Sneaker Wars
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From the seemingly endless reinvention of the athletic shoe has flowed a torrent of inspiration, all aimed at putting one manufacturer’s footwear in front of another. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 10 SNEAKER WARS: 11 12 GOING TOE-TO-TOE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 JUST AS THE SUPER BOWL was the battlefield for what people put in their 20 bodies (the cola wars), it was also a combat zone for what they put on their bodies. 21 Although Converse and L.A. Gear tried to elbow their way in, Nike and Reebok were 22 the titans—the Coke and Pepsi—in this battle. Since its founding in 1972, Nike has 23 been a master of marketing, synonymous with stylish, big-budget, celebrity-packed 24 technical tours de force. 25 But in 1987, after a seven-year run as America’s top-selling athletic shoe, Nike was 26 eclipsed by Reebok. It fought back with “Revolution,” a 90-second, documentary- 27 style commercial. There were black-and-white close-ups of regular folks and Michael 28 Jordan and John McEnroe at their best, slow-motion shots of their shoes lifting and 29 landing—and there was the music. 30 Nike paid a price bigger than the $500,000 for rights to the original Beatles 31 “Revolution” recording. Capitol Records sued for $15 million, charging that Nike 32 wrongfully traded on the Beatles’ goodwill. And boomers resented Nike’s misappro- 33 priation of a sacred piece of 1960s culture. Stung, Nike dropped the ad and let it be. 34 In fact, it was “being” just fine. Sport shoe sales were booming. “It wasn’t like 35 there were more feet, just that Nike and Reebok were covering feet more hours of 36 37 77 78 THE SUPER BOWL OF ADVERTISING 1 the day,” said John Horan, publisher of 2 Sporting Goods Management News. 3 Selling athletic shoes increasingly invol- 4 ved tapping the marquee value of star jocks. 5 L.A. Gear lined up Karl Malone and 6 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Reebok recruited 7 basketball’s Dominique Wilkins and foot- 8 ball’s Boomer Esiason. In 1985, Nike had 9 signed Michael Jordan, then a twenty-one- 10 “BO DIDDLEY BASEBALL” Nike year-old college junior (and ardent Adidas pitchman Bo Jackson knows 11 fan) just joining the Chicago Bulls to his about baseball—and other sports— 12 own line of Air Jordan shoes—and a five- but couldn’t match Bo Diddley 13 at guitar playing. year, $2.5 million contract. 14 Nike’s diadem grew to include, among 15 others, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, Deion Sanders, 16 Jerry Rice, Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Andre Agassi, and John McEnroe. 17 In “The Barkley of Seville,” Charles Barkley appeared to sing an Italian opera, 18 prance through a basketball cathedral, kill a referee who called him on a foul, 19 and have his shoes seized as punishment. 20 In 1988, Nike’s “Just Do It” mantra against lethargy became the corner- 21 stone of several blockbuster commercials, including the “Bo Knows” series, 22 which ended on the 1990 pregame show. 23 As Bo Diddley and his band riff, athletes sound off about Bo Jackson, then 24 Kansas City Royals’ outfielder and Los Angeles Raiders’ running back. “Bo 25 knows baseball,” testifies Dodger Kurt Gibson. “Bo knows football,” adds Ram 26 Jim Everett. “Bo knows basketball,” confirms Michael Jordan. John McEnroe 27 looks dubious. “Bo knows tennis?’’ he puzzles. “Bo knows running,” 28 marathoner Mary Decker weighed in, and body builders acknowledge he 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 “THE CATAPULT” L.A. Gear attempted to blast Nike out of viewers’ minds with 37 Karl Malone touting the Catapult shoe. SNEAKER WARS: GOING TOE-TO-TOE 79 knows weights. Bo has his limits, though: 1 Wayne Gretzky denies his hockey prowess, 2 and Bo’s off-key hacking at the guitar proves 3 he doesn’t “know diddley!” 4 Nike had first used multiple images of 5 Bo—furiously pedaling a bike searching for 6 “that Tour de Force thing,” in basketball 7 gear, tennis togs, as a hockey, cricket, and 8 soccer player, surfer, weightlifter, auto racer, 9 golfer, caddy, and jockey. The Bos noticed “DAN AND DAVE” Reebok’s ads 10 featuring decathloners Dan O’Brien each other and complimented each others’ 11 and Dave Johnson asked America, shoes: Sony Bono walked on—he thought it 12 “Who is the world’s greatest 13 was a Bonos commercial. athlete?” and promised to answer 14 Wrestling with ideas for a sequel at a that question in the upcoming local bar, Wieden & Kennedy copywriter Olympics in Barcelona. 15 Jim Riswold heard lots of patrons’ sugges- 16 tions—Beau Brummell...Bo Derek...Bo Schembechler—before Riswold jotted 17 “you don’t know Diddley” on a cocktail napkin. 18 Within months, Nike was selling 80 percent of all cross-training shoes. The 19 commercials played better than Bo did, however. Within a year they were 20 benched, after helping Nike displace Reebok as number one. Other ads for Air 21 Jordans costarred their director, Spike Lee. What makes you so great? Lee 22 pesters Jordan. The “vicious dunks? extra-long shorts? short socks?” Finally, 23 Lee decides, “It’s got to be the shoes.” In another ad, Douglas Kirkpatrick, a 24 professor of astronautics, explains that Jordan “overcomes the acceleration of 25 gravity by the application of his muscle power in the vertical plane, thus pro- 26 ducing a low-altitude earth orbit.’’ 27 Meanwhile, Reebok, named for an African gazelle, aimed to divest its image 28 as a women’s aerobic shoe company. In Super Bowl XXV (1991), it pumped up 29 its new $160 inflatable Pump footwear and tossed aside an Air Jordan shoe. 30 Subsequently, Dennis Rodman, Boomer Esiason, golfer Greg Norman, tennis 31 player Michael Chang, and decathlete Dave Johnson also jabbed at Air Jordans. 32 L.A. Gear also targeted Nike in Super Bowl XXV to promote its 33 new Catapult shoes. Utah Jazz NBA star Karl Malone sneered: “Everything 34 else is just hot air.” CBS refused the ads as offensive. BBDO, which had just 35 won L.A. Gear’s business, agreed, and soon after resigned the account. 36 David Ropes, Reebok’s vice president for worldwide advertising and a for- 37 80 THE SUPER BOWL OF ADVERTISING “LEGENDS” Reebok’s Shaquille O’Neal, trying to impress hoops legends Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is given a dustpan to clean up the court after he tears the hoop off the backboard. SNEAKER WARS: GOING TOE-TO-TOE 81 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 “SHOOT PASS SLAM” Reebok’s other Shaquille 8 O’Neal spot, titled after a rap number from his 9 debut album, was shot by twin brothers Allen and 10 Albert Hughes, who directed the feature film 11 Menace II Society. 12 13 14 mer Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam, likes risks. In XXVI (1992) he bet big 15 that either Dan O’Brien or Dave Johnson, both relatively unknown athletes, 16 would win the Olympic Decathlon and that Americans would grow to care 17 about them—and their shoes. 18 How would Dan and Dave, who’d trained in virtual seclusion, fare when 19 millions were looking over their shoulders? What if people weren’t interested? 20 And what of sprains and hamstrings? But trailing Nike by six market share 21 points in the $5.8 billion sneaker market 22 fortified Reebok’s willingness to gamble. 23 Dan and Dave were introduced by their 24 first names and with snapshots of them 25 growing up. Voice-overs told of their sport- 26 ing accomplishments. As the campaign 27 developed, people voted for one or the 28 other: A pretty young woman identified as 29 Dan’s ex-girlfriend broke a tie—by voting 30 for Dave. (His real-life ex-girlfriend tried 31 “LIFE ON PLANET REEBOK” On out for the part, but it went to a model 32 Planet Reebok life has “no limits, instead. Everyone else cast was authentic.) 33 no pain, no cupcakes, no wimps, 34 Reebok had two post-victory spots ready no lawyers, no mercy, no beauty to wrap up the campaign showing the cele- pageants, no slogans, no fat, 35 bratory winner snoozing with a “Life is no excuses, no winners, and 36 short. Sleep in” tweak. They never ran. no losers.” 37 82 THE SUPER BOWL OF ADVERTISING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 “JORDAN’S DREAM” Nike contemplated Michael Jordan’s retirement. 9 10 In June, O’Brien flubbed the pole vault and failed to qualify for an Olympic 11 berth. Reebok ran substitute commercials, then a spot where Johnson consoles 12 O’Brien. It galvanized the public. Dan and Dave didn’t do what Ropes had 13 hoped, but they did raise Reebok’s profile. “Every paper in America had the 14 story, and most had ‘Reebok’ in the headline,” he mused. That helped narrow 15 the Nike-Reebok sales gap. 16 At the 1993 Super Bowl, Reebok bracketed its commercials around Nike’s 17 super-hip Hare Jordan ads (see Chapter 4). Reebok’s artillery: Shaquille O’Neal, 18 the 7-foot-1-inch NBA rookie sensation. 19 In one spot, Shaq tries to win the 20 approval of legendary greats at the 21 renowned Hall of Fame Centers Club. 22 Shaq demonstrates he’s ready, but 23 when he tries to hand over the shat- 24 tered backboard, Wilt Chamberlain 25 disdainfully pushes a broom at him and 26 instructs Shaq to clean up the mess.