CNBC will premiere, “Swoosh! Inside Nike,” on Tuesday, February 12th at 10PM & 1AM ET. The hour long documentary, reported by CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell promises to gives viewers “unprecedented access to a major public company.”
According to a CNBC statement, Rovell covers Nike's history… from the company's start in 1962 as Blue Ribbon Sports to its current sports dominance. Nike co-founder Phil Knight tells CNBC how the Nike name was conceived and how he paid a design student the grand sum of 35 dollars to design the signature “swoosh” logo now recognizable around the world. “Swoosh! Inside Nike” also gives viewers an inside look into the story of the groundbreaking advertising that made Nike famous, as well as the athletes who made the ads famous – Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Charles Barkley – reveal how the ads came about. Michael Jordan describes how Nike wooed him in 1984 and how his work with Nike's chief shoe designer, Tinker Hatfield, has brought about many wildly successful versions of the Air Jordan.
The documentary also features a comprehensive look at Nike's labor turnaround. From “sweatshop” poster child a decade ago, Nike-unbeknownst to many-has become a leader in labor relations. Rovell travels to
Viewers will also see how, in true Nike fashion, the company paired the gritty commitment of its current CEO Mark Parker with the endorsement of a sports phenom, skateboarder Paul Rodriguez, to crack and then conquer the fiercely resistant skateboard shoe market. A side effect of that success has been Nike's enticement of the “sneakerheads,” a subculture of fanatic sneaker collectors who buy and re-sell-at enormous profit-the limited edition shoes released by Nike's skateboard line, Nike SB. In “Swoosh! Inside Nike,” viewers will see this world through the eyes of shoe enthusiast Melo Rosario, who owns more than 350 pairs of Nike shoes and displays some of his hottest “kicks” in his
