![]() ![]() JAMES: (As All Business LeBron) I surprise myself every day I wake up. STEVENSON: Or perhaps you crave arrogance and bling. Well, I've been to the state championship. Now you run around here thinking you good. JAMES: (As Wise LeBron) Just let me tell you this story. Are you old-school type who hates flashiness and loves fundamentals? Wise LeBron is for you. #Slate magazine series#This "Meet the LeBrons" series seems like the first real effort to give the 21-year-old some personality, but it also says, `Why stop at one personality when you can have four?' Rather than committing to a single image, Nike throws out a smorgasbord and lets us pick our favorite. Wait and see what this kid has to offer.' The spot ends as LeBron smiles and simply dives into the flow of the game. It showed LeBron stepping on to the court for his first NBA game and being greeted with a nervous paralyzed silence from the crowd. Would they get `gangsta' on us, or would they swerve highbrow? From the moment that contract was announced, I followed Nike's efforts to mold LeBron's persona. In 2003, Nike gave teen-ager LeBron James a $90 million shoe contract, betting that LeBron could be Jordan's heir. Nike long dominated the basketball category on the strength of its Air Jordan models, but Michael Jordan has been retired for years now. Still, why drop us into loose unformed vignettes in which the dialogue is mumbled, the product is hidden and the premise is completely surreal? Why are there four different LeBrons and why are they living together as a family unit, cooking each other meals? Perhaps, Nike's demographers concluded that kids these days reject all but the most oblique marketing approaches. Marquee basketball shoes, that's the industry term for the category, are designed mostly for teen-age boys. I'm in no way the target market for this product. ![]() I eventually manage to suss out that the product in question is their newest LeBron James signature shoe. There's no explanation as to who these characters are, how they relate to each other, and what if anything they're trying to sell. STEVENSON: These Nike ads are somewhat baffling. spirit down once you get her on the street. RICK JAMES: (Singing) And she will never let your. Later, they all dance to the Rick James hit "Super Freak." STEVENSON: At one point, they nosh on meatballs the size of grapefruits. You're telling them bald-headed lies again, Pops. (As Pops) This food's good 'cause I make it. Who made this sauce? Pops, you made this? LEBRON JAMES: Sure is nice to have the whole family here tonight. In a series of ads titled "Meet the LeBrons," we see four characters, all of them played by basketball star LeBron James, just hanging out together. Why settle for one LeBron James when you can have four in one commercial. Seth Stevenson, ad critic for the online magazine Slate, explains how Nike has taken this idea even further. In the world of advertising, it's always best to use a pitchman or a woman who appeals to your audience. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |