Michael Jordan "has become the greatest corporate
pitchman of all time," according to Henry Louis Gates, who
examines the marketing of Jordan under the header, "Net
Worth: How the greatest player in the history of basketball
became the greatest brand in the history of sports." Gates:
"As a twentieth-century sports hero, he has plausible
competition from Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali; as an agent of
brand equity, he is without peer." Gates writes that in the
'80s, Jordan's agent David Falk "grasped" that branding "can
be a reciprocal process." Gates: "Falk had no equity in
Nike or McDonald's or Coca-Cola or Chevrolet. He had equity
in Michael Jordan to leverage their brands; Falk would use
their brands to leverage Jordan." But while companies
Jordan endorses such as Quaker Oats, Sara Lee and WorldCom
"have helped entrench the brand that is Michael Jordan,"
they have "lessened the specialness of his association with
Nike." Nike Chair Phil Knight: "If you were teaching a
course in marketing, that wouldn't be the way to do it. But
he has overcome all those mistakes by his greatness."
TRANSCENDING RACE: Gates writes, "Fame, not water, is
the universal solvent. What to do with the fact that the
voice and face of American corporate capitalism belong to an
African-American -- a very dark and very male one at that?"
Falk: "Celebrities aren't black. People don't look at
Michael as being black. They accept that he's different
because he's a celebrity." Jordan, on his mystique: "Each
and every year, I've been expecting it -- the dropoff. ...
But it's not happening. And I don't really know why, or how
long it's going to last" (NEW YORKER, 6/1 issue).
MORE MJ: Nikki Tait of the FINANCIAL TIMES examines the
value of Jordan to the Chicago market, under the header
"What Happens To Chicago When the Bulls Break Up?" Three
years ago, the Chicago Chamber of Commerce estimated that
the Bulls' total impact on the Chicago economy was about
$10.5M a game. Tait writes the "crucial question is how
long this economic/image boost ... can continue. ... Back in
the mid-1990s economists talked of an immediate $100M loss
to the local economy if the Bulls suddenly folded. Today,
that figure looks conservative" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 5/29).