaround of rules prohibiting non-sponsor ads inside venues.

Overall:
A study found 22% of Americans thought Nike was an official sponsor.

Only 16% correctly identified Reebok as a sponsor.

Nike's sales rose 22% following the games.

Their ambush marketing strategy had paid off spectacularly.

But it wasn't without fallout:
Reebok was understandably frustrated.

They sued the Atlanta organizing committee for failing to protect sponsor rights.

The case was settled out of court in 1998.

But there's a key learning here:
Spending money on ads ≠ successful branding.

Often, the best branding is free.

And this lesson is more applicable today than ever:
Paid media is getting SERIOUSLY expensive.

Platforms are getting saturated with companies who don't know any better.

Meanwhile, consumers are getting tired: When was the last time you saw an ad you didn't scroll past?

But if you're a founder, there's a solution...
Ingenuity. Authenticity.

Today's consumer values authenticity above all in the content they consume.

And like Nike's ingenuity, there's an ingenious solution for companies hoping to reach millions that follows this strategy: Image
Creating content.

Today's founders are reaching millions — without spending millions.

How? By creating authentic content that gives free value to their audience.

This is how David beats Goliath today:
The big companies are stagnant. They're stuck in their old ways.

Which means if you're trying to beat them, you need to build a personal brand & share your authentic journey online.

It's this generation's answer to 1996.

Are you ready to be ingenious?
Founders: We’ll build your entire personal brand on 𝕏 without you lifting a finger.

To date, we've already helped 30+ founders get 1.3 Billion combined views.

Interested in how we can do this for you? Book a call here:

shorturl.at/2Y4hM
Thank you to One Percent Wealthier on YouTube for the drawing clip in this thread:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Tim Carden

Tim Carden Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @timjcarden

Jul 1
This CEO built a $250 Billion empire by breaking every rule:

• Unlimited vacation
• No performance reviews

Everyone called him insane—until he built the #1 streaming service on Earth.

Here’s the "corporate chaos" playbook top CEOs are stealing: 🧵 Image
Just imagine:

A tech company with 13,000 employees.

No vacation policy. No expense approvals. No performance reviews.

It sounds like chaos.

But there's a method to this madness...
In the early 2000s, Netflix was struggling after the dot-com crash.

Hastings had to lay off about a third of his team.

He expected disaster.

Instead, something unexpected happened...
Read 18 tweets
Jun 30
I'm calling it now: Elon will be the world's first TRILLIONAIRE.

Not because of Tesla or SpaceX...

But from the mental model he just revealed in this viral interview.

Here's how billionaires actually think (10 principles): 🧵 Image
Musk never expected to build anything great.

His exact words:

"I wanted to try to build something useful, but I didn't think I would build anything particularly great."

Yet the 10 rules he dropped explain exactly how he became the richest man alive:
1. Expect failure, but try anyway.

Musk gave SpaceX a 1% chance of success. Started it anyway.

"We're probably going to die, but there's a small chance we might not die."

That's how he recruited engineers. The mindset?

A small chance beats no chance.
Read 17 tweets
Jun 30
Trump just held the biggest White House briefing to date.

The President and Pam Bondi rolled off announcements and hints about what's coming next for America.

Trump is now more powerful than ever.

Here's everything that's coming (the biggest societal shift in US history): Image
1. The shocking truth about who's been blocking Trump

Pam Bondi revealed that of 40 nationwide injunctions against Trump, 35 came from just 5 districts:

Maryland, DC, Massachusetts, California, Washington.

94 districts total. But 5 controlled everything.
2. Federal judges can no longer block Trump nationwide

Before, 1 liberal judge in California could stop Trump's policies for all 50 states.

Now, that judge's ruling only affects their local district.

Trump called this "a monumental victory for the Constitution."
Read 18 tweets
Jun 27
Warren Buffett turned $10,000 into $100 billion using one simple rule.

No genius IQ required.

Here's his strategy that builds billion-dollar businesses: 🧵 Image
In 1998, tech stocks were printing money, and everyone was buying.

Buffett refused.

"I don't understand technology businesses," he admitted.

When the dot-com crash wiped out $5 trillion in value, Buffett lost nothing.

This is his rule in action:
Know your circle of competence.

That's what you know from years of experience - not surface-level familiarity, or what you read about online.

Buffett's philosophy is deceptively simple:

Stick to what you understand.

Here's how...
Read 16 tweets
Jun 26
OpenAI fired their ex-researcher for exposing their deadly plan.

He refused to stay silent. And now he's warning us:

"AI companies will take over the world in 10 years."

Leopold Aschenbrenner just revealed how they'll pull it off.

Here are his 4 terrifying insights: Image
Leopold wasn't some random employee.

He worked directly on OpenAI's most critical challenge:

How to control AI systems that surpass human intelligence.

But this would become his downfall:
Leopold wrote an internal memo cautioning OpenAI's relaxed security.

He warned foreign actors could steal their AI models - management ignored it.

So Leopold shared concerns with board members.

Big mistake:
Read 18 tweets
Jun 24
Remember Peloton?

In 2023, Peloton's $2,500 bikes sold for $500 on Facebook Marketplace.

They were losing $187M per quarter.

Then Peloton's CEO discovered ONE shocking truth about 21st-century humans...

Here's the mind-blowing insight that saved Peloton🧵 Image
During the pandemic, Peloton bikes were everywhere.

Peloton offered a complete at-home workout, and people were on waitlists for months to purchase the bikes.

Revenue shot to $4B in 2021 from $915M in 2019.

But eventually, people returned to gyms, creating a crisis at Peloton:
The demand for Peloton was vanishing—its stock plummeted 90%, and analysts predicted bankruptcy.

Customers were even selling their $2,500 bikes for $500 on Facebook Marketplace.

And it only got worse...
Read 17 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(