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Ad Bros Episode 63 // Sneaker Legacy and the Future of Media

• Ad Bro$ • Season 7 • Episode 63

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Air Jordans continue to shape culture and symbolize luxury, transcending sports for multiple generations. The episode explores brand storytelling, cultural significance, personal anecdotes, and future predictions on sneaker trends.

• Discussion of the impact of Jordans on culture 
• Personal anecdotes from growing up with Jordans 
• The power of storytelling in the sneaker market 
• Insights into marketing strategies of competing brands 
• Reflections on the nostalgia and community built around Jordans 
• Predictions for the future of sneaker culture and brands

Thanks for tuning in to The Ad Bros Podcast! If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share it with your crew.

Catch us next time for more insights and creativity, right here on The Ad Bros Podcast, powered by Kaffeine Media Network. See you soon!

Theme Music by Yirayah Garcia

Speaker 2:

Tony, you mentioned something about uh brand jordan and you know, I think, the 40th year of yeah um, kind of closing out 2024.

Speaker 3:

I started to see a lot of ads on Nike, nike Jordan Instagram and realized obviously I'm not 40, but realized this year will be the 40th anniversary of the you know, the release of the Jordan 1, quote unquote in the sneaker community called the you know 85 Jordan and you know I thought it would be something interesting for us to talk about because, you know, not only is the brand legacy of Michael Jordan just like stamped in just sports history, culture, but obviously we have someone you know on the mic, a brother, frank, who kind of grew up in Chicago, grew up around it, and you know we could all kind of give our perspective on, like how it was, you know, in New York and Atlanta. But also I just thought it was super important to talk about the importance kind of like focus on the importance of storytelling. You know they've sold this story to us for years and several generations have bought into it, even people who have never seen him play. Maybe they watched it on YouTube, still by Jordans, which is interesting to me.

Speaker 4:

So, like you know, I think that part right there is really like the most interesting thing to me, right. So, like one, I just think it's amazing case study of like, like, really like, um, catching lightning in a bottle with jordan uh, you know, the shoes taking off like they did, winning six championships, all that but the fact that what jordan hasn't played since 2001, or two, I think something like that, I look yeah, so like over 20 years, uh, they still been selling his shoes, bro, like, like and selling them, and they re-releasing the same shit in different colorways and they keep selling them.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, like, it's really kind of amazing.

Speaker 4:

I don't know if I've if I've ever seen anything like it before but I mean it's like its own category at this point, right and now it's evolved to the point where Jordan is doing jerseys of, like college teams, like, I think, oklahoma, michigan, unc, they're all Jordan branded with the Jumpman instead of the Nike sign, right? So I just think, like just Jordan and that brand, how it's grown over the last 40 years, is amazing. That brand how it's grown over the last 40 years is amazing. Uh, I'll say, just from growing up, uh, during that era, you know, I, we were, we were poor, so I mean I was wearing fake jordans, right like I mean that shit actually that should have given me psychological trauma he's wearing team jordan's nah, bro, I was wearing the pay less jordan.

Speaker 4:

There was plastic that was like nine dollars slide out over the concrete with them.

Speaker 4:

Shits right where you wear them shits for three weeks and then the motherfuckers bus open at the scene. So yeah, bro, I remember it was so crazy. Back in I I think that was like 90, 89, 90 like me and a couple other cats we had the fake Jordans, right this like third grade. And I remember the kids who had the real Jordans. They was like yo, y'all gotta sit at that table, y'all can't sit at our lunch table because y'all got fake Jordans. That shit fucked with me, bro, damn Damn. And then I remember like when I got into high school, dudes was getting Jordans taken off their feet.

Speaker 2:

That was happening everywhere. I remember that.

Speaker 4:

And it's so funny like now, as an adult and hearing you all say it I thought that was just so Chicago. So the fact that it happened in other places, I mean people have gotten killed for jordan jordan's the start of jacks back in the days, yeah yeah, I learned about that in a episode of family matters what?

Speaker 3:

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 3:

I mean that I, that's how I learned about I mean just to jump in. Like you know I, I grew up in, uh, like early 90s, I was a kid but like I, I remember going to school and kids saying like yo, you don't got jordans, and my parents would be like yo, we're not spending that much money on sneakers. So I remember I didn't get my first pair, my first pair, until I was probably like 19 and I went to nighttown, rip, nighttown, uh did the lineup got like a, the 11s, the all white joints, and I was. I was hype.

Speaker 2:

You know, I didn't get my first pair of jordans to like 2017, damn, yeah, I mean, it's just I. I mean, to your point, my parents wasn't paying for that and I had older siblings who just wasn't wearing jordans. They was wearing, like you know, some bagels and adidas, stan smiths and shit, so I just kind of wore what they wore, but and it's just one of those things, you didn't wear shoes that can get you shot, so it's just, but I wanted a pair.

Speaker 4:

I'm not gonna hold you, so you remember that. Remember that time we were walking down nostrin avenue and we saw all the boxes of baby yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't remember that psychology of that right, that was $2,000.

Speaker 2:

A product right there.

Speaker 4:

Easily so the psychology of that and obviously we were in an area that probably wasn't folks doing really well, right, but that mother or father bought that baby all them Jordans just to throw them out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, we saw that, just to throw them out, yeah.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, we saw that. It was probably about nine boxes. I took a photo of it. I got to find.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was like 12 plus boxes, like something like that, right, and it's funny, frank, that area now is like a coffee shop, now, right. So it's wild, man, just to see to your point.

Speaker 3:

Like somebody literally had these, these jordans, for these kids and I guess I don't know if they threw out because they was mad at them or whatever, but yeah, that was but crazy but, um, you know, while while we uh figure out this technical, uh, situation, I I always thought it was interesting because, like, like, I grew up learning about jordans through, um, I don't want to say culture, but through pop culture.

Speaker 3:

So, like um seinfeld, the waynes brothers, fresh prince seinfeld, um seinfeld uh, I didn't watch it growing up, but I know, martin had, you know, there were all these shows boy meets world, boy meets world uh, there were all these shows and all these things that we grew up around, that I grew up around, you grew up around that had Jordan meshed into it. And it was kind of crazy because, going back to what Frank was saying about catching lightning in a bottle, it was just like I feel like there hasn't been someone maybe I mean maybe, kanye West, you can argue but someone who's been able to like, integrate their marketing story not only to their, like, main base of fandom but also, you know, sell it to people who don't play sports, people who don't know shit about sports. You know all that.

Speaker 5:

So you know, yeah, I mean I didn't get my first pair of jordan's about 98 and uh, I just like. But back then, though, the the nike line, like sneakers were just awesome, like there were so many great guys.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, barkley, we had penny hardaway the diversity in the deon.

Speaker 3:

Crazy Deion Sanders yeah.

Speaker 5:

Right. So like I think, Bo Jackson Bo. Jackson, right. So I think if you couldn't get a pair of Jordans, there was other varieties, right. And I feel like just to kind of fast forward that Nike. I feel like Jordan's success has helped Nike just become so lazy Because there isn't another athletic shoe that even looks as sleek as Jordan's Recording in progress.

Speaker 5:

It doesn't look as sleek as Jordan's from the 90s, right, right. So I mean it's almost like when I look at the Ralph Lauren brand and it's just kind of going back to old designs that were just super successful Going in archives and they were like American staples, almost so likeordan. Is that american staple?

Speaker 4:

you know what's funny about what you just said, like how it made nike kind of lazy because of the success of jordan. I feel like the same thing is happening in the movie industry, like like there's a few new ideas, but like there's also like been that huge like marvel kind of like was the thing like marvel, comic books, batman, all that shit. They beat that like to death right because it was like it was like the easiest money grab, and I think that that made hollywood kind of lazy. Yeah, and that's why you got so much of the same like stuff. It's been blowback, you get, you get you get formulaic.

Speaker 3:

And then I think you know, just to compare the, the sneaker industry to the movie industry, I think you know that's where the opportunity lies, because you'll see independent um production companies like a24, bloomhouse, um, to name a few, that are just like making these cool films a little bit more independent, a little bit, maybe a little bit less money, but they're they're, they're blowing up, like jordan peele, I think I don't know if he owns or works with bloomhouse a lot, with a lot of stuff, um. And then you see that in the sneaker industry we kind of said it um, you know, in pre-production, you look at sockany, new balance, yeah, yeah, um, you know solomon, solomon what's that brand that's come out that everybody is wearing now?

Speaker 2:

hoka, hoka yeah yeah, yeah, I wear. I got two of those everywhere now and those are super, I mean I'm running these super comfortable running shoe.

Speaker 3:

So me and tony was talking about that yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4:

So I wonder how much, like just from a running perspective, that shoe, how much is taken from market share from Nike running?

Speaker 3:

That'd be interesting.

Speaker 5:

Because I feel like almost there's certain brands or certain shoes. Things just go together when I'm imagining this person. Was it Hoka, hoka, sneak? Yeah, it's a person that goes to Equinox. A person with bread who probably works in. A person that goes to equinox like a person with bread who, like, probably works in uh corporate america but goes to equinox. They have a uh brooks brother shirt on. Maybe maybe brooks brother shirt or maybe a patagonia, uh vest or something like.

Speaker 5:

Like it's just a certain vineyard vines yeah, right, like I think it's just a certain look like that, that kind of goes with that. But but just real quick though, with the Jordan. I feel like just as I'm getting older and it's like now I understand when older people talk about music and you talk about even. I don't even want to go there, but I'm going to go there slightly and we're not going to go down this lane like you think about. Uh, puffy success.

Speaker 5:

Right, he was taking records from the 80s in the 70s the 70s and but it was new to me, like I mean, I knew some of the records because of my dad was a dj, but when he put his spin on it like that, I'm not gonna say it's lazy, but it's like I can see an older person saying man, that's just lazy, bro, like we was, we was jamming out to that, right, right, it's 75, 77, so you know yeah, oh, one, one thing I was just gonna add, and then yo actually like what.

Speaker 4:

Hold on before you go. You know what? What has really made me feel old bro? When I heard shit from like 99 2002 being remixed for shit. That's out now oh, yeah, right when I'm hearing stuff being remixed from like when I was in college or high school and I'm hearing like shorty's listen to it now.

Speaker 5:

That's blowing my mind yeah, we were talking about I heard a track the other day.

Speaker 4:

They use that kill bill whistle yeah, yeah you know what I'm talking about?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I heard that I was like yo. Kill Bill came out 20 years ago.

Speaker 2:

Damn. Yeah, it's wild. Well, I keep saying you know nothing's new under the sun, and a lot of times you go back and look at the old stuff to make something new and real creative. Still, yeah, yeah, it's all how you deliver it and how relevant it is at time. That's what makes it original, right? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

so I don't know, I think also, um, you know, just to circle back with nike, nike just got to get back to being nike, right? Well, I was just just to jump in because you, you, you uh kind of made this point rose. But, um, they are jumping into the archives this year, like they're, I think they realize how much market share they lost with people and they are releasing a ton of stuff that, like, I think a lot of people who were into sneakers in the 90s and early 2000s that would love, but I think it'll. You know, they're going back to their roots, kind of.

Speaker 2:

Also, I think the biggest thing they forgot is that they think the app's going to solve their problems because they lean heavy into the app. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Versus, like most people, bought a lot of Nikes from Foot Locker.

Speaker 3:

They bought a lot of Nikes from local spots, yeah, and they pulled back a lot from that retail shelving aspect. You used to be able to just walk in and cop.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think brands got to think about that. Like, if you're going to engage your audience, yes, you can't just rely on the apps. What is the app correlation, or what is the relationship with the app with your in real life experience? How do you marry those two?

Speaker 5:

That's a good point. And another thing that I would say about Nike is if you think about the Nike athlete, right, like how they've kind of grown with you, yeah Right, so like you're looking at the success of Jordan, who was like a boss, like he was an owner of a team, like he's visible, he's still alive, so it's like damn, you know, I'm, I'm still a part of that success and Nike is thriving off of that. Or if you, if you think about, like the pennies, penny Hardaway, like now he's doing his thing, deion Sanders, what he's doing in Boulder, Colorado.

Speaker 5:

And his legacy Now all his sneakers are like coming back. So it's like a reintroduction to this new generation of kids who like well, I wasn't part of this, but like I see Coach Prime and it's the perfect time for him to drop his shoes and he's I think he's dropped like three three shoes.

Speaker 3:

I didn't know that. Check that out.

Speaker 2:

I think we should, you know, wrap that. I think that's a good segue to our last conversation on the last topic we're going to talk about. Let's jump right into some predictions and futures. Right, what's going to happen this year? I know we got enough time right. I think we can kind of cap off today's gathering about predicting what we're going to see happen, not just this year, but maybe for the next couple of years. What are we thinking?

Speaker 5:

I think one of my predictions is with TikTok oh, TikTok yeah.

Speaker 2:

I feel like.

Speaker 5:

Boo, boogeyman. I feel like the deal is going, even if it goes through, like if it comes to fruition. Well, you can't download it right now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so if you deleted it and try to go back and get it, it's not on the app stores, right?

Speaker 5:

but I I think that, even if it's considering the president's and his his influence and from a government's perspective, and we're talking about data and like, uh, it might erode the brand a little bit. You think so because, like, right now the conversation is about the algorithm. Like that's what, that's the most important thing about tiktok is its algorithm. Yeah, will china allow the? What is it? A bite, bite, dance, bite dance? Will they allow them to sell it? I don't think I've been in china, bro, and let me just tell you light flex.

Speaker 5:

No, no, no, I'm just saying like yeah, like I, because of the type of work, like I'm at the um, uh, the consulate, and I'm like I work in advertising, they said, oh, you can only stay here for three months. Like that's how important, like the influence is oh really like I couldn't.

Speaker 5:

Like. Everyone else is going there for like 10 years. They can go back and forth. I could only stay for for three months, so I don't even see china like letting them giving that to america and it's like what, whether the details is tied to it.

Speaker 2:

I mean who gives away power like that right and even the ownership of it.

Speaker 5:

is it going to be 50 50, is it going to be 51, america, 49, china, like these are all these details, but I think, with the president getting involved, it's going to erode the brand, like I feel like young people have been pivoting to another platform anyway. I think it's Red, something, I don't know. It's all in Mandarin now Red Note.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, red Note that's also owned by China too, right, right, exactly, which is interesting.

Speaker 5:

So I mean, I think, I mean I'm not, I've never download the app so I could really care less about TikTok. But you know it is a hot, it's a hot topic. People are trying to sell their phones for like a rack, yeah, yeah, to keep the app. So, like I think the president will erode the brand.

Speaker 2:

Interesting, Frank. What do you think? What's your prediction?

Speaker 4:

About TikTok? No, no, no, just in general.

Speaker 2:

With all we've been seeing for the last couple of years and what we're now seeing for, like these last couple of weeks, like, what are you predicting when it comes down to well, anything.

Speaker 4:

Culture, advertising for, from a culture standpoint, I think that, um, I think that that reading is going to be more of a luxury than anything else. I think that, uh, education is gonna uh continue to I'll use uh rose's word erode uh, I think fake news uh is gonna is gonna facts uh, and and and I mean, I think, I think we're, we're going to have to probably come to the point where, like, like, people are bibliography of information on you at all times, right, where, like, you can almost like, quickly say like, oh, this is true because of A, b, c and D, right, because there's going to be such a flood of of nonsense over the next couple of years. I think. So, I think that facts and being able to prove facts is going to be, I think that's going to that might actually be an opportunity.

Speaker 2:

I just about to piggyback right off that Pretty cool thinking. I do think to your point, frank. Where there's friction, where there's roadblocks, there's opportunities, right. I think you're going to see, with this new I guess world we're living in, in terms of the malice mindset that is out there, it's going to be some people who's going to find ways to make this opportunity to build new industries, new businesses, new opportunities, right, new platforms. You know Meta is not the only guy, they are the main ones. But you know, maybe this is where we see a tipping point where social is on a decline and something that's going to replace it. I don't know, maybe this is where we see a tipping point where social is on a decline and something that's going to replace it. I don't know, right, I can't really say that.

Speaker 2:

I do agree with Frank saying about this idea of a big geography, personal kind of bigography. You're going to need that to kind of check things where it makes sense. I do think. I don't know. I do think the opportunities around new industries is definitely going to present itself. I've seen it multiple times. I've seen it, I guess, during the Y2K days or the dot com. We've seen it, obviously with, you know, the event of social, and now we kind of seen it again with, like the consolidation of media, the proliferation of like AI and just this rise of the streamers and, just you know, just misinformation. So I do think it's opportunities, man. Yeah, I agree. You could close that off, tony, oh yeah.

Speaker 3:

I think the robots, the robots.

Speaker 2:

Did we not start this pod journey talking about?

Speaker 3:

robots. Nah, yeah, we did, we did. Nah, I'm joking, that's not my prediction. I was just bringing that up as a joke. But my real prediction is, I think convenience is going to be sold to us as a luxury. I think one of the things I've seen kind of bubble a little bit, things that were normally free, like choosing your seat on the airline, um, getting into a restaurant easily, getting a good driving into manhattan.

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, man, I think I think things access I think access and convenience will become a luxury that's sold to us and only people who used to get it for free will remember that it was free. But the next group of people who are kind of conditioned and grow with it will just pay it. And, like you know, like I mean, I remember when Netflix didn't have a tier of when you had to pay for commercials. And now streaming you know, the convenience of not dealing with commercials costs a certain price.

Speaker 2:

But we know Frank ain't fucking with that, yeah, and it's like 20.

Speaker 5:

It's gonna be like 27 dollars, 28 dollars for the and you know Breaking Bad. They're removing Breaking Bad From Netflix. Aw man.

Speaker 3:

Alright, so we already know what we're talking about Next episode. But yeah, are they? Yeah, they are. Why are they doing that?

Speaker 5:

Yeah, I guess the licensing. Yeah, I guess the licensing. I'm not 100% sure why, but I know they're removing it from the platform. I know they've removed other shows, though, but I feel like that was one of the original shows that was on Netflix when it started streaming.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, true that. And before it went to Paramount, I think the Office was a big one that people would tell me yo, it's on Netflix, blah, blah, blah, and then you know I think it was Paramount.

Speaker 2:

Well, netflix is TV. Now, man, all that streaming.

Speaker 3:

But yes, access and luxury I mean access and convenience will be a luxury that we will have to pay for. So get your money up.

Speaker 2:

Get your money up, I think that's. I mean we can close off like that we can close off.

Speaker 5:

Just really close up. I just really quickly. What do you all think about? Like these streaming services and how we're getting out of hand with them. Like you just print all these a la carte deals, like we might as well go back to cable in some of these situations.

Speaker 3:

No tune in. Next time to uh hear our point of view on streaming and the a la carte business, and should we go back to cable?

Speaker 6:

Thanks for tuning in to the AdBros podcast. If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to like, subscribe and share it with your crew. Catch us next time for more insights and creativity, right here on the AdBros podcast powered by Caffeine Media Network. See you soon.