Life Contract Is More Than Endorsement. Nike Hopes To Re Create A Jordan Brand.

In December 8th, the Cleveland honest people reported that NBA star Lebron James signed a life long endorsement contract with Nike.

It is understood that this is the largest contract signed by Nike in 44 years history with a single athlete, with a contract value of at least $600 million.

Just third days after the news, the American brand released a public statement confirming the rumor: "we can be sure that Nike and Lebron signed a contract that can bring us significant business.

Lifelong partnership of value.

Over the past 12 years, we have established a strong Lebron business empire.

We feel that Lebron has greater potential, whether he is effective or retired.

This is the third contract between Nike and James.

In the summer of 2003, the US brand signed James, who had just graduated from high school at a price of 7 years and 90 million dollars.

In 2010, when the first contract was about to expire, Nike and James renewed the contract for 9 years, the contract amount was not open, and the local media had been exposed to $30 million a year.

However, this lifetime contract is different from the previous two agreements. Apart from the unlimited extension of the contract period, James's cooperation with Nike is not only a "star endorsement", but also a "brand merger".

According to "Forbes" report, although Nike did not disclose the specific terms of the player's lifelong endorsement contract, it may involve James's share in the company.

Participation in the partnership makes the contract far beyond the ordinary brand endorsement.

At the same time, there is another indication of the particularity of cooperation between the two sides.

In the past, chivalry stars' endorsement cooperation came from their agents, but this time, James used his investment adviser, Paul Wachter.

According to the well-known commercial media Business Insider, Paul Wachter is an investment specialist who specializes in mergers and acquisitions.

Therefore, in this cooperation, James's status is no longer an ordinary basketball player, and this paction goes beyond the typical one.

Endorsement by members.

It is more like a merger between the two brands, both of which are Nike brand and Lebron James brand.

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James's fans know that in recent years, the investment industry of chivalry stars has been fruitful.

He owns the BEATS of the headset brand, and after the acquisition of the brand last year by Apple Corp, the stock price surged, and James's assets surged 30 million US dollars for a time.

In Chicago, James invested in the lucrative real estate industry.

Earlier, he ended his partnership with McDonald's and invested in a pizza chain brand in Miami.

Just last week, the entertainment company jointly owned by James and his friends won the $16 million injection from Time Warner, and the two sides will cooperate in film and television production.

It is not hard to find that Lebron James is not only a NBA star, but also a proud businessman.

Signing a lifetime contract with Nike is a step for James to expand his business empire and investment territory.

As to why Nike chose James as the first lifelong signing star, the reason is more simple.

In the past 12 years of NBA career, James won two championship rings, four crowned MVP players, and won two Olympic gold medals.

So far this season, James has won 26.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.4 assists. The 31 year old Cavaliers are still fighting for a champion ring.

At this point, James is considered to be the most influential basketball player in the world after Jordan.

In addition, personal image is good, making it the best candidate for marketing of major sports companies.

In addition, in 2014, the cavalry boots cost $340 million for Nike.

This data increased by 13% over the same period last year, ranking first among NBA players, almost two times that of Kevin Durant, who ranked second.

Today, James's boots have been released for thirteenth generations, and their sneakers in 2015.

It is expected to reach US $400 million.

For Nike to bring such a huge profit, the US brand must try every means to retain this "sucking king".

In addition, this cooperation may also benefit from Stephen Currie and Under Armour.

In September this year, Nike's biggest rival in North America, Under Armour, announced that it had renewed its contract with warrior star curry until 2024.

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At the beginning of this year, Under Armour launched the first personal signature boots for curi.

With the high popularity of KULI in the league, all the sizes of its signature boots from children to adults sold out, and the sales of brand shoes increased by 754%, and became the second largest sports brand in the United States.

Not only that, according to the New York Times, sales of curry products exceeded James's ranking in the first place this season, while sales of kunii jerseys increased by 500% over the same period last year.

When Kouri led the warriors to continue the amazing performance of the "unbeaten season", Nike, who followed the crisis, decided to stay with James for the rest of his life.

Therefore, Nike signed huge sums of money to sign lifelong contracts with James, not only to "peep" the commercial value of James, but also the product of sports brand competition in the field of NBA.

At present, the cooperation between Nike and Jordan is not in the name of life contract, but the Jordan brand can bring a lot of experience to the cooperation between James and Nike.

According to the statistics of SportScanInfo, the sales of Jordan brand sneakers in the 2014 year reached US $2 billion 600 million, which is 10 times the number of Nike's James products.

In 2014, Jordan brand accounted for 58% of the market share of the American basketball products, and its flying sign was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

In October, Nike set an annual sales target of $4 billion 500 million for the Jordan brand, which is two times the number of last year.

At that time, Nike executives claimed that most of the growth of the Jordan brand came from the US market, and more than 90% of the buyers were male.

James's time is a period of rapid rise of NBA female fans. James's related products have the chance to become a bargaining chip of Nike basketball series to increase female consumers.

The success of the Jordan brand will prompt Nike to separate the LeBron brand from the NIKE Basketball category and maximize the commercial value of the knight star.

Whether James's future brand influence can reach the height of "basketball spirit" is still unknown.

Up to now, Nike has not yet made clear that it will launch LeBron independent brand.

As a subsidiary of Nike, the Jordan brand has annual sales of over $2 billion 200 million, and Jordan received at least $100 million from Nike last year.

After his lifelong life with Nike, James also longed to see this day.