Michal Jordan soon became a huge backetball player and Nikes Air Jordans were the most popular shoe on the planet, with sales of 200 milion a year. Michal was the savior that Nike company needed. The key was that Fans love heroes. They want to be just like them, they want to wear what the heroes wear. Nike soon created a series of Nike towns, stores part Disneyworld, part sporting schrines. Nike don’t limit their investments to just the proffessional side of sport. Now they are targeting schools. Nike sponsors the Oregan High School girls basketball team, who happen to be the American High School chapions. Nike gives the girls shoes and track suits to wear. To some this is seen as exploitation of the youth. Competition was generated between children to see who could wear the most expensive trainers. One of Phil Knights greatest achievements is not only controlling the sports market but keeping control of his company. A long succession of senior managers have come and gone. Nike is now a public company but Phil Knight still calls the shots. Phil created two classes of stock, when company went public. The A-shares and the B-shares. The a-shares elect most of the board of directors and the b-shares elect the minority. Phil Knight virtually owns all the a-shares so he controls the board very much. The most aggressive marketing campaign by nike company was used at Olympic games in Atlanta in the year 1996. Nike company got into in trouble with the IOC organization even before games started, for trashing the real OG spirit. Nike was using slogans like this in their advertisments:


IF YOU WIN SILVER - YOU LOSE GOLD. DAY ONE - WAVE THE FLAG. DAY TWO - CRUSH THE DREAMS OF OTHERS.
IF YOU ARE NOT HERE TO WIN, YOU ARE JUST A TOURIST. Nike’s message was simple: Just taking part is for wimps! Business is war without bullets. Michal Johnson’s shoes were gold, not silver. Nike likes winners, not losers. Nike sponsored some Olympic athletes but they were not official Olympic sponsors. But nike came up with guerrilla marketing. Within minutes of the race starting, Nike posters started appearing around the televised areas of the race. The posters didn’t display the Nike name, because they couldn’t, they weren’t the official sponsors. But the association was there. Posters displayed words like JUST DO IT USA. In Atlanta, the Olympic officials were sponsored by their rivals, by Reebok. Reebok did everything officially, by the book. Reebok paid a huge money for being the oficial sponsor of OG in Atlanta, but Nike got the best television coverage and they hardly paid a cent for it.