With a price tag nearing 200 dollars a pair, a Jordan to any teenage basketball fan is analogous to a Jimmy Choo or a Manolo Blahnik to a crazed woman. While there have been numerous shoes throughout the last 15-20 years that have been sponsored by particular athletes, Michael Jordan’s shoe is the only one that has stood the test of time.
Building value has been a critical factor in this peculiar phenomenon. The Air Jordan shoe line’s success and popularity were highly correlated with Michael Jordan’s personal on-court successes. Even years after Jordan’s retirement, NBA stars continue to wear Brand Jordan sneakers as they were so heavily influenced during their adolescence. Hoops fanatics are left thinking, “These shoes are worn by millionaire professional athletes, they must be the best out there!”
However, a factor more important that building value may be the advertising of Jordan commercials. From a recent article on the effectiveness of advertisements, it’s been shown that it is far more important to consider how people feel about a brand, than what ads can tell them about it. It’s critical to define a target audience, ensure people have empathy and emotional attachment, etc. Jordan commercials do just that. The commercials always feature inspiring quotes or basketball clips - tugging at the heartstrings of basketball fans, and generally promote how wearing a Jordan sneaker is not only about performance but also about status. The Jordan commercials have effectively transformed Brand Jordan into a status symbol amongst the urban hip hop community.
As people camp outside Foot Lockers the night before the release of a new Jordan sneaker, as parents shell out almost 200 dollars for a pair of shoes for their children, as Jordan sneakers have the Midas touch, the question of how a sneaker has become such a popular icon can only be answered by the statement: ITS GOTTA BE THE…advertising?
Posted by Chris Liu, Seon Hwang, Kristy Choi, Minsoo Park
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