Selling a powerhouse personal brand: the story of Nike x Air Jordan

"A shoe is always just a shoe until someone steps into it." - Rob Strasser

The movie 'AIR' is about a shoe and also not about just a shoe. It is the story of probably one of the most iconic brand strategies for a globally iconic brand.

It is the story of how one man 'sees something that others don't see yet' and pitches to sell the powerhouse personal brand of the one and only Michael Jordan.

It's 1984 and Nike is being edged out of the basketball scene by its competitors, Adidas and Converse. Nike is only seen as a 'running shoe company'.

Sonny Vaccaro ( played by the amazing Matt Damon ), is the Nike recruiting expert who has a $250,000 budget and who bets big on a young North Carolina guard ( Michael Jordan ). He believes that Jordan is the future of basketball and the superstar of NBA, and so he pursues him relentlessly so he signs with Nike.

Not just that, Sonny wants to go one step ahead and 'build a shoe' around Jordan - an entire shoe range personalized for an athlete and his personal brand, which was unheard of in those days.

Watch this movie to see how Nike worked against all odds to create history with an iconic brand collaboration. Nike made $162 million the first year after releasing the AIR Jordan sneaker range.

What I loved about the film as a marketer:

1. Vision & Observation: Sonny watches and rewatches all the matches of the top players in the list of possible recruits. He has the observation skills and the vision to understand the future of Jordan's strategy on the basketball court and why he will be a once-in-a-lifetime talent. He refuses to be prejudiced by the current top players in the field and believes in his vision, backed by the evidence he has seen in Jordan's play.

2. Taking Calculated Risks: Sonny risks his career in pitching to the Founder and CEO of Nike, Phil Knight about going all in on Jordan. He expressly defies Phil's advice and goes to meet Jordan's parents, unannounced to Michael's agent. He stops a brand video in the pitch meeting and talks to Michael, heart to heart. He promises Deloris that Nike will pay a percentage of earnings from the sale of every pair of Air Jordans, for his lifetime and beyond. However, Sonny bets because he knows Jordan's talent and he is taking a calculated risk and it pays off big!

Seeing his commitment, even Phil Knight relents and breaks the board's rules to onboard Jordan in an exclusive deal.

3. Doing Your Homework: Sonny lives and breathes the story of Michael - he reads up all about him, his family, and his personality and understands 'who he is' beyond being a great athlete. He makes it 'personal' for Michael and his family and that is how he wins the pitch.

4. Innovation in Design & Marketing: The genius of Peter Moore in design and Rob Strasser in marketing the Air Jordan is the stuff of legends. I won't spoil it for you - go watch the dedication and innovation that went into elevating a pair of sneakers into the 'greatest pair of sneakers in history'.

Even the iconic image of 'The Jumpman' is based on how Jordan 'jumped high' on the basketball court.

The whole idea of 'customizing' for your customer comes up from this process.

5. The Art of Public Speaking: It's all about the pitch. You know this if you have watched Don Draper in action in 'Mad Men'. You can have the best product, the best campaign, the best ideas but if you can't pitch it effectively to the audience that matters, then you are doomed.

Sonny takes a page out of Martin Luther King Jr. ( who famously went impromptu with his 'I Have A Dream' speech ). First, he pitches to the gatekeeper - Jordan's mom, and convinces her that he knows her son's worth and will get him the best deal because he believes in his potential, unlike Adidas and Converse, where the executives would just place Michael in a roster of other illustrious players, without any personal attention.

Then he delivers a masterclass in storytelling when he pitches to Michael in the Nike boardroom. (See the full speech below).

The best storytellers win.

6. The Art of Negotiation: Deloris Jordan ( Michael's mom ) goes head to head with Sonny and all executives in the art of negotiation. The masterclass comes towards the end of the deal, where she asks for a percentage of the sales - something no athlete has ever been given in a brand endorsement deal.

Deloris sticks to her guns because she knows the worth of her son's personal brand. She says - "It won’t be the NBA promoting my son, it will be the other way around."

She gets her deal and paves the way for history to be made, with athletes getting paid more since.

Nike won big with Air Jordan sneakers because they pushed the envelope of branding and marketing.

Even if you can't watch the movie daily for inspiration, Sonny's speech/ pitch to Michael Jordan should fill you with adrenaline every morning.

"Forget about the shoes, forget about the money. You're going to make enough money, it's not going to matter. Money can buy you almost anything, it can't buy you immortality. That, you have to earn.

I'm going to look you in the eyes and I'm gonna tell you the future. You were cut from your high school basketball team. You willed your way to the NBA. You're gonna win championships. It's an American story, and that's why Americans are gonna love it. People are going to build you up, and God are they going to, because when you're great and new, we love you. Man, we'll build you up into something that doesn't even exist. You're going to change the fucking world.

But you know what? Once they've built you as high as they possibly can, they're gonna tear you back down - it's the most predictable pattern. We build you into something that doesn't exist, and that means you have to try to be that thing all day, every day. That's how it works. And we do it again, and again, and again. And I'm going to tell you the truth. You're going to be attacked, betrayed, exposed and humiliated. And you'd survive that. A lot of people can climb that mountain. It's the way down that breaks them, 'cause that's the moment when you are truly alone.

And what would you do then? Can you summon the will to fight on, through all the pain, and rise again? Who are you Michael? That will be the defining question of your life. And I think you already know the answer, and that's why we're all here.

A shoe is just a shoe until somebody steps into it. Then it has meaning. The rest of us just want a chance to touch that greatness. We need you in these shoes not so you have meaning in your life, but so that we have meaning in ours. Everyone at this table will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up - except for you. You're gonna be remembered forever, because some things are eternal. You're Michael Jordan, and your story is gonna make us want to fly."