Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Reading "Shoe Dog", Phil Knight's memoir that describes how he went from an Oregon track team to creating one of the great brand names in the world, provides insights into the perspiration involved in building a business and the mysteries of brand name value. In this session, I start by defining a brand name as something that changes how customers, employees and capital providers interact with a company, and then lay out a framework for valuing a brand name (with both the layup example with Coca Cola, a more complex one with Birkenstock and a Nike update). I also look at how great brand names get built and the role of fortuitous choices (Nike's name, symbol and slogan) on value, and what caused great brand names to dissipate over time.
Slides: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/blog/BrandName2024.pdf
Blog post: aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2024/10/just-do-it-brand-name-lessons-from.html
Valuations/Data links:
1. Coca Cola in 2024: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/CocaCola2024.xlsx
2. Nike in 2024: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/Nike2024.xlsx
3. Industry distributions for revenue growth and margins: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/IndustryDistribution2024.xlsx
Reading "Shoe Dog", Phil Knight's memoir that describes how he went from an Oregon track team to creating one of the great brand names in the world, provides insights into the perspiration involved in building a business and the mysteries of brand name value. In this session, I start by defining a brand name as something that changes how customers, employees and capital providers interact with a company, and then lay out a framework for valuing a brand name (with both the layup example with Coca Cola, a more complex one with Birkenstock and a Nike update). I also look at how great brand names get built and the role of fortuitous choices (Nike's name, symbol and slogan) on value, and what caused great brand names to dissipate over time.
Slides: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/blog/BrandName2024.pdf
Blog post: aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2024/10/just-do-it-brand-name-lessons-from.html
Valuations/Data links:
1. Coca Cola in 2024: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/CocaCola2024.xlsx
2. Nike in 2024: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/Nike2024.xlsx
3. Industry distributions for revenue growth and margins: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/IndustryDistribution2024.xlsx
