Week 10 - Brand Valuation

I grew up a huge Michael Jordan fan and one of my fondest MJ moments was the 1992 Dream Team.  Like most young men at the time I was star struck watching NBA legends team up to destroy the competition.  But when it came time for the Dream Team to accept their Gold Medals, MJ arguably had his toughest moment of the Olympics.  The athletes were required to take the gold medal podium wearing Reebok warm-up gear.  To some of his teammates this wasn’t a big deal.  But MJ is Air Jordan; he’s the face of Nike.  This was not acceptable. In 1992 Michael was at the pinnacle of his greatness and to stand on the Gold Medal podium wearing Reebok would have been an insult to him and Nike.

Michael Jordan and Nike are synonymous with one another.  Their respective brands are intertwined.  The value of both brands would suffer without one another.  Nike cannot replace MJ with a more popular basketball player (there isn’t one) and MJ can’t sell shoes with anyone but Nike.  MJ helped build the Nike brand and make it a symbol of excellence in pro sports.  For example, Lebron James was courted by many shoe companies when he entered the league, but it was said his personal brand would suffer if he went with anyone but Nike.  Nike represents the best, and going with Nike was a badge of honor Lebron had to accept if he wanted to be the best. 

Nike is my favorite brand because of MJ.  I wear Nike because I grew up watching #23 play the game in Nike.  Most men view athletic competition as battle, and if you’re going into battle you need the best equipment.  So when I go out to play Ultimate Frisbee this week I’ll put on my Nike shorts, my Nike shirt, my Nike socks, and finally my Nike cleats.  The Swoosh is everything; it’s a sign of excellence and dedication to the game.  When your competitor is wearing Nike you know you have to take them serious.  My wife thinks I’m a fool for wearing expensive Nike stuff, but she doesn’t understand.  I’m going into battle, and I’ve seen the greatest go into battle a hundred times and he always wore Nike.  I think I’d be a fool to wear anything else.

Jordan went to the podium in 1992 and accepted his Gold medal, but nobody saw him wearing Reebok.  Jordan tactically draped an American flag over his right shoulder to hide the logos.  There was too much at stake to risk wearing Reebok for 15 minutes.  MJ and Nike had to protect their brand and the influence it eventually had on my generation.