Will Nike Ever Give Another Athlete A Subsidiary Brand?

In 1997 Nike made a very interesting decision. They decided that Michael Jordan’s personal brand was valuable and culturally relevant enough to make it a subsidiary brand of its own, Brand Jordan (now Jordan Brand).

Could that, will that, should that ever happen again?

It is easy to dismiss the question all together, “no.” There will never be another Michael Jordan. He will forever be the first Nike Basketball signature athlete. His sneakers are forever iconic. While I fully believe every one of those statements, ending the conversation there is being completely dismissive of every effort from every Nike signature athlete since Michael Jordan (and presumably, for all time). Instead, lets take a look at what occurred to lead Nike to make the decision and make Jordan Brand a stand-alone subsidiary brand.

As you may already know, Jordan did not initially want to sign with Nike.

He was partial to adidas and legend has it he nearly signed with the Three Stripes. However, he was talked into signing with Nike with a simple promise, “we will give you your own shoe.” In a lot of ways the formation of Jordan Brand in 1997 was a second affirmation of that promise, a promise that since changed the face of Nike Basketball. Signatures are awarded to the biggest names in the game and countless other athletes sign without having to be promised a sneaker at all, (largely) because of Michael Jordan.

Another factor in Jordan Brand becoming its own entity was Michael Jordan’s first retirement. Nike was shaken by the event, what would it do next? It tried to retro Jordan’s sneakers and – believe it or not – that initially failed; in fact it has a couple of times.

Starting Jordan Brand was about passing the torch.

In 1997 it was about signing exciting players to wear Air Jordans when Michael no longer would… Ray Allen, Eddie Jones etc. An idea they recently put ever so eloquently with their “I’m Not Michael. I am Jordan” campaign.

Today, that is not a concern for Nike. As we see Kobe enter his career twilight there is no fear ahead for Nike – they have LeBron, KD, Kyrie… oh, and Jordans are still selling by the boatload.

I’ve brought up LeBron, so we might talk about how deserving he would be. Arguably, a top three greatest player to ever play the game. Many would (and do) contest daily “he is better than MJ.” His career is destined to be the stuff of legend. Still, he won’t get his own subsidiary brand at Nike. I am almost sure of it.

In fact, Nike really hasn’t done a very good job with the internal brand they have built for LeBron. It is very easy to imagine some of the models never selling well, no matter the nostalgia attached to the inevitable retros. Nike has had a hard time even deciding on LeBron logo! Is it the lions head? The LJ crown logo? The Dunkman? The LJ23 (again)? The strength of brand just isn’t there. The 90 million dollar man is Nike’s top athlete, destined to sell a ton of retros but never to be a billion dollar sneaker brand of his own.

So, there you have it. Nike should never give another athlete a subsidiary brand. Why? Jordan was first. Nike has grown after and because of him. No other athlete has as strong of a brand, even today. In the Jordan Brand Nike has an arsenal of products that are guaranteed, direct to customer (larger profit margin), absolute sell-outs. He set the precedent, everyone since and everyone always, will be trying to be like Mike.

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