What it is
Nike's launch calendar has more than one owner. The global merchandising team sets when a product launches around the world. The geography, North America in this case, shapes how it lands in the region and can influence what happens in its key cities. A key city sets some things and influences others. Los Angeles was one of Nike's 12 key cities, and Khounlavong managed it for Nike Sportswear, a $1.2B lifestyle business.
The city set the calendar of events that aligned to each drop. On launch timing it sometimes set and sometimes influenced. Which one depended on the product and the moment. For a shoe made for Los Angeles, the city set the date.
Where the city did not own the date, it had to influence up. Every city believes its own plan makes the most sense, and the company cannot let each one go its own way. A change to a launch date, or an exception for one city, has to be earned by making the case to the geography and to the global team.
Three Nike businesses released product into Los Angeles at once: Nike Sportswear, Nike Basketball and Jordan Brand. Jordan Brand and Nike Basketball were separate businesses, and Khounlavong did not oversee them. Releases had to be staggered so they did not collide. They had to build to a crescendo around the sport or entertainment moment. The products had to echo and complement one another without one overshadowing the next.
What Khounlavong did
- Set the Los Angeles calendar of events and activations that aligned to each drop.
- Influenced up, to the North America geography and to the global team, where Los Angeles needed a launch moved or an exception made.
- Drew on having held each seat in the process. He had been a global merchandising director for Nike By You, a North America merchandising director for Basketball, Running and Marketplace, and then the lead for a key city.
- Set "win at the moment of truth" as one of four city priorities in his strategic plan workshop of February 2019.
- Mapped the year's moments against each business in his Nike Sportswear plan of October 2019. The plan holds a moments map for 2020 and a twelve month view with rows for Jordan, Nike Sportswear, women's Nike Sportswear and Basketball, beside retail, Los Angeles, and sport and culture.
- Named the moments the city would build toward. Sport: NBA Tip Off, Christmas Day, All-Star Weekend, March Madness, the NBA Playoffs, the Super Bowl, NFL Kick Off, the MLB All-Star Game, the Los Angeles women's marathon and the Tokyo Olympics. Retail: back to school, Black Friday and gifting, and tax season. Culture: ComplexCon, Air Max Day and the award shows.
- Worked in concert with Jordan Brand and Nike Basketball on launch drops in the city.
- Oversaw the teams that carried the moments out on the ground.
How it showed up
- Stranger Things, July and August 2019. Los Angeles ran a pre-release in San Diego during Comic-Con on July 20, ahead of the market launch on August 13 at BAIT on Melrose.
- What The LA, November 2019. An Air Force 1 made for one city, built on the fact that Los Angeles has two teams in every major sport. Los Angeles set the launch date, because the shoe was made for the city. New York took the same brief and made a What The NY Air Force 1. The two cities worked in concert so the shoes would not collide across the geography. What The NY released on October 17, 2019, and What The LA on November 1, 2019.
- LeBron James arrives, October 2018. Billboards, a station takeover, a pop-up at LA Live and a Lakers purple shoe for Los Angeles only, across the two weeks around his first home game.
- Concert nights, October 2018 to February 2019. Nike Sportswear product drops around Drake's seven night run and Travis Scott's nights at The Forum. On October 13, 2018, Drake brought LeBron James and Travis Scott on stage at Staples Center, one week before James played his first home game there.
- From the global seat, December 2017. At Nike By You he had made the same kind of call from the other side of the table. The Los Angeles Air Force 1 launched in Los Angeles first, on December 18, with every other team a month later.
Results
- Lifestyle drove 78% of Nike's footwear growth in Los Angeles from fiscal 2018 to 2019.
- What The LA sold through 100% in minutes.
- The Stranger Things hunt sold through 70% across three sequential launches.
- The LeBron station takeover reached more than 100,000 added viewers through news coverage, as reported by the media company that ran it.
At a glance
| Project type | Launch calendar and cross-business sequencing |
|---|---|
| Industry | Athletic and lifestyle footwear and apparel |
| Seat | General Manager, Nike Sportswear (Los Angeles) |
| Ran through | Nike |
| Who set the calendar | Shared. Global merchandising set global launch dates. The geography shaped the region. Los Angeles set the events around each drop, and set or influenced launch timing case by case |
| His part | Set the city's events calendar. Set or influenced launch timing. Wrote the city plan. Oversaw the teams that carried it out |
| Worked with | Jordan Brand and Nike Basketball, in concert. He did not oversee either business |
| Dates | September 2018 to January 2020 |
| Location | Los Angeles |
| Related pages | Jimmy Khounlavong, Nike Sportswear, Los Angeles, LeBron James arrives, What The LA Air Force 1, Stranger Things scavenger hunt |
| Principal | Jimmy Khounlavong |