Author: Arham Shahzad
Topic: Sneaker Marketing
It’s safe to say that the Air Jordan 1 “BRED” is a staple in each and every sneakerhead’s collection out there. The Black, Red, and White colourway was originally released in 1985 as the first ever Jordan that was ever created where it has been rereleased six times. Since then, this 2025 release became the eight overall release of the “Banned Sneaker”. Thus, this article will explore how the Air Jordan Brand used the “Banned Promo” to sell the shoe out for the eighth consecutive time.
Context
Unlike Nike’s dominance in the basketball world today, they were struggling in the 1980s to stay afloat. As of 1984, Converse dominated the marketspace with a 54% share, Adidas had a 28% share with many notable superstars on its roster, and Nike had a measly 15% share where they were struggling to find top superstars within their budget to help endorse their shoes. That’s when Sonny Vacaro saw the potential in Jordan to be the face of Nike’s Basketball shoe line. During that time he was foregoing his senior year in College to play in the NBA and had already established himself as a remarkable player helping Chapel Hill win the NCAA as a freshman. The journey to sign him “Wasn’t Pretty” but it led to Nike creating an all new shoe for Jordan which violated the NBA’s 51 percent colour rule, leading to them paying a $5000 fine in every game.
The “Banned” Promo
The promo explores this very fact to increase the hype around Sneaker releases and there couldn’t be a better opportunity to do so. According to the 2024 Sports Business Journal Execs warned that “demand for new models remains low”, “launches are still underperforming”, and that Jordan was to see a sales decline in the upcoming year. With the expected decline in sales, it only made sense to release this promo by the start of 2025 since it was also this sneaker’s forty year anniversary which could strengthen the Jordan hype and perhaps change the upcoming year’s trajectory.
The promo revolves around the idea of how the world would be if Nike decided not to pay the fine. It’s ludicrous to think the Sneaker Giant would simply not exist. To further reiterate this effect, they put a black box around multiple Jordan 1s on their websites and apps, and fined their own employees for wearing Jordan’s? Moreover, they also blocked out multiple Jordans on the Nike and Snkers website. As a result, this effectively built a certain curiosity within its buyers who wondered why Nike was doing this while also getting the attention of news outlets around the world who covered these minor intentional flaws and helped promote the Jordan Brand even more.
Lastly, the promo was extremely successful because it catered to all types of audiences as it had a sense of nostalgia while also trying to reiterate that it is still the best sneaker in the game mentioning the Jordan brand’s dominance in all types of industries whether it be basketball or not. The promo also collaborates with multiple celebrities such as Travis Scott and DJ Khaled to appeal to an even larger fan base. This coupled with the fact that Jordan only released 10,000 pairs made it seem extremely exclusive which helped sell it out instantly, concluding that the promo certainly helped raise hype and demand for other shoes too.