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Winning Is Everything
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Winning Is Everything

Inside Nike’s Olympic comeback plan

Mark Wilson
Fast Company, 2024
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Editorial Rating

8

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  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Eloquent

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Long before the Paris Summer Olympics began in July 2024, Nike executives were polishing their company’s Olympics branding strategy. The company had just laid off 2% of its workforce to cut costs. Having sponsored athletes and teams, including the US soccer and gymnastics teams, Nike chose as its theme, “Winning is everything,” even if that declaration might make people uncomfortable. Writing for Fast Company, Mark Wilson details how Nike, a storied sportswear giant digging itself out of a downward period, looked to the world’s biggest sports extravaganza to reboot its brand.

Summary

Sportswear giant Nike laid off 2% of its staff before the 2024 Olympics.

Shortly before the scheduled opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Nike laid off 2% of its staff, releasing some 1,500 employees who worked at its sprawling Oregon campus. The layoffs were a cost-cutting measure in response to Nike’s slowing growth.

Nike anticipated a revenue reduction and only 1% growth in 2024. The company announced it would reduce spending by $3 billion over the coming three years, hence the layoffs. Those announcements affected Nike’s stock price. In a market that gave Nike a 10% price bump in early 2024, its stock took a 20% nosedive.

Nike needed to dig itself out of a slump – and the Paris Summer Olympics presented a unique opportunity. The Olympics rank among the world’s most high-profile sports events, and Nike has sponsored countless individual athletes along with the US soccer, basketball, and gymnastics teams. Nike saw the Summer Olympics as a potent venue for its shoes and sportswear.

Nike committed to ...

About the Author

Mark Wilson is the Global Design Editor at Fast Company.

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