Have YOU SEEN THIS Hidden Gem Air Jordan TV Commercial?
Last week we told the story of the early days of Nike Design and how that group helped shape the soul of the Nike brand. Another thing that came out of the group was a “just do it” attitude. While this slogan emerged much later, the sentiment was lived by those early employees at Nike Design. It was a collaborative, energetic group that created solutions to problems and executed them however they could. It was fast and furious, often down and dirty, and on the fly, but they managed to create an incredible volume of high quality work that served as building blocks for the Nike brand.
One of those down and dirty projects was an early Air Jordan commercial that Nike Sports Productions (the film and video arm of Nike Design) produced on the fly, under Peter Moore’s creative direction. They were looking for a cool way to introduce Air Jordan, quickly and cheaply, and Peter came up with this simple concept. He created these hand drawn storyboards for the “Nothing’s Hotter” spot, and the Nike Sports Productions group made it happen. Les Badden, one member of that group, shares some of the story below:
“I realized that I have Peter’s storyboard for the Nothing’s Hotter Commercial. (Photos below). The commercial was Peter’s concept. He came to me with the idea and we shot in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on a very hot and sticky afternoon. The trick of making the smoking footprints on the pavement after Michael jumped out of frame was accomplished using what’s called “A” & “B” smoke. Special effects people use it on food commercials to make cold food look HOT. It worked perfectly for the effect we were trying to pull off. I do not have a copy of the commercial, I wish I did. I know Nike has it hidden in the archives somewhere. It had limited airplay. I hope this helps tell Peter’s story.”
The original Air Jordan commercial in 1985 was a simple but effective idea... Amplify Michael’s greatest ability, his ability to fly by adding the sound of a jet plane taking off to video of Jordan taking off of a basketball court. This idea was also used in a later commercial for Sports Illustrated that inter cut Jordan NBA game highlights with jet fighter highlights with the same soundtrack. Years later, the idea was played on a third time in a commercial Peter was involved in with Dikembe Mutombo for adidas, where we hear the same jet plane taking off sound, but we see Mutombo waiting and readying himself until he leaps, the jet plane sound abruptly halts to the sound of a hand slapping a basketball and Mutombo delivers the line: “Man does not fly in the house of Mutombo.” A simple idea used effectively three different times.
This is a small example of the attitude at Nike Design in those early days. Come up with a good idea and make it happen, whatever it takes, no matter the obstacles. This was not about big budgets, long timelines, and lots of people power. This was a few very hard working, very creative people making magic happen together.
As always let us know if you have more to add to this or any of our stories… after all they are your stories too.
PS: If anyone has the video of this “Nothing’s Hotter” commercial we would love to see it. Please contact us if you know where to find it. Thanks!
