$35 for the world’s most iconic symbol. One inked on athletes’ bodies around the world. But what does Phil Knight say to this once-in-a-lifetime badge of athletic performance?
“What else you got?”
“Well, I don’t love it, but maybe it’ll grow on me.”
We dread them, we hate them, but we EXPECT them. Like the sun sets in the west, like the government demands taxes every April, like dogs will bark when the doorbell rings … a client is guaranteed to react like this to logo work.
Take heart, my marketing brethren (and sisteren), it happens to everyone. Even the image that a 2015 Siegel + Gale survey named as the #1 globally most memorable logo ever (followed by Apple, McDonalds and Coke).
When Carolyn Davidson was a student at Portland State in the 60’s, she met Phil Knight. Phil, at the time, had a company called Blue Ribbon Sports and was importing and distributing Tiger athletic shoes from Japan. He and University of Oregon Track coach Bill Bowerman had an idea to start producing their own track shoe and wanted a logo for their new company, Nike.
Phil offered Carolyn $2 an hour to design a logo, but says he never dreamed she would actually take seventeen and a half hours on the project! The story goes that when Phil handed over the check for $35, he asked Carolyn not to cash it right away.
$35 for the world’s most iconic symbol. One inked on athletes’ bodies around the world. But what does Phil Knight say to this once-in-a-lifetime badge of athletic performance?
“What else you got?”
“Well, I don’t love it, but maybe it’ll grow on me.”
I have a client struggling with this same issue as you read this. They currently have a logo that was outdated when Andy Griffith patrolled Mayberry. The management asked for, and the research supported, a new logo – but did not support a new name.
After more than 50 designs and 7 rounds of meetings we have whittled it down to a manageable number of symbols to test with their market. But the client’s feet have been dipped in ice water.
“What does this icon mean?” It’ll mean whatever we want it to.
“It doesn’t speak to me.” Good, you’re not the target demographic.
They were reminded about the ambiguous Nike Swoosh and countered with a statement that leads me to this article.
Yes, in 2015, Nike’s “Demand Creation” (Marketing) budget was $3.2 BILLION! Larger than the GDP of some countries. But remember this, the Swoosh didn’t start out with $3.2 billion. In 1971, it started out in the trunk of Phil Knight’s car. “Nike,” meant nothing. The curvy checkmark thingy meant nothing. What they had was:
- Bowerman’s revolutionary Waffle Trainer idea.
- Knight’s distribution network from Tiger.
- The success of Steve Prefontaine, an Oregon runner with a James Dean-like persona and a man who held American records in seven different distances – while wearing Nike shoes.
- Timing! If Nike didn’t start the fitness revolution, Knight says, “We were at least right there. And we sure rode it for one hell of a ride”
While Phil wasn’t completely impressed with his logo options, over the next few minutes, they decided that the Swoosh was the best one, and they chose to move ahead with it immediately.
“In any moment of decision, the best thing is to do the right thing, the next best thing is to do the wrong thing, and the worst thing to do is nothing.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
Yes, the Swoosh meant nothing in 1971. But, Nike defined it through a quality product, and company culture and attitude. The Swoosh had ‘tude, well before it had a billion-dollar budget … because the company had ‘tude. By 1995, Nike opted to drop the brand name, leaving the Swoosh as the sole symbol of the company (kinda like Prince in the ‘90s).
Your brand won’t have overnight success either. And unless you wanna be that dude that “sang” Gangnam Style, you don’t want it. You want a brand that is sustainable. Your logo won’t define your brand, but it will represent the quality, tone and attitude that YOU give it.
Oh, and by the way, for all of you who think I will now accept only $35 to design a logo for you, keep in mind that Nike later gifted Carolyn Davidson 500 shares of stock that are now worth more than $643,000.
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