THAT “Farewell Michael Jordan” Nike ad which began airing the other day is something of a first.
The ad – which stars film director Spike Lee – is intended not to sell sneakers but as a final grace note to the career of the retiring NBA legend.
Directed and written by Lee, the commercial was created by Portland, Ore.-based ad firm Wieden & Kennedy.
“Nike came to us about doing something as far as saying farewell to Michael Jordan,” said account exec Lee Davis.
“This is kind of finishing where we started.”
Air Jordan – a brand of sneakers named after the superstar – has earned Nike tens of millions worldwide and became one of the best-selling athletic shoes of all time.
The ad began airing last Wednesday, the day Jordan retired as a player with the Washington Wizards.
“It started during Jordan’s last game and only airs through [tomorrow],” Davis said.
“It probably would have aired longer if the Wizards made the playoffs but we have other basketball ad campaigns set to air.”
In the black-and-white ad, Lee – playing Mars Blackmon, the fast-talking bike messenger from his 1986 movie, “She’s Gotta Have It” – talks on the phone to an unseen (but heard) Jordan.
“Yo, Money, it’s me,” Mars says to Jordan before asking him repeatedly if he’s really retiring from basketball.
“Yes, Mars. Yes, Mars. Yes, Mars,” Jordan answers. Mars still refuses to believe he is serious.
“Arrivederci? Sayonara? Adios? Auf wiedersehen? So long? Goodbye? Farewell? For good?”
“Again?” he says, alluding to Jordan’s previous two retirements.
“Goodbye, Mars,” Jordan says.
While image advertsing on TV is common, a multi-million-dollar ad investment for the sole purpose of honoring one man is so unusual that Advertising Age, the Madison Avenue trade magazine, put a story about the ad on its cover yesterday.