The 2 best players in the league trying to one-up each other. What an unlikely scenario! This only seems possible w/ the promise of a finals matchup. AmIright?
MVP voting was announced right when these spots began to run. Get it? But anyway, thank you for telling me the ONLY POSSIBLE INTER-PRETATION of the com-mercial ad-vertisement and high-lighting its contingency on the NBA Finals, which has now exposed Nike as fraudsters, sure to be DOOM-ED by this UN-FOR-TUNATE turn of EV-ENTS. This will no doubt doom them the same way the 1996 Rockets and Taco Bell (a unit of TriCon) were doomed by the ARROGANTLY presumptuous, infamous Shaq-Hakeem double decker Taco commercial, which resulted in futility for the Rockets, dynasty for the Bulls, and slumpin sales of Tacos The IMMORALITY is stun-ning.
As others have noted the context of the ads was clearly about them meeting in the NBA finals as the only way they could one up each other directly is to meet in the championship. Also I will note this isn't just the Nike puppet ads but also about the ESPN, Vitamin Water and etc.. If you recall the Taco Bell Dream and Shaq commercials were done in the off season following the championship. If you also recall they also were done mocking the idea of lingering bitterness over a rivalry by showing them as best buddies. That was completely different than if they had been running Shaq and Dream rivalry commercials during the regular season or playoffs. As for the Wade, Howard and Yao commercials those don't seem to have much to do with who is better players or athletic competition but have to do with them as friendly personalities who happen to NBA players. [quoteAnd 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.[/QUOTE] My mistake on Dan O'brien but part of why those commercials are memorable is for the fact that Dan O'brien didn't make it out of the trials. To Reebok's credit I recall them making another series self-mocking the Dan and Dave competion showing Dan O'Brien sitting in an easy chair while Dave Johnson trained his butt off.
I will admit to perhaps getting my panties in a wad over annoyance over a marketing campaign. What I'm wondering is why are you getting your panties in a wad defending a marketing campaign?
farmar has a shoe deal?? lol. thats like pete chilcutt having a shoe. altho i would buy the chilcutts.
My god, please read the hypertechnical analysis you just wrote and acknowledge how idiotic some of you guys are being. I know it's crazy to think of the best two basketball players in the world as having a sort of rivalry....perhaps you guys should publish a set of guidelines so that I can know when it's ok and when it's not.
i seriously can't believe this is actually a discussion. lebron and kobe are the two best players in the league. they are the two most recent MVP's. they are the best players on what were far and away the best teams in each conference. they both also happen to be under contract with NIKE. by extension, they are NIKE's biggest representatives. please pray tell how this marketing decision was somehow in poor taste given the above considerations or that, LOL, a moral judgment can be extrapolated from these circumstances. i would love to be enlightened. (i'm seriously hoping for the sake of the OP that that comment was due to some lack of english proficiency and was actually a malapropism or something....) good grief. does NIKE look a bit silly now that the two won't be in the finals? perhaps, yes, from an implicit sense, but given that the theme was 'dueling MVP's' or whatever this wasn't exactly a dewey defeats truman moment in American history. in retrospect, i would love to hear exactly how this was a poor business decision given that there was atleast a 50% chance that both would be in the Finals and that small inconvenient aforementioned tidbit that...wait for it...both have shoe deals with NIKE. i would love to be edified on the enormity of this fatal flaw. why the hell wouldn't you try to capitalize on that. i guess a better business model would have perhaps been a panoramic collage of every team in the playoffs underscoring unity and teamwork. yea that would sell sneakers. hey, how about some yao/dwight ads. oh wait, they're not with NIKE. good grief. OMG TEH SOCIAL DECADENCE!!
A long discussion on message boards and at water coolers all over the country, yep, Nike got exactly what it deserved, and WANTED out of the campaign. DD
Totally agree. You can not fault Nike for pushing there biggest names together. Heck you can just keep making them even with labron out. Especially if Laker win it all.
I know you love LBJ, Kobe, and hype, but you're going off on a completely wild, verbose, and incredibly illogical rant. My original points were: 1. The example commercials you used were bad examples to illustrate your point because they are not post-season related. 2. It's obvious that Nike wanted Lebron and Kobe to meet in the finals. 3. Nike's not wrong for wanting to market Kobe & LBJ, but it could have been done better. You're allowed to disagree, just remember to breath.
I find that ironic that you are criticizing someone for being hypertechnical. Anyway I admit to taking some schaudenfraude in Nike, ESPN and Vitamin Water getting egg on their face but I'm still wondering why you are getting so worked up defending them.
Look, I'm not the one who pronounced it "morally wrong" and am clucking like a hen about the implicit offensiveness of a TV commericial and pronouncing dire judgment upon its originators. You guys are acting like a bunch of silly old ladies in this thread. I guess I am too by pointinig it out. You're still doing it though.
I will agree moral judgement is overblown and I don't see anything immoral about what Nike or any of the other marketers are doing. I find it annoying not immoral. What is wrong with being annoyed and stating so. If we are going to get petty about who is still doing what I note you are still posting in this thread so I guess none of us are above pettiness.
OP its not that big of a deal. Lebron didnt make it to the finals ....OK try again next year. Great commercials. Stop crying.
This is one of the worst threads ever. So Nike made a commercial with the two best basketball players on the planet, and the previous two MVPs of the NBA and they got what they deserved? Think about that for a moment. Huh? So I suppose if both players were in the western conference, then this commercial would never have been made because they wouldn't meet in the finals? Very strange thread. I just don't get it. Maybe its just blind hate or something similar to that definition.
obviously this thread proves that the marketing is working. if it invokes no reaction, then it didn't work. some of you obviously haven't taken a marketing course. I have no doubt Nike will not have a problem selling Lebron shoes.
Good point. I'm actually not surprised by the outrage on this site, people here don't like the commercials because they either a) hate Kobe (especially with his team ousting our Rockets) or b) they're tired of the hype machine that is Lebron James. People will make ridiculous claims to justify their hate.
They will if they keep putting these out. LeBron IV "Fruity Pebbles" http://www.nicekicks.com/2007/04/lebron-4-fruity-pebbles-exclusive-online-release/
