Nike Inc., the multinational footwear, sporting equipment, and apparel company, is today’s word of the day. Nike’s Chinese name is 耐克 (pronunciation: nàikè). The Chinese name is a transliteration (meaning pronunciation is very similar to English), but the characters were also chosen based on their meaning. The first character 耐 (nài), means ‘be able to endure’, while the second character 克 (kè), means ‘overcome’, making this an excellent example of branding your company well in the Chinese marketplace.
Nike was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports. It is highly-recognized for its trademark slogan ‘Just do it’, and the Swoosh logo. With revenue already surpassing $25 billion for 2012, Nike is the most valuable sporting brand in the world.