/Nike Golf
Global Brand Marketing - Retail Brand Marketing Director (Apr 2008 - Sep 2012)
As NikeGolf Retail Brand Marketing Director, I led the Global Retail Brand Experiences across multi-channel concepts and seasonal product launches for NikeGolf apparel, footwear, and equipment.
Before joining the NikeGolf team, I heard Phil Knight speak on campus for the first time. I sat a few feet from Mr. Knight and one of tennis’ iconic athletes, Andre Agassi.
Outside of playing my local 9-hole course in the middle of a horse racing track, tennis had been my sport growing up. Phil was a legend I had only seen on magazine covers, so sitting next to the stage and listening to these men share stories of the sport and their mutual admiration for one another was inspiring for me and my colleagues in the room.
At the end of the session, they opened up the conversation to questions from the team, and someone in the audience asked Phil how he determined which athletes Nike sponsored. His answer was short and memorable,
"I sign change agents."
Phil went on to explain that there are many talented athletes and world record holders, but only a handful of athletes have the potential to change their sport.
Just think of athletes like Jordan, Bo, McEnroe, Serena, LeBron, and Tiger.
Athletes who are agents of change define the sport for their generation. As a result, they redefine the sporting industry. The brand partners that support and fuel these athletes are part of the change, shaping conversations and the marketplaces.
My experience at NikeGolf reinforced this strategy. In addition to Nike signing athletes as change agents, it encouraged their hiring. At NikeGolf, I built a team of individuals who were curious, collaborative, and creative thinkers.
These core traits enabled my team and me to work closely with NikeGolf functions and geography teams across the US, EMEA, Canada, Japan, China, Korea, and Southeast Asia to develop Nike's first global fixture program.
We created brand experiences linked to the heritage of the sport while infusing Nike’s sports culture to redefine retail for the next generation of golfers.
In partnership with Nike Creative Director Ron Dumas, famous for the art direction behind Michael Jordan's "Wings" poster, our teams collaborated with Nike procurement to develop a tiered fixture program and dynamic Go-To-Market app that reduced sales dependency on printed catalogs. Sales teams could immerse the account from the iPad into the season's marketing overview with marketing and product videos.
The app also enabled sales teams to sell in the modular fixture program, expanding NikeGolf's Clubhouse program. Reps could dynamically change the FTW product assortment to sell in the fixtures and products simultaneously.
Working with NikeGolf operations, we had shop-in-shop fixtures built off-shore and delivered to Nike's warehouse, where they were delivered with the account seasonal product and marketing graphics.
To enhance the brand experience, bringing the consumer closer to the sport at retail, I led the development of dynamic Golf mannequins and props through my partnership with former Fusion Mannequin’s Creative Director, Stacie White Bornn.
Working with Stacie and her team of artisans and Nike Sports Marketing Amy Bartlett and the Tiger Woods team to create a sculpture of Tiger's iconic swing. We then cast realistic TW mannequins for global distribution along with a catalog of in-motion male & female golf mannequins.
As a result, our collective team of game-changers across sales, marketing, creative, and retail partners doubled NikeGolf's global retail footprint between 2008 and 2012 in clubhouses, sporting goods, and specialty stores —with double-digit growth in Great China, Japan, and Korea.
