3 Key Lessons in Business and Branding from the Movie AIR
AIR is now out in the cinema, April 2023. From award-winning director and actor Ben Affleck, the movie reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between, a then-rookie, Michael Jordan and Nike, a then-small sports brand, which revolutionised the world of sports and athlete endorsement.
Having read Shoe Dog not long ago, I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to check it out, and it did not disappoint. Here are some key takeaways from the movie.
1. The company’s purpose can be its greatest weapon
Brand purpose has become a buzzword lately, with many businesses adopting brand purpose, not for the sake of purpose but profit. However, as professor Mark Ritson mentioned in his column, brand purpose only works when the brand truly believes in it, even at the cost of profit.
Like Nike, many businesses have their ups and downs. But at the end of the day when the going is tough, it is their North Star, or what Simon Sinek calls the ‘Why’, that keeps them going, reminding them why they came to exist in the first place.
Nike’s purpose wasn’t about themselves (eg. We aspire to be the #1 sports brand). It was about their fans and followers. Nike’s goal is to empower everyone because everyone has an athlete within them, and all their messaging has always been around this, including the famous tagline ‘Just Do It’.
When a brand creates a purpose that its people and customers can resonate, growth comes naturally.
2. Bigger brands may benefit from many laws of branding but small brands have more rooms to grow
The movie started with Nike being #3 in the market, following Adidas (#1) and Converse (#2). Nike acquired Converse in 2003 for $315 million and has now become the number one sports brand with annual revenue of $49 billion, almost double of Adidas’s.
Small brands have to work harder if they aspire to be number one. They could steal the share (capturing existing market) or grow the market (generating demands and capturing future demands). Nike did both.
What really drove Nike’s growth over the year is their brand, demand generation and how they define their customers. Rather than focusing on serving athletes only, Nike thinks bigger and positions itself to serve everyone because everyone can be an athlete. They created a demand that wasn’t previously there, which grows much more in volume than the existing market as time progresses.
As well, with less to lose, Nike took a risk on Michael Jordan and it worked out for them phenomenally.
Ambitious small brands have a lot to learn from Nike.
3. A shoe is just a shoe until someone steps into it
This quote is repeatedly stated in the film. “A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it.” said Deloris Jordan, Michael Jordan’s mother. That’s literally the definition of branding. Without a brand to give its meaning, a shoe is just a commodity.
With Nike’s brand associations and Michael Jordan’s greatness, Nike’s Air Jordan has become a symbol that many people resonate with and aspire to have as a part of their identity. Within its first year, Air Jordan made $126 million in revenue.
But does the movie and Nike’s story make me want to buy Nike or Air Jordan? Not really, or not yet anyway. But it does trigger some conversations that build the brand’s mental availability and may influence future buyers of the brand, and that’s one of the ways brand can grow. And again, companies shouldn’t adopt brand purpose to increase revenue but should treat it as their compass to hold on to and to guide them throughout the unpredictable journey.
Thank you, Ben Affleck and the crew for picking up the story and sharing it in a cinematic and entertaining way.
