The young were hit particularly hard. They had been born into an era in which Michael Jordan overshadowed not just his team, league and sport, but worldwide athletics of any kind. Recent polls in Britain and Germany showed that more kids could identify Michael Jordan than local heroes like England’s cricket captain Mike Atherton or tennis star Boris Becker. Among Chinese youth, he’s more popular than anyone else in the world. Thousands of Chinese middle-school students have adopted ““Michael’’ or ““Jordan’’ as their names during English class. ““He’s a symbol of American success,’’ says student Cheng Lie. And unlike bad-boy sports stars like Dennis Rodman or Paul Gascoigne, or celebrities like party boy Leonardo DiCaprio, Jordan is a role model that a mother can love. In fact, Jordan’s own mother has given lectures on parenting in Japan, and has been the subject of glowing profiles in Chinese magazines.
Some say Jordan was born a star; others say he was made one by marketing. Talent and charisma aside, Jordan has been part of a powerful global-marketing trinity including Nike and the NBA. The world’s largest athletic company signed Jordan in his rookie year (1984), and has spent millions selling him around the world. As Nike promoted Jordan’s signature shoes and sports apparel, the NBA began to realize that there might be an international market for professional basketball. As early as 1982 European countries like Italy had expressed an interest in broadcast rights for NBA games. But it wasn’t until basketball’s Dream Team–including Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird–stole the Olympic spotlight in 1992 that worldwide interest in the sport really grew. Demand for TV rights exploded. Today NBA games are broadcast in 196 countries, including Namibia and Mongolia.
TV was the perfect vehicle for popularizing both basketball and Michael Jordan internationally. As Rick Welts, the NBA’s chief marketing officer, puts it: ““TV is very kind to basketball.’’ Since there are only five players on the court from each team, there is plenty of time for close-ups. Without helmets or masks, the stars get lots of face time. Fans can see their expressions and get a sense of their personalities. Jordan, the best player on the top team, got the most face time of all.
Jordan’s star quality boosted the popularity of basketball, making it a close second to football in many countries. Since the Bulls won their first championship in 1991, the number of people who play basketball around the world has increased from 150 million to just under 300 million, according to FIBA, the international basketball federation. In Asia, 500 million televisions tune in to NBA games. Israel’s professional players memorize Jordan’s moves via video. Many Chinese high-school students manage to wrangle a pair of Air Jordans, though they cost a month’s salary there. The French snub the sport, but when McDonald’s brought the Bulls to Paris for an exhibition tournament in 1997, the 25,000-seat stadium sold out immediately.
The recent NBA lockout tarnished basketball’s image overseas somewhat, and Jordan’s retirement won’t help. ““Nine out of 10 of my friends won’t watch the NBA anymore,’’ says Michael Peng, a college student in Taiwan. David McConnell, an executive of TWI, which sells sports programming around the world, agrees. ““Jordan was synonymous with the NBA in many people’s minds.’’ If that’s the case, the NBA is in for some major revenue loss. In 1996 it pulled in about $3 billion from licensed merchandise–30 percent of that came from Bulls or Jordan merchandise. The NBA hopes to counter by promoting teams, rather than individual players, worldwide. But since most international fans are far more interested in personalities than team rivalries, the strategy seems dubious.
Jordan’s departure will also affect Nike. When he retired the first time, sales in the basketball-footwear market declined 30 percent. Nike, which owned 50 percent of that market, was hardest hit. In the past five years the company has grown and diversified its other lines, including running, cross-training, tennis, golf and football. Jordan-brand sales now make up 4 percent of Nike’s $9.2 billion in revenue, down from 8 percent. Still the brand is crucial–on its own, it would be the No. 2 basketball-shoe and -apparel company in the world. The good news for Nike is that analysts compare Jordan to PelE or Muhammad Ali–they expect his clout to erode very, very slowly, particularly overseas. Says Tom George, a senior executive at Advantage, one of the world’s largest sports-marketing firms: ““His brand power will extend beyond his time on this planet.''
The other companies that Jordan plugs–including Gatorade, MCI WorldCom and Rayovac–are counting on it. Bob Williams, president of Burns Sports in Chicago, says that a great endorser can typically increase a company’s sales by 1 to 3 percent. Jordan has increased battery maker Rayovac’s sales 5 percent since 1995, and was crucial in helping crack the Chinese market, worth $4 billion. Rayovac launched in China with Jordan ads this past fall. They now have 25,000 distribution points around the country. Even before Jordan’s retirement was announced, Rayovac had plans to run ads in Latin America showing Jordan in street clothing rather than a uniform, a testimony to his reach beyond athletics.
Executives at MCI WorldCom are equally enthusiastic–they say Jordan increased their awareness levels 25 percent in the past six months. And Gatorade’s only complaint is that Jordan can sometimes overshadow the company. In 1990, the year before Gatorade signed Jordan, worldwide sales were $681 million. By 1997 they had grown to $1.5 billion (international sales have increased by more than 500 percent). Greg Via, Gatorade’s director of sports marketing, says that theft of promotional materials featuring Jordan is a worldwide problem. ““So many people were stealing the life-size Jordan stand-ups [giant cardboard figures of celebrities] that the company that makes them for us started selling them.''
Meanwhile, the real Michael Jordan continues to take a more active role in selling himself. As the popularity of his sneakers and performance equipment levels off, Jordan may work with Nike to launch lifestyle products like Brand Jordan sportswear. Within the year Bijan will roll out a line of Michael Jordan body care and shaving products, a follow-up to last year’s hugely successful Michael Jordan fragrance. That sold $200 million globally, and is currently the No. 1 seller in every one of its retail outlets in China. Jordan, attempting to make the leap from sports celebrity to businessman, was involved in every aspect of product development. A 1997 Nike ad entitled ““CEO Jordan’’ sums up the transition–Jordan sheds his No. 23 jersey, puts on a business suit and heads over to the international headquarters of Jordan Inc. Profits there are likely to be steady for a long time to come.
