“Take them by surpise, take them to the hole, take them to their knees, take over.” I’ve been seeing this series of Jumpman 23 xx2 ads in ESPN the Mag for some time, (carefully scanned with HP’s amazing Suck-O-Matic™ Scan technology), and while I love the photography, the series could do without copy. Sorry writers. The way highlights trail off into the background are cool, but the copy gets in the way, moreso in terms of content. (See more of the shots here, under ‘downloads.’) The copy feels cheap for a brand of Jordan’s or even Nike’s stature. Leave the chest-thumping HE-HATE-ME baller mantra-isms for lesser brands.
I know the NBA has changed from the days of Magic, Bird and Jordan. But he was on a different plane than most everyone else though, and some of the stuff on the site done by Blast Radius, while slick, feels like it could be for any player today. Gold chains, hip-hop track, attitude, while nicely done with cool Flash work, sure seems out of place for him. He was about performance in the clutch, the ultimate competitor, not the typical inspiration stuff this smacks of. I realize it’s probably a tough thing for Jordan and his brand here: how do you set yourself apart from the brand that you’re synonymous with - Nike - transcend your own celebrity, and still build awareness for Jumpman 23 so that it has its own identity.
Less copy for starters, like here.
Tags: Jumpman 23, axe, Jordan, Nike
2 comments:
Dunno Bill. The photography's not that great for the ads to get away with no copy. Not that the current copy adds anything, but without it, you'd have another FootLocker ad I'd never notice. Best to go back to the drawing board.
As for the NBA, Dave Stern has made big strides in taking them away from the hip-hop gold chain era. Think Steve Nash, Tony Parker, even rookies like Dwight Howard. The more foreign players get in the game, the more it's becoming a team game again. Hence the whole "Second Coming" thing. Not to say they're 100% there yet- the Iversons haven't retired- but change is coming.
TT, the scan sucks and the site has a lot of graphics around the images, but with the large page size in ESPN, these look a lot better. Simple and clean, unlike a lot of other sports photography.
Gotta disagree on teh gansta attitude these days. Seems like it's breaking out all over the league and especially the apparel market.
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