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312 : APPLYING CREATIVITY TO THE IDEA DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

someone-would-already-be-doing-it idea’ is strikingly reminiscent of the
refusal of the Secretary of State for Wales to provide a development
grant to James Dyson which was highlighted in the previous chapter.

Knight’s vision began to become reality during a post-graduation world
trip when he used the Japanese leg of the tour to establish a distributor
arrangement for the Japanese Tiger brand. Legend has it that in 1964
Knight and Bowerman each contributed $500 to form Blue Ribbon
Sports (BRS, Inc.) to distribute the Japanese product. Their promotion to
the running community through what Knight memorably termed ‘word of
foot’ was so effective that it could have caused their downfall. The
burgeoning sales figures alerted their Japanese supplier to the USA
market’s possibilities, leading the Japanese to plan direct entry into the
market in 1972, either through purchase of a majority stake in BRS, Inc.
or by establishing their own network.

The reaction of Knight and Bowerman to this ‘whack on the side of the
head’, as Roger von Oech describes such critical trigger events, showed
the mark of the innovative persistent entrepreneur.25 Instead of selling
out to the Japanese distributor, they sensed the opportunity which was
not previously apparent to create their own product. From the
termination of BRS, Inc.’s import and sales promotion activities, they
created the vision of NIKE.

To achieve the vision, they established a deal with one of Japan’s
largest trading companies to identify manufacturing sources for the new
design, as well as to provide financing and export–import services.
Finances were under such pressure that Knight was supplementing his
modest income from the fledgling company by teaching accounting at
Portland State University. Without the funding to retain image and
advertising specialists, Knight trusted his right-brain judgement in
backing the brand name suggested by Jeff Johnson, the company’s first
employee. Fittingly enough, the image of NIKE – the Greek goddess of
victory – had come to Johnson in a dream.

Knight also trusted his judgement by using the logo created by Carolyn
Davidson, a graduate design student whom he happened to meet while
he was teaching at Portland State University and to whom he paid the
princely commission of $35. Considering that NIKE’s ‘Swoosh’ logo is
now known throughout the world, this represents one of brand
advertising’s more successful investments.
M