It was just two rookies gambling on each other.
Nandini Likhar
Setting up IMPACTFUL Brand Campaigns that generate Results| Brand & Marketing Project Manager at Schneider Electric
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The NBA barely knew him.
He was a rookie.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were ruling the basketball combat.
But he was different. He had shown glimpses of it at the UNC & and at the 1984 Olympics. He was only laboring for his pro debut at the training camp for the Chicago Bulls when teammates were turned into rivals and Bulls staff into evangelicals.
Nike was watching. They had a plan.
Thus, in the preseason game went the two rookies to standout. To make a statement. To be unconventional, unorthodox, alpha INDIVIDUAL.
The shoe, Nike Air Ship, had three color schemes, predominantly red and white & barely white which Jordan appreciated, and the NBA scorned.
The dress code at the NBA was supposed to be mostly white as it showed sportsmanship & professionalism.
It deemed the Black/Red Ships a violation of the league dress code.
He would be fined $5000 every time he wore those.
He wore. Every time. Nike paid the fine. As they say, the show must go on, and it did. Michael Jordan wore White/Red Ships after the October 18th banning and debuted the Air Jordan 1 in November of 1984.
The league said SNEAKERS? Good!
As for Nike’s Peter Moore, attracting attention to the unorthodox color scheme was the plan all along.
The red-hot rookie would regularly score point totals in the 30s and 40s, making him a fan-favorite and a smoking-hot controversy.
In his Dunk Contest debut in February, the rookie would don head-to-tie Nike Air Jordan outfit, accented by a gold chain, with the banned Air Jordan 1- the only time the shoe would be worn in NBA action by MJ.
The dunk contest wasn’t a win, but both the rookies won.
Positioning their signature star as the ultimate alpha individual, their outlandish outfitting mixed with MJ’s airborne acrobatics signified what Air Jordan was all about.?
Soon, every kid in America wanted their choices and style statements to be as loud as Mike’s and it all started with those black and red shoes.
?The country went crazy to be like Jordan. Or at least to look like him.
?Mike’s game wasn’t taming neither the flurry of ads across the country- only to be released until the April of 1985- six months after those beasts were seen in the court on Jordan’s feet. 6 months.
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Wild frenzy.
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Nike made $100 Million in US sales in 1985 along. Sold at $65 a pair. Just from Air Jordan 1 and corresponding clothing- double the amount of Nike’s total brand sales that year.
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The Air Jordan line allegedly made $3.14 billion in 2019.
It didn’t start with the premonition though. That they will make history.
Nike was an underdog in the basketball market. Converse was ruling. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird- the greatest at that time were endorsing the brand.
Adidas also was making just double the revenue Nike made.
Thus, the underdog reached Jordan as he was looking for an endorsement. He rejected Nike as his preference were Converse & Adidas.
Converse already had world’s greatest & Adidas didn'toffer an agreeable deal.
Obliging to his mother, Jordan cared to listen to Nike again. ?Nike made him an offer namely $500,000-a-year for five years and the opportunity to design his own line of shoes.
However,
There were 3 conditions to that offer:
To win Rookie of the Year, become an All-Star, and average 20 points a game.
If Jordan couldn’t accomplish one within his first three years, the deal will be cut short.
Rookie of the Year honors, averaged 28.2 ppg, an All-Star the following year- he got everything!
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?Both were mad to create an identity. To have their own way. They did it.
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