Chapter five hundred and ninth see Phil Knight again
Two days later, Professor Ding Huaizhong called. He had returned to Stanford University. Liu Lang, Lin Guodong and Sun Hu set off immediately.
The distance from Los Angeles to Stanford University is only 600 to 700 kilometers, which is similar to the distance from Fucheng to the capital. If you take a train from Fucheng to the capital, it will take at least a day. However, the transportation in the United States is very developed, and it takes less than an hour to fly.
The plane landed. Liu Lang and the others got off the plane and walked into the station. They saw a middle-aged man not far away waving to Liu Lang. This man had a strong build and wore a pair of sunglasses on his face. However, when they saw Liu Lang
Then I took off my sunglasses.
Lin Guodong and Sun Hu didn't know these two people, but Liu Lang certainly knew them. They were none other than Phil Knight, the chairman of Nike.
The headquarters of Nike is built in Silicon Valley. Chairman Knight was also a graduate of Stanford University's Business School 20 years ago. It can be said that this is Knight's hometown.
Liu Lang walked over with Lin Guodong and Sun Hu.
"Phil, long time no see!"
Liu Lang took the initiative to say hello.
"lang, I haven't seen you for more than a year, but you have grown a lot. If I saw you on the primary school campus, I wouldn't even dare to recognize you!"
Nate came up to Liu Lang and hugged him affectionately.
"Phil, how is the company lately? Sales are pretty good, right?"
Liu Lang asked.
"Very good, very good. The first quarter annual report has just come out. The sales volume of the third "Flying Generation" model has reached 900,000 pairs. The sales volume of the "Samsara" model is one million pairs, but the "different" model is
Sales of shoes continue to rise, reaching 1.3 million pairs in the first quarter of this year alone.
In other words, the total sales volume of these three shoes you designed has reached 3 million pairs in three months, with sales reaching 120 million US dollars and profits exceeding 20 million US dollars. It seems that we are right
The betting agreement will end with you winning big!"
Liu Lang has a gambling agreement with Nike. If profits increase sevenfold within five years, Liu Lang will get 11% of the shares. This is the third year, and in the first quarter it has doubled from 1983. If it continues like this
If the growth continues, the target will be reached one year ahead of schedule next year. At that time, Knight will "lose", but he doesn't look depressed at all.
Of course, in just over a year, Nike has risen from a second-rate company to a popular sports shoe manufacturer in the United States. The market value of its stock price has more than doubled from the beginning of last year. Today, Nike is a veritable billionaire.
He has become a millionaire and has appeared on the covers of various fashion and sports brand magazines three times. It can be said that he has unlimited glory. All these achievements are due to Liu Lang's genius design.
"Oh, how come the Fei Ren generation is the one with the least sales?"
Now Liu Lang has designed five models of shoes, three of which have been released, and the remaining two are still in production. Liu Lang's plan is to use Jordan as the core sports brand, and he also gave Jordan a nickname "Flying Man"
.
Of course, this nickname was exclusive to Jordan in his previous life, but it gradually became popular after a few years. Now Liu Lang directly puts this nickname on Jordan, which is considered to be "coronated" in advance.
"You little guy is not only rich in imagination, but also has a strong ability to recognize people. That Michael Jordan is really very capable. He can almost touch the ceiling of the basketball hall when he jumps up. He has attracted a lot of people just after entering the NBA for more than a year.
fans, your strategy of creating the Jumpman series of shoes for them is still very correct.
However, this Jordan was injured at the beginning of the season. He recovered for four months and only returned to the court last month, so his Flyers series did not achieve better results.
However, even if he can play for a full season, I'm afraid the Jumpman series will not be better than that pair. That advertisement was really well done and won the National Advertiser Award. If you don't come to participate, I will represent you.
You attended the awards ceremony!”
Liu Lang knew that the unique advertisement won the National Advertising Award. He was leading everyone to research chips in Shanghai at that time. Where could he go to the United States to receive the award?
However, he had forgotten about Jordan's injury. Thinking about his previous life, he was also injured in his second season, which lasted for most of the season. Since then, he has not suffered any major injuries.
"Liu Lang, can this Jordan succeed? Don't be a sick boy? If so, we will lose!"
Nike and Jordan signed a seven-year contract worth tens of millions of dollars. This is the largest endorsement deal for Nike in many years. If Jordan fails to perform, Nike will lose a lot of money.
"Don't worry, this Jordan is in good health and will become the number one player in the league sooner or later. The problem now is that the NBA's influence in the United States is not good enough. It is far inferior to football and baseball. Even ice hockey has more influence than basketball. The influence of the league
If you can’t improve your strength, no matter how strong Jordan is, you still have to look at Stern’s methods!”
In fact, what Liu Lang said was nonsense. Under the leadership of Stern, the NBA will definitely become the number one sports league in the United States, but only he knows this outcome.
In fact, Stern did nothing last year except vigorously rectify the stadium and the players. It was really an iron-fist policy. Anyone who violated the rules would be suspended and kicked out. The atmosphere of the stadium has changed tremendously in one year, but this is just himself.
The problem is that there is still a long way to go before it can become the number one sports league in the United States, or even an event that the whole world is crazy about.
"Liu Lang, you are right about this question. I had contact with Stern last year and talked with him a lot about the future of the league. His idea is to build the brand of the league through the star policy. Among them, selected
There are a few people, including "Magic" Johnson, "Big Bird" Bird, and "Dr. J" Irving, but these people belong to the older generation of players. What the league needs is the younger generation of players, such as Jordan, Barkley,
Olajuwon, Drexler, Ewing and others.
Among these people, Jordan is the best. Stern has already set out to make Jordan an iconic figure in the league. This coincides with our strategy, so we must also cooperate with the league to promote Jordan and take this opportunity to
Build our company into the number one brand of basketball sneakers!”
A year ago, Knight didn't know much about the NBA, but now, he knows every team and every star well.
"Liu Lang, we only signed one Jordan, which I think is not enough. Adidas and Puma both have star players. We need to find a few stars to strengthen our strength. Do you have any suggestions?"
Knight asked.
"Jordan's future achievements will exceed the sum of other people's achievements... But you are right. I think Barkley is pretty good and has strong physical fitness. If Jordan plays like a flying man, then he plays like a tank.
Rampage on the court.
In addition, Drexler of the Trail Blazers has a playing style similar to Jordan's and has very good bounce, so he can also be signed."
The NBA draft of 1984 is called the golden generation. Liu Lang is very familiar with the players of this draft, especially the "short fat guy" Jordan and Barkley. The styles of these two people are full of passion. Jordan is that
His opponent was always looking up in front of him, while Buckley relied on his strong body to charge into battle like a fierce general, and he would stand and die even if he had the last drop of blood left.
"Wow, Liu Lang, you also watch NBA games in China? How come you are so familiar with the players?"
Knight was curious.
"I watched some NBA games a few days ago, and many players remembered it...Okay, we will talk about this later. Let me introduce you to my friend first. This is Lin Guodong. I am in the United States.
The general manager of the branch, this is Sun Hu, my old friend!"
The two talked for a long time, and Liu Lang forgot to introduce Sun Hu and Lin Guodong.