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Armstrong's status continues meteoric rise
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It all began with a simple band. AP Photo/Peter Morrison
Lance Armstrong is one of the world's most famous athletes. His record seven straight championships (1999-2005) in arguably the most grueling event in sport—the Tour de France—is sometimes a mere complement to the man's well-documented and inspirational victory over cancer.
That very inspiration was the driving force behind the global yellow wristband-wearing movement.
And to think Armstrong and his agent, Bill Stapleton, actually laughed when Nike presented them with the idea in 2004.
"I thought it was a stupid idea," Stapleton recently told Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. "I've learned over the years Nike has a lot of crazy ideas, but most work."
Nike executive Scott MacEachern proposed to sell 5 million rubber bracelets for a buck apiece. Armstrong and Stapleton joked that they'd sell 100,000 to friends and family and have 4.9 million left to shoot at each other.
Instead, the simple concept spread like internet video of Kanye West butting in on Taylor Swift's big moment at MTV's video music awards ceremony.
Today, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised more than $300 million in its fight against cancer.
Armstrong's story seems to know no end. In fact, Chrysler executive Michael Accavitti, chief executive of the Dodge brand recently announced this change in Dodge's marketing approach: "We want to transform the Dodge image of a middle linebacker to something more like a Lance Armstrong. The same muscle, but just packaged differently."
When an American auto executive seem to be saying "We need to be more like a cycling champion," it's clear Armstrong has moved beyond icon status.
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