What If Jordan signed with Adidas In 1987?

In 1987, Rob Strasser and Peter Moore got new jobs.Those who don’t know better might say who cares, and too that I say I do. Why? Because Rob Strasser and Peter Moore were designers for the Air Jordan shoe line, with Moore being the head designer of both the Jordan 1 and 2 models. Not only was Nike worried about losing there most influential designers, but they worried about Strasser and Moore taking the main man Michael Jordan with them to rivals Adidas.The Nike deal had been pretty successful for both MJ and Nike, selling 450,000 Jordan 1’s in the first month. However, Jordan suffered a serious foot injury in the shoes, with many at Nike then feeling he was unsatisfied with the brand’s shoes.Some close to Nike at the time were saying “Phil Knight was pretty well convinced that Michael was gonna leave Nike.” It went to the point where Jordan even met with Adidas about signing with them. Yet, if Mike had put pen to paper with the German brand, things might not be such smooth sailing for number twenty-three.

If Jordan was to join Adidas you would not remember him as the person and brand you see today. At the time, signature athletes in basketball weren’t really a thing, but after the Air Jordan one did $126 million in sales, Adidas was probably cool with continuing the line. Yet, the success of the brand might not have been similar to how it has turned out with Nike.The Nike Jordan brand was not just about how the shoes looked but the marketing behind them. Nike released edgy ads like the famed “Banned” commercial. After the NBA decided to ban MJ for wearing shoes with not enough white, Nike sold the shoe as rebel shoe, wearing the shoe was to be against the system and cool, something shown in a lot of Nike’s ads.Different Ads with the inspiring music and slow mo footage of Jordan taking off to the basket, with the deep voiceover saying “Air Jordan”, built into to viewers and perspective buyers that the shoe was to be Mike, and everyone wanted to be that. Adidas wouldn’t of put that thought and preparation for a product as a young and hungry Nike would.

In 1986, movie director Spike Lee released the movie “She’s Gotta Have It” where Lee plays character Mars Blackmon. The movie was a instant hit grossing around $7 million at the box office.It became a staple in pop culture, with one of it’s main characters Mars Blackmon wearing Jordans. In Lee’s next best selling movie “Do The Right Thing”, Spike’s characters wore the Jordan 4’s. Nike would also release a plethora of ad campaigns of Spike playing Mars Blackmon while inquiring about Jordan’s success. The idea of combining the Jordan shoes withnot just Mike himself, but also a famous movie character was a genius play by Nike.This broke the Jordan brand into urban culture and culture everywhere. Even in recent years, this ingenuity has had a lot of athletes pick Nike over Adidas. Athletes like Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant have all chosen Nike over Adidas, all also having a incredible marketing behind there shoes.

Without Nike, the Jordan brand would not off grown into the brand it has become. The risk Nike was willing to take and the idea of puting Jordan next to cool figures in mainstream culture helped grow the brand at it’s earliest stage. If Jordan had signed with Adidas, his performance on the court as the best player in the league would of stayed the same. Nike did not build his talent, but they built his aura.If Adidas would of taken the reins of the Jordan brand project, the lack of smart marketing would of prevented the brand from growing they way it did.Without the success of the Air Jordan and Nike, the idea of a signature athlete would of been lost as a gimmick but not something to take seriously.Nike had the best product anyone could ask for, the most marketable player. Nike also carefully cultivated the image of that product, and that should not be overlooked.Thinking that Adidas or any brand could easily cultivate a multi billion dollar brand from just a really marketable Basketball player is crazy, but Nike did.