It's Gotta Be the Shoes

CNBC premiered its documentary on Nike, called "Swoosh! Inside Nike" yesterday. The documentary was reported and hosted by CNBC's sports business reporter Darren Rovell. Rovell spent several years at ESPN before being hired by CNBC. I was always surprised ESPN let Rovell get away without anyone hired to replace him. I can only suppose that as ESPN has become a bigger force in the sports business, it must have been increasingly hard to have someone cover the business of sports while leaving ESPN out of the stories.

The Nike documentary was never intended to be some scathing commentary or expose on Nike. Not even close.

A couple months ago, I went to the people at Nike, who in covering the business of sports, I talk to every single week. I told them the idea of the show--a look into their company that went deeper than any report. I told them I wanted to show our viewers this sneakerhead culture. I wanted to go behind the story of Michael Jordan's incredible success even today as a shoe pitchman, delve into Nike's history and explore their advertising and finally--look into how they recovered from the labor practices that made them the poster boy for sweatshops a decade ago.

So those looking for that will be disappointed. What about the rest?
The first three segments of the documentary are mostly a rehash and look back on the Nike business and history. Most of this is nothing groundbreaking. They are stories that have been written before.

There's "Brand Jordan," which looks back on how Nike was able to get Michael Jordan to become their corporate icon. How as Jordan blossomed, the brand followed. About the only part that hasn't been covered in so many forums was a touching on the "murder for the shoes" stories of the 90s. The chief shoe designer for the Air Jordan series, Jordan Tinker Hatfield is asked about it. He denies any responsibility on his or Nike's part, instead stating how it is "a sad commentary about culture."

Then it's a "History of Nike." The founding of the company by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight as Blue Ribbon Sports, through its growth, name change and logo. The surpassing of Adidas, being caught by Reebok and then going global for the future. The piece is cut in with commentary from Nike executives and co-founder Phil Knight -- doing his interview inside but with sunglasses on for the ultimate in cool for a nearly 70-year old man. They might as well air this segment to kick off the next shareholders meeting for Nike.

After that, it's "Nike Marketing." There's a quick look at the Nike ad firm of Weiden + Kennedy that have produced the many memorable Nike commercials. The revelation that controversy generated sales. Whether it was the NBA banning Air Jordans at first or Charles Barkley's "I am not a role model" commercial. They do deny, however, that their intent was ever to generate controversy.

This bit is heavy on the celebrity feature with Tiger Woods, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan and LeBron James all featured. The interviews of them are not new. They are culled from past interviews.

The segment on the third-world sweatshops issue had promise. Or at the very least suggested something new. They look back on the beginning of the controversy: a St. John's University assistant coach on the soccer team, James Keady. Keady learned about the workplace conditions at factories in third world countries and felt it was morally inconsistent with his Catholic social mission to support Nike. Nike had a sponsorship deal with St. John's but Keady refused to wear Nike gear. Keady claims he was forced to resign his position as a result. The statement is not challenged in the story. Keady became more involved in making the conditions known, traveling to Vietnam and living with the workers.

From there, the story shifts back to Nike and how they now work hard to be a good corporate citizen. That they have a 100-person strong staff to monitor human rights conditions at all Nike factories and contracted factories. That they make the annual report publicly available.

CNBC then takes a trip to Vietnam to see things for themselves. It's almost the standard fare of, look at how serious we are about seeing whether things have really improved. We went to Vietnam. They find that conditions have definitely improved, but there are still significant issues with wages and hours worked -- specifically that the cost of living has risen far faster than wages and excessive overtime.

The segment really misses its chance to explain how far Nike may have really come, or not. All they needed was comments or observations by Mr. Keady on what he has seen from Nike since the '90s. Or any other watch group involved in the third world. The closest they come is a college professor who has studied Nike from his office. Talking to the head of Nike's corporate responsibility is less than convincing.

The final segment is essentially a couple of fun things that bleed from one to the next. There is Nike breaking into the world of skateboarding sneakers. The theme is stressed that it comes from the Michael Jordan approach by partnering with an up-and-coming young skateboarder -- Paul Rodriguez, Jr., or P-Rod -- to help them with credibility and recognition.

It then crosses into the topic of sneakerheads or sneaker collectors. The whole issue of a subculture of collectors and obsessed people. Not to mention how Nike caters to these people by offering special limited releases of sneakers and specialty sneakers.

There's a lot to Nike's business that in never discussed. The Nike impact in college and prep sports is never even broached. I'm admittedly biased as a blogger who writes about college football and basketball, but these are areas where Nike has a huge impact. From their shoe camps to the apparel deals with college athletic departments, the impact of Nike cannot be understated. This seems like a glaring omission. Sites like Uni Watch regularly dissect and examine the impact of Nike designed uniforms. Last year, Nike made much of their new style of dress for college basketball, ahead of March Madness.

The focus of the story was clearly on the sneaker aspect of the business. Nike today, is much more than that.

Also disappointing, the support website is lacking. It is so clearly only about the entertainment aspect of the story. There is nothing additional about the sweatshop issue or any of the actual reporting. In fact, if you went by the documentary's website, you might think that they skipped the whole issue. Not even a link to the Nike Corporate Responsibility site and report that the documentary trumpets.

Overall, the documentary is mildly entertaining but doesn't add a lot of new information about Nike. The actual run time is about 42 minutes.

Nike! Inside the Swoosh airs again on CNBC on Monday, February 18 at 9 pm and 12am Eastern and on Sunday, February 24 at 10 pm Eastern.