1978, Blue Ribbon Sports renamed itself to Nike after the Greek goddess and sponsored runner Steve Prefontaine. The sponsorship of athletes became a key marketing tool for the rapidly growing company.
Nike produces a wide range of sports equipment. Their first products were track running shoes and basketball shoes. They currently also make jerseys for a wide range of sports including track & field, football, baseball, tennis, soccer, lacrosse, cricket, and golf. The most recent additions to their line are the Nike 6.0 and Nike SB shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes, called Air Zoom Yorker, designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'. Nike positions its products in such a way as to try to appeal to a "youthful...materialistic crowd". It is positioned as a premium performance brand. However, it also engineers shoes for discount stores like Wal-Mart under the Starter brand.
By 1980, Nike had reached a 50% market share in the United States athletic shoe market. Its growth was due largely to word of mouth advertisement, rather than television or print adverts, which Knight and others in the industry found distasteful. Nike's first television commercial ran in 1987. Throughout the 1980s, Nike expanded its product line to include many other sports and regions throughout the world.