If I'm Nike, its about time that they marketed their 2 biggest athletes in the NBA together. They are doing it to sell shoes and merchandise, thats it! They were probably irritated that Lebron lost because that cost them 2 weeks of advertising Lebron along with Kobe. Either way, this advertising and marketing with Lebron and Kobe is all $ driven and it always will be.
I think Nike should continue with the puppet marketing campaign next year as well, maybe add some new players. I always loved the little penny and spike lee commercials back in the 90's Chilcutt
I have nothing against them marketing their star but against them developing a marketing campaign preordaining a finals showdown between the two. Its annoying to fans of other teams and it makes them look foolish when the dream matchup doesn't materialize. As another poster noted its like the Dan and Dave Reebok commercials when only Dan O'brien actually made it out of the Olympic trials.
Maybe they were predicting the MVP voting - who cares. Is LeBron now no longer a star? They are the two best, most recognizable players in the league. So one didn't make it to the finals. That does not change the fact that they are the two best players on the planet thus obviously rivals, and very good at selling merchandise. None of those commercials is predicated on an NBA finals matchup. Did Taco Bell look stupid and "annoy" people by putting Hakeem and Shaq together in commercials in 1995? Was it blatant disrespect of Michael Jordan and the Bulls, who went on to reclaim the title 3 times? What's the difference in kind? What about Wade and Howard doing the TMobile Commercials with Yao - are those disrespectful? I mean Wade didn't even get past the first round. And by the way it was Dan who didn't make it out of the trials, and by the way again, who cares? Reebok looked foolish for inking the defending world champion and world record holder decathlete before the Olympics to sell shoes? I don't think so.
And yet, the way people are still talking about it has to say something about the genius the whole ad campaign doesn't it? Nike had what, a 50/50 shot that both LeBron and Kobe would be in the same finals together? So why not market the two biggest stars in basketball, together? If the commercials actually featured the PLAYERS and NOT puppets, then yea maybe it would have been weird but they were puppets.
I watched the game last night in a bar full of Magic fans. They were all laughing at these commercials and quoting the other puppet ads. They didn't care that Dwight wasn't in them. They enjoyed it for what it was, 30 seconds of humor. People are getting really sensitive nowadays letting these ads agitate them.
it would have been sweeter if lebron had Shaq and shaq beat kobe in the finals and said afterwards - kobe ain't nothing without me.
You're a bit off base. The Taco Bell and TMobile commercials are bad examples and actually hurt your argument. The LBJ and Kobe commercials are about the two of them in the post-season (Lebron Playoff Powder, Kobe 3-rings, Kobe to Lebron "Unstoppable" video). It's blatant that Nike was counting on them to match up in the finals as opposed to the examples you gave which really had nothing to do with playoffs. You could replace Yao with Jackie Chan and Barkley with Owen Wilson in the TMobile commercials and it would have worked just fine. The same cannot be said about LBJ and Kobe in the puppet commercials. It's not wrong for Nike to want to market the league's two biggest stars, however marketing them together in that particular context was a bad move on their part.
And they were both in the post-season, and both played very well. Your point? Really? So that "sportscenter" puppet commerical is expressly contingent upon them reaching the finals, and they are now of no significance and cannot be used to sell shoes? Whereas the other NBA player commercials present them as humble replaceable everymen? Please elaborate. Why is it a bad move? Because some dork started this thread to discuss Nike commercials on a basketball BBS? Lol....yeah that is terrible advertising for Nike......your stern disapproval and hennish clucking is really causing ripples in Beaverton. I bet Nike stock goes into a freefall now that LeBron isn't in the finals, all due to this puppet DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was there anything specific thing in the commercials that suggested Nike was predicting them in the Finals? A stronger argument can be made against ESPN, but Nike? No way.
The context of the commercial is that Kobe and LBJ are getting on each others nerves that resembles competition. Obviously the only way for them to compete in the post-season is in the finals. This is particularly obvious in the "Kobe Unstoppable" video when LBJ is studying game tape. I will say that, you're entitled to your opinion---however, if you can't see what others can, I can't really help you there. Dude, it's difficult understanding your poor grammar. So I'll do the best I can: You brought up the TMobile commercials not me. I said they're bad examples. You're welcome to agree with me now, however I will say that you're completely off if you really think the Nike puppet commercials are selling shoes. More exclamation points doesn't make your argument more valuable. I hope you don't also believe adding an AEM sticker on your car makes it go faster.
no need to insult people over the internet kay? Sorry if this thread appears as a rant to anyone, but it is not Of course Nike wants to advertise its two biggest starts - was it good advertising? of course But was it morally right? no
What a disgrace Disgusting Morally repugnant I AM OUTRAGED!!! Almost as much as when I ordered curly fries and got regular, which I also think is a massive conspiracy much like Nike and their pro-puppet agenda
...now it's morally wrong...I give up. Or wait, I've got tchou overexplaining it so maybe he can help..... tchou I'm asking for your help to show me the immorality of the commercial - please elaborate on the context of Kobe and LeBron competing ONLY in the finals, and not in the larger sense, for MVP's, adulation, etc. Then we can establish the absolute contingency of this ad campaign and its success (or lack thereof) due to the horrific failure of LeBron James to motivate public sentiment during these NBA play-off basket-ball games , define the parameters of the offense which Nike is leveling upon the basket-ball players of the Association, and ruminate upon the delicious consequences of their utter, complete, and absolute obsolesence. Quite frankly, I think we need to dig a much deeper core sample of analysis of these commercial spots to discover the hidden subtext of the messages so that you can issue the proper BBS denunciation. APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR MY BAD GRAMMAR - and thank you for your help on this issue. The ball is in your court.
MVP voting is in the regular season not in the postseason. This is a post-season commercial (as attested by Lebron's "powder" commercial). In the postseason Kobe/Lebron don't share awards, match ups, opposing teams, unless they make finals. You'd be surprised at the details involved in planning, scripting, scoring, and shooting a 30 second commercial.
