篮球明星云集 只是市场营销策略

As we think about basketball around the world, one of the things that really continues to change is the growth of the game globally. The level of play continues to go up. You see a lot of international players now playing at the highest level. And so the World Basketball Championship coming up at the end of the month, starting I think the 28th and going into September in Turkey, presented us with an opportunity to work with the US national team as well as teams from France, Brazil, Puerto Rico and China, and bring them to New York city which is really the home of basketball.

What are your sales like international? What’s the growth prospects for NIKE International?

Sure. I think, well, the, the Nike Brand now is actually bigger outside the United States than inside the United States and we’ll continue to get that way. China represents one of our biggest growth opportunities. Brazil certainly represents another great growth opportunity for the Nike brand as we think about our international portfolio.

You’ve got such an arsenal of marketing juggernauts behind you. You’ve got Jay-Z coming tonight to this event. Is this still about connecting with the huge super stars, and I think we have that idea with Nike, whether it's in basketball or golf with Tiger Woods. Is that still where the concentration is or are you sort of diversifying or you're being cautious? You aren't spending as much on the marketing?

Well, no. I think, you know, it's always been more than just the athlete. I think the relationship with the athlete is really the core of what the brand is about and certainly what we do. It’s those world-class athletes that challenge us, that inspire us to be more creative, to create a better performance level product. And I think that obviously carries over into the marketing mix. But it’s much more than just that association when you think about the Nike Brand and its connectivity back to the youth consumer.

And events like this, no doubt, feed into them and we see them setting up behind us. So we know it’s gonna be spectacular. Your consumers, are they, are they trading down? Are they buying cheaper products? Have you had to be price-conscious about what you are introducing or you are not seeing that pressure that other retailers clearly are.

Well, we are certainly, I mean I think with the economic situation the way it is, I think that consumers are being cautious with regards to their spending. We are not seeing a significant trading down in price by any means. Again, but I think that goes back to the innovation and the compelling concepts that we are putting before the consumer.

You feel like you are stealing market share from other people?

Oh, absolutely. I would say that we have probably increased our market share around the world considerably over the last 18 months. And again I think that goes back to the strength of the brand.

A lot of the attention in the U.S. but also abroad in Europe about the fact that job growth is so slow. As a company, is Nike hiring? Are you being very cautious on that front?

We are being pretty cautious but we are still, we still believe we are a growth company. And we still are investing in, you know, our infrastructure, our people and we are doing some hiring, not aggressively, representing a somewhat cautious outlook, but we still believe that we have a lot of growth ahead of us.