Bandana Fever

Last night, Jordan Brand, a division of NIKE, Inc., unveiled its latest chapter of the “Become Legendary” national brand campaign, entitled “Nightmares Never Sleep” starring Team Jordan and All-Star athlete Dwyane Wade.

“Nightmares Never Sleep” headlines an integrated marketing campaign debuting the AIR JORDAN 2010 worn by Dwyane Wade in the ad. The television spot takes viewers to another world view of a basketball player’s “nightmares” when dealing with the unstoppable, All-Star Dwyane Wade on-court during an intense basketball game. Wade will be the first Team Jordan athlete to debut the AIR JORDAN 2010 on-court during this year’s All-Star weekend.

“We chose the ‘Nightmares Never Sleep’ spot to debut the AIR JORDAN 2010 and to show how unstoppable Dwyane Wade is as a basketball player,” said Sean Tresvant, Marketing Director for Jordan Brand. “The ad also continues the Brand’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the AIR JORDAN basketball shoe.”

Created by W&K New York, “Nightmares Never Sleep” will air today on major networks including ESPN, TNT, ABC, and in cinemas nationwide.  Print ads will also be featured in Antenna, RISE, Slam, XXL, Dime, Bounce and Sole Collector in upcoming January-March issues.

The integrated ad campaign will also be fully complemented with a digital presence, created by Blast Radius, for www.Jumpman23.com, as well as in-store retail marketing and consumer events throughout 2010.

Last time we showed you the newly-released Air Jordan Alpha 1 Tinker Hatfield, and now we get a chance to review its features as it is now available at Finish Line.

As the first to design an Air Jordan model, Tinker Hatfield is back to the scene, not to remake another shoe but to receive the honor that the brand has dedicated through the latest Alpha 1 release. As shown in a heavily-perforated Birch-colored leather upper, this tribute sneaker has its own way of expressing the efforts done by Hatfield during the time he was assigned to design the Air Jordan III. Black Swoosh and Black tongue were both in accordance to the midsole. Air Jordan wing logo appears near the collar while the Jumpman logo took the tongue and heel spots.

What will interest you more is the Orange Blaze collar and inner liner as well as the insole with the same text color that reads, “THE FIRST TO BRING COLOR TO THE GAME.” for the left shoe and “THANK YOU.” for the right shoe. The pack finishes with a clear icy outsole.

Source

Today, Jordan Brand, a division of NIKE, Inc., announced the upcoming launch of its 25th anniversary AIR JORDAN 2010 shoe. Celebrating a quarter-century of innovative design and genre-inspiring style, Jordan Brand created the AIR JORDAN 2010 to pay respect to the legacy of Michael Jordan in basketball while passing on the heritage of the sport to the talented Team Jordan athletes, such as Dwyane Wade, who will be the first to debut the AIR JORDAN 2010.

“The celebration of the AIR JORDAN 2010 and our 25th anniversary are the pinnacle of a year full of milestones for me,” said Michael Jordan.  “With each shoe, consumers have pushed me to take the next AIR JORDAN beyond their wildest imagination. The AIR JORDAN 2010 marks the future of Jordan Brand and proves there are no limits to what this Brand is capable of creating.”

Acclaimed shoe designers Tinker Hatfield, Vice President of Special Projects/Design for NIKE and Mark Smith, Creative Director for Jordan Brand, collaborated with Michael Jordan on the AIR JORDAN 2010, taking the literal interpretation of Jordan’s ability to see through his opponents by creating the Brand’s first see-through performance basketball shoe featuring a unique transparent thermoplastic urethane (TPU) window.

“The AIR JORDAN 2010 pays homage to Jordan’s ability to know his opponents next move while only giving hints of his ability and allowing the players to only see what he wanted them to see on the court,” said Tinker Hatfield. “His keen instinct for anticipating his challengers’ next move and disguising his own techniques are just a few of the attributes that led to him being named the greatest basketball player ever to play the game.”

To assist all basketball players’ game while wearing the shoe, Hatfield and Smith also designed the AIR JORDAN 2010 with a revolutionary new concept to performance basketball footwear – a layered toe construction that has an independent forefoot support cover. This innovative design technique allows the AIR JORDAN 2010 to mimic an actual foot’s flexibility and movement without being restricted by the shoe’s structures, assisting in a player’s ability to be more agile in the game.

Since 1984 when Jordan wore the first AIR JORDAN sneaker, AIR JORDAN has become one of the world’s most recognizable franchises known for its signature Jumpman logo, innovative performance technology and fashion-forward style memorializing the sneakers into popular culture history. Jordan Brand has adapted the AIR JORDAN to the changing fashion landscape in its 25 years, utilizing the importance of green technology by making the AIR JORDAN XX3, AIR JORDAN 2009 and now the AIR JORDAN 2010 under Nike’s Considered Design ethos of combining sustainability with performance and innovation. 

Jordan Brand launches the AIR JORDAN 2010 nationwide on Saturday, February 13, 2010 for a suggested retail price of $170. Retailer information can be found at www.Jumpman23.com.

There’s been much talk about the first billion dollar athlete.

Tiger Woods is supposedly on track to reach $1 billion next year, though his agent Mark Steinberg told us he doesn’t keep an official tally anywhere. And many mention LeBron James as the guy who is most likely to follow Woods.

But, at least according to one metric, they’ve already been topped by Michael Jordan.

It’s hard to say how much Jordan has reaped personally, but 2009 will be remembered as the year MJ was inducted into the Hall of Fame and the year that his Nike // [NKE 54.99 -0.43 (-0.78%) ]// brand, Jordan, topped $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time. It appropriately comes 23 years after Nike reached $1 billion in revenue for the first time.

The rise of Jordan as a marketing icon is an amazing story. The kid from the University of North Carolina, who had never worn Nikes before he signed his contract, made buying Air Jordans an annual ritual. And 6 ½ years after he played his last game, the business continues to grow. At more than $1 billion in sales, the Jordan brand now makes up roughly 5 percent of Nike’s overall revenues.

Consider these statistics, provided by SportsOneSource, a sports market retail tracking firm:

• The Jordan brand has a 10.8 percent share of the overall US shoe market, which makes it the second biggest brand in the country and more than twice the size of Adidas’ share.
• Three out of every four pairs of basketball shoes sold in this country are Jordan, while 86.5 percent of all basketball shoes sold over $100 are Jordan.

“The Jordan brand has established itself as the premium ‘designer’ brand in athletic footwear,” said Matt Powell, an analyst for SportsOneSource. “The breadth and reach of this line will never be duplicated.”

What a glorious day this is to be able to announce a retro of such caliber. This is the new Air jordan 12 Retro White/Red, and it has us excited like school girls. Could this finally mean that Jordan is back on the ball, and is going to start giving us what we really want again, which is good, quality retros?