Celebrity endorsements have been a crucial part of big brand marketing plans all over the world for decades and decades. There have been many big successes as well as many failures in marketing campaigns using celebrity endorsements. Some of the most notable successes include former Heavy weight champion boxer George Forman and his endorsement of the wildly popular George Forman Grills, and New York Yankee great Derek Jeter with Gilette razors and shaving creams. Other companies’ big spending didn’t quite pay off with their celebrity endorsements. Some notable campaigns that didn’t work out are former Heisman Trophy winner and Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson’s ad for Hertz car rental and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis’ ads for Disney.
Businesses who can afford to hire a celebrity to endorse their product or service need to be very selective when choosing the right person. Any bad press with the celebrity might shed a bad light on the company and that’s what we saw with Disney when Ray Lewis was charged in a connection with a double murder in 2000 and Hertz Car Rental with O.J. Simpson’s infamous run from police and ultimate arrest and murder charge in 1994, the same year the commercial was aired. A clean celebrity image is very important to avoid any controversy with the company paying for the advertisement.
One of the biggest and most successful celebrity ad campaigns in history was also one of the biggest marketing gambles in celebrity endorsement history. In 1984 Michael Jordan was an untested NBA rookie for the Chicago Bulls when he was contacted by a struggling running shoe company called Nike. Executives with Nike decided to take a big gamble in an attempt to revive a company that enjoyed early success with a running shoe phenomenon that had all but died out. Nike had a marketing budget of $500,000 in 1984 and decided to give the young basketball player from North Carolina the entire amount for an advertising contract with the company. At that time it was an unheard of amount for an endorsement deal but Nike thought it was a necessary gamble to revive the brand.
At the time Nike was a running shoe producer and was virtually unheard of in the basketball shoe world that was run by brands like Converse and ADIDAS. At the time there was not a tremendous impact from a shoe endorsement and few companies were willing to put all their chips in one basket by hiring only one celebrity to endorse their product especially an untested unproven NBA rookie. Nike saw something special in Michael Jordan. They saw energy, heart, personality, intense competitiveness, and star power in the young basketball rookie but Mike was a bit reluctant to sign a deal with Nike.
Michael had only worn Converse and ADIDAS shoes in his career and felt a sort of allegiance with those brand and Nike was not at all a popular basketball shoe brand. After some persuasion from his manager and family Jordan agreed to fly to the Nike headquarters in Portland Oregon to view a special video presentation and proposal though he later stated in retrospect that he went with no intensions of signing with the brand. The video presentation featured slow-motion clips of Jordan’s college career and some of his high-flying Olympic moves with a background of then hit music “Jump” by the Pointer Sisters. Nike Head Designer, Peter Moore presented sketches of Air Jordan 1 shoes, jumpsuits, and sports apparel, all in black and red. Michael’s remarks upon seeing the designs were less than enthusiastic. He is reported to have said; “I can’t wear that shoe, those are devil colors” however, following the meeting Jordan signed a $2.5 million deal for 5 years with Nike and the Air Jordan legacy was born.
After winning the 1986-87 slam dunk contest at the Seattle Coliseum the Jordan logo changed to the popular “Jumpman” logo of today. Michael Jordan had become a huge star in the NBA and every kid in America was trying to be “like Mike” and shoe sales for Nike soared. After 12 versions of the wildly popular “Air Jordan” shoe Nike decided to unveil a new marketing plan in 1997 that made Jordan its own sub-brand of Nike. From this point on, Jordan Brand products no longer featured the Nike name or the Nike swoosh. The Jordan Brand continued to thrive and anchor Nike’s basketball brand.
After 6 NBA Finals Championships, 6 NBA Finals MVP’s, 5 NBA MVP’s, 2 Olympic Gold Medals, 14 NBA All-Star selections, 10 NBA Scoring Titles, 2 time NBA Dunk Contest Champion, and NBA Rookie of the Year Award Michael Jordan is widely considered the best player to ever play the game. His amazing career fueled the fire for a struggling shoe company and helped it become the biggest selling shoe company in the world.
Jordan and Nike designers have produced 21 versions of the Air Jordan shoe and some speculate the 23rd version will be the last in honor or Jordan’s basketball number 23. The shoes are always among the best selling basketball shoes year after year and have been adored by both players and collectors. Since being out of the game for nearly 8 years Michael Jordan still continues to produce shoes and apparel with the famous Air Jordan “Jumpman” logo.
From a big marketing gamble back in 1984 to a $19 Billion a year empire Nike has seen some amazing success and the basketball legend from North Carolina is who they have to thank for it. Michael Jordan has been and continues to be the most successful celebrity endorser of all time. He took a struggling running shoe producer and helped build it into the most successful shoe company in the world. There is no question Nike made the best possible decision when they decided to spend their entire marketing budget on the young talented NBA rookie in hopes to revive their brand.
