Nike & Jordan: The Power Partnership
How timing and risk created the partnership of a lifetime.
I’ve been looking forward to dropping this one for a while, I hope you enjoy it.
Outside validation can play a big role in crafting a positive brand image in the eyes of the public. In a book titled The Brand Gap, the author Marty Neumeier explains that a brand is little more than a collective amalgam of people’s gut feelings about a product, service, or company. He says,
“When enough individuals arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand. In other words, a brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.”
Sport is one of the best areas for a brand to create a positive perception because it’s such an emotional form of entertainment for viewers, therefore, when an athlete or a sports team has success, the brands they represent instantly get positioned strongly in the eyes of those viewers and that often expands to popular culture in general.
Take the Yankee Cap for example, I know Jay Z claimed "I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can" in the song Empire State Of Mind with Alicia Keys (I would agree that he did globally), however, he likely wouldn’t have been so vocal about the cap in the first place had it not been for the Yankees being one of the most successful sports brands in the U.S.
The Age of Influencers
Influencer marketing is often considered a new trend, but it’s not. The term ‘influencer’ is new but the concept has been around for a very long time.
A very brief history. The earliest example I found dates back to the 1760s when Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, producers of pottery and chinaware, used royal endorsements as a marketing strategy. This helped them grow in stature and made people more aware of their products. At the turn of the 20th century, Cigarette brands began utilizing celebrity branding. 'Kodas' cigarettes introduced a customer loyalty scheme by inserting baseball player cards into the packets of cigarettes.
In the 1930s the focus was on professional athletes. After the war, the trend shifted toward movie stars, then in the 1960s with the introduction of colour television, it spread to TV stars and general entertainers to help bring awareness and validation to brands.
In the 1980s the hockey stick moment really started taking shape and brought us closer to what we know today as ‘influencer marketing’ and Nike was at the forefront.
Nike X Michael Jordan
Before the infamous deal between Nike and Michael Jordan was signed, Nike was actually struggling to compete in the Basketball shoe market. At the time, it was dominated by Adidas and Converse with them both already having deals in place with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the two superstars of that time.
To claim some territory in this market the Nike team knew they had to make some noise, Nike noticed a talented young basketball player called Michael Jordan who was making a name for himself at college. They liked him so much that they made him the celebrity brand ambassador of the brand, this turned out to be one of, if not the, best decision they ever made.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to BrandStrat to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.