Nike Sportswear, Los Angeles: general management with a creative mandate

What it is

Los Angeles is often where Nike's brand is made or broken. It is one of the most culturally influential cities in the world, and every decision plays out in public.

The role was general management with a creative mandate: own the P&L, the growth strategy and the brand's standing in the city at the same time.

What Khounlavong did

• Built a three-year marketplace growth model with lifestyle, not performance, as the growth engine.
• Led a 37-person cross-functional organization spanning merchandising, brand, sales and product, on one consumer-led operating plan.
• Managed the boutique tier, KITH, Undefeated and Feature among them, alongside the Finish Line, Shoe Palace and Hibbett wholesale business.
• Oversaw the team that delivered Nike's first digital meets physical (Phygital) scavenger hunt through SNKRS, built with SNKRS, Netflix and BAIT for Stranger Things season three. It ran across San Diego during Comic-Con on July 20, 2019 as the pre-release, ahead of the official launch at BAIT on Melrose in Los Angeles on August 13, 2019.
• Was part of the team that branded the Los Angeles business City of Athletes. AEG was the venue partner at LA Live and Staples Center.
• Chose long-term brand integrity over short-term volume in distribution, partner elevation and product allocation.
• Oversaw the teams that ran the launches of his tenure: Kobe Protro with Undefeated, BAIT with SNKRS, and neighborhood programs in Watts and East Los.
• Oversaw the teams that welcomed LeBron James to the Lakers in October 2018, including what Foot Locker and Nike Basketball delivered through House of Hoops at LA Live: product drops, a pop-up, a station takeover and banner wraps.
• Oversaw the teams that ran Nike Sportswear product drops around Travis Scott and Drake concerts in the city.
• Worked in concert with Jordan Brand and Nike Basketball on launch drops in the city. The three businesses staggered their releases so they did not collide, built toward a crescendo around each sport or entertainment moment, and chose products that echoed and complemented one another without overshadowing.
• Worked with merchandising after the launch of Nike by Melrose to raise assortment productivity.
• Worked back through factories, warehouses and outside partners on custom repackaging, numbered pairs and special deliveries.
• Helped spearhead the What The LA Air Force 1, built on the LA Sports Equinox of October 28, 2018, and on the insight that the city has two professional teams in every sport. Los Angeles set the launch date of November 1, 2019, and worked in concert with New York, whose What The NY shoe released on October 17. Distribution ran across channels, with courtside seeding.
• Authored the Nike Sportswear cross-functional growth plan for fiscal 2021 to 2023, which projected $183M in point-of-sale growth and seven points of portfolio share.
• Set the city priorities in a strategic plan workshop in February 2019: know and influence the market, win at the moment of truth, define the must-win trade zones and key doors, and grow together.
• Set the fiscal 2020 direction, Serve the Underserved, with a sharp point on the Latinx consumer and distribution through Watts, East Los and a Compton community door.
• Framed the October 2019 strategy in three parts: make athletes better at their sport, enable more Angelenos to choose sport, create the future city of sport.

Results

• Lifestyle drove 78% of Nike's footwear growth in Los Angeles from fiscal 2018 to 2019.
• A three-year strategy on a planned 16% compound rate.
• What The LA sold through in minutes, with coverage from local television, ESPN, Complex, Hypebeast and the LA Times.
• The scavenger hunt's three launches sold through at 70%.
• Nike held number one market share and number one cool brand among Los Angeles teens through 2019 and 2020.

At a glance