In the 1980s, Nike was a new company doing extremely well with quarterly business innovations. A certain sales mindset enveloped the organization but so was an almost apathy towards marketing. Departments had production, design, line management and sales teams but no marketing plan had ever been written. The reason for this apathy towards marketing was threefold. The founder and other seniors were afraid that marketing would involve excessive business analysis which will slow down the cycle. Plans would apparently cripple its extraordinary market reach efficiency. And there was this sales mentality which suited retailers. In order to change this it was essential that managers were explained that marketing was a process and not a department. The basketball division in particularly grasped this idea and recruited star Michael Jordan to endorse their products under the brand line Air Jordan. This new marketing plan allowed for extensive analysis but not paralysis by the same as was the fear of trying to emulate P&G.

Source: http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2016/08/how-nike-shifted-from-a-sales-to-marketing-mindset.html#.V616AtR95DA