Business Insights from the Movie "Air": Unveiling Lessons in Effective Branding and Strategy

I recently had the pleasure of watching the movie "Air" directed by Ben Affleck, which delves into the captivating story of Nike's iconic partnership with Michael Jordan and the birth of the legendary Air Jordan brand. Beyond its entertainment value, the film offers valuable business lessons that resonate across industries. In this post, I will highlight key takeaways from "Air" and their relevance to business, inspiring professionals to apply these insights in their own endeavors.

Embrace Unconventional Thinking:

Nike's pivotal decision to invest its entire budget in signing Michael Jordan, rather than spreading it across multiple players, demonstrates the power of thinking differently. By taking a bold and innovative approach, Nike redefined the game and revolutionized the sneaker industry. This prompts us to challenge conventional wisdom, foster creativity, and explore uncharted territories to drive meaningful change.

Uncover Hidden Potential:

"Air" underscores the importance of recognizing untapped potential. Sonny Vaccaro, portrayed by Matt Damon, identified Jordan's exceptional abilities and foresaw his meteoric rise to greatness. The lesson here is to cultivate a discerning eye for talent, identify emerging trends, and seize opportunities that others may overlook. By looking beyond the surface, we can unlock the potential for transformative success.

Adaptability Breeds Success:

Nike's negotiation with Jordan's representatives, where they agreed to a groundbreaking deal to secure his partnership, demonstrates the significance of adaptability. In a rapidly evolving business landscape, flexibility is key to navigating unforeseen circumstances and seizing strategic opportunities. This highlights the importance of being agile, open-minded, and willing to embrace change for long-term success.

Overcome Internal Barriers:

Internal politics can hinder progress and stunt innovation within organizations. Sonny Vaccaro's perseverance in securing Jordan's partnership, despite opposition, sheds light on the destructive nature of internal conflicts. By fostering a culture of collaboration, effective communication, and shared goals, businesses can unleash their collective potential and drive remarkable outcomes.

Harness the Power of Storytelling:

Storytelling has an unparalleled ability to captivate and inspire. Nike's closing of the deal with Jordan was not through a standard presentation, but rather a compelling and heartfelt speech by Sonny Vaccaro. This highlights the significance of storytelling in connecting with audiences, communicating brand values, and forging meaningful connections. Incorporating storytelling techniques into business strategies can elevate brand perception and create lasting impact.

Branding's Transformative Influence:

The quote, "A shoe is just a shoe until someone steps into it," resonates deeply in the realm of branding. The Air Jordan brand's immense success stems from its ability to transcend utility and become a symbol of aspiration and identity. This emphasizes the power of branding in elevating products beyond mere commodities, fostering loyalty, and driving revenue growth. Businesses should strive to build strong brand associations and establish emotional connections with their target audience.

Authentic Brand Purpose:

Nike's resounding success can be attributed, in part, to its authentic brand purpose. By embracing a mission to empower everyone, Nike transcended its role as a sports brand and resonated with a broader audience. This aligns with the growing importance of purpose-driven businesses that genuinely believe in their mission. By leveraging brand purpose as a compass, organizations can inspire their teams, attract loyal customers, and fuel sustained growth.

Growth Opportunities for Small Brands:

While larger brands may benefit from established branding laws, small brands possess inherent advantages and room to grow. Nike's journey, starting as the third player in the market, exemplifies the power of audacity, strategic acquisitions, and a relentless focus on demand generation. Small brands can take inspiration from Nike's boldness.

My Take-Aways From the Movie “Air” – What the Air Jordan Story Teaches

I recently watched the movie "Air". From award-winning director and actor Ben Affleck, the movie is about Nike and how it managed to sign Michael Jordan and create the Air Jordan brand, from which Jordan still makes billions.

Besides being highly entertaining, there is much to learn from this movie about how to conduct effective business. Here are key take-aways everyone should learn from the movie Air.

Think differently from everyone else

Jordan wanted to sign with Adidas, and Nike had a certain budget for multiple players but with the small amount of money it had, clearly it could sign only three mediocre players.

Then it had an idea. Instead of using all that money to sign three decent players, it decided to take it all and attempt to sign one amazing player, Michael Jordan. The out-of-the-box thinking ended up saving the company.

See what others can't see

My favorite part of the movie was when Sonny Vaccaro, played by Matt Damon, recognized Jordan's potential before anyone else.

Jordan was only a rookie but only looked at the video of Jordan hitting a last-minute shot over and over and he didn't just see a person hitting a buzzer shot; he also saw a young confident player whom the coach chose to take the last shot and eventually win that game.

Sometimes, flexibility is necessary

Nike had the money to sign him but when Jordan was in discussions with the company, he made a demand that execs had never heard before. Jordan's reps proposed that he get a cut of every sneaker Nike sold, which was something the shoe company didn't typically do. But Nike wanted Jordan so badly, it had to compromise and make a deal the likes of which it had never even thought of.

Internal politics can ruin companies

As mentioned, Sonny wanted Jordan but no one was supporting him and everyone said it was impossible. So he risked everything and showed up at the Jordan home to persuade Jordan's mom to consider Nike.

Everyone got mad at him for bypassing his manager and Jordan's agent, but at the end of the day, he managed to get the Jordans to Nike HQ and to ultimately close the deal.

Storytelling is everything

The way Nike ended up closing the deal was not with some lame deck or promo video but with an inspiring speech by Sonny. Storytelling is everything. On top of this, through its astonishing storytelling, Air illustrates the power of believing in yourself and your vision despite whatever odds and obstacles seem to be challenging you.

A shoe is just a shoe until someone steps into it

This quote is repeatedly stated in the film. “A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it.” said Deloris Jordan, Michael Jordan’s mother. That’s literally the definition of branding. Without a brand to give its meaning, a shoe is just a commodity.

With Nike’s brand associations and Michael Jordan’s greatness, Nike’s Air Jordan has become a symbol that many people resonate with and aspire to have as a part of their identity. Within its first year, Air Jordan made $126 million in revenue.

The movie triggers some conversations that build the brand's mental availability and may influence future buyers of the brand, and that’s one of the ways brand can grow. And again, companies shouldn’t adopt brand purpose to increase revenue but should treat it as their compass to hold on to and to guide them throughout the unpredictable journey.

Brand purpose can be the company’s greatest weapon

Brand purpose has become a buzzword lately, with many businesses adopting brand purpose, not for the sake of purpose but profit. However, brand purpose only works when the brand truly believes in it, even at the cost of profit.

Like Nike, many businesses have their ups and downs. But at the end of the day when the going is tough, it is their North Star, or what Simon Sinek calls the ‘Why’, that keeps them going, reminding them why they came to exist in the first place.

Nike’s purpose wasn’t about themselves (eg. We aspire to be the #1 sports brand). It was about their fans and followers. Nike’s goal is to empower everyone because everyone has an athlete within them, and all their messaging has always been around this, including the famous tagline ‘Just Do It’.

When a brand creates a purpose that its people and customers can resonate, growth comes naturally.

Bigger brands may benefit from many laws of branding but small brands have more rooms to grow

The movie started with Nike being #3 in the market, following Adidas (#1) and Converse (#2). Nike acquired Converse in 2003 for $315 million and has now become the number one sports brand with annual revenue of $49 billion, almost double of Adidas’s.

Small brands have to work harder if they aspire to be number one. They could steal the share (capturing existing market) or grow the market (generating demands and capturing future demands). Nike did both.

What really drove Nike’s growth over the year is their brand, demand generation and how they define their customers. Rather than focusing on serving athletes only, Nike thinks bigger and positions itself to serve everyone because everyone can be an athlete. They created a demand that wasn’t previously there, which grows much more in volume than the existing market as time progresses.

As well, with less to lose, Nike took a risk on Michael Jordan and it worked out for them phenomenally.

Ambitious small brands have a lot to learn from Nike.

Sürdürülebilirliğe Adanmış 4 Hafta: PMI Engtegre Raporu 2022

Vay be, sürdürülebilirliği kişisel ve profesyonel yaşamlarımıza entegre etmek için yarıştığımız 4 haftalık bir maratonu başarıyla bitirdim. Şimdi biraz gözlerimi ve parmaklarımı dinlendirme zamanı.

Mart ayında Philip Morris International (PMI)’ın sürdürülebilirlik çalışmalarını raporladığı 2022 yılı Entegre Raporu yayımlanmadan önce şirket içerisinde “IR22 Challenge” (Integrated Report 2022 Challenge) duyuruldu. Sürdürülebilirlik konusunda herkes kadar sorumlu olduğum için ben de öncelikle çevreme bu yarışmaya katılmaları konusunda çağrıda bulundum. Smart Work koşullarında uzaktan çalıştığımız için b en iyi yöntem Yammer diye düşünüp Duty Free ekibimize şirket içi sosyal platformumuzdan davette bulundum.

 

Yarışmanın başlangıç tarihi yaklaştığında kayıtla ilgili hatırlatmada bulunup arkadaşlarımın işini kolaylaştırmak istedim.

 

Hatta biraz daha abartıp, sürdürülebilirlik konusunda farkındalık yaratmak için raporun lansmanının yapılacağı gün için video bile çektim.

 

5 Nisan’da PMI’ın entegre raporunun yayımlanmasını takiben başlayan ve 5 Mayıs’a kadar süren yarışmamızda her gün bireysel challenge’lar aldığımız gibi, Salı ve Perşembe günleri de 2022 yılı Entegre Raporumuzdan seçilen bir konu ile ilgili spesifik challenge’ları tamamladık. 4 haftalık bu süreçte #DoGood adlı uygulamayı kullandık ve challenge’ları tamamlamak için hem yazılı hem de görsel içerikler yükledik. Yüklediğimiz bu postlar tıpkı Twitter ve Instagram'da olduğu gibi diğer kullanıcıların önüne düştü. Paylaşımlarımız tüm kullanıcıların yorum ve beğenisine açık olduğu için dünyanın farklı yerlerinden PMI çalışanları ile sürdürülebilirlik konularında görüş alışverişinde bulunma fırsatımız oldu. Yeni insanlar tanıdığım gibi yeni yaklaşımlardan da haberdar oldum. Tabi ki tüm challenge’lar iş odaklı değildi. Bireysel olarak sürdürülebilirlik için alabileceğimiz aksiyonları da paylaştık. Örneğin, duşta müzik dinlemeyi seven biri olarak arkadaşlarımın önerileriyle banyodayken suyu en az israf edebileceğim pek çok şarkıyı Spotify listeme ekleme şansım oldu. Tüm bu paylaşımları yaparken bitirdiğimiz challenge’lar, aldığımız ve yaptığımız yorumlar ile beğeniler sonucunda bir puanlama yapıldı. İlk 2 haftasında lider olduğum yarışmanın son 2 haftasında ise ikincilik koltuğunu deneyimleyip yarışmayı ikinci olarak bitirdim.

 

Bu süreçte her hafta içerikler içerisinden en’ler belirlendi. Paylaştığım içeriklerin en’ler arasına girmesi beni uygulamada daha çok vakit geçirme konusunda motive ettiği gibi takdir edildiğini görmek de hoşuma gitti.

 

Bu noktada belki de challenge’a ilişkin tek eleştirim olabilecek konu olan zaman yönetiminden bahsedebilirim. Telefonumun ekran süresi özelliğinden verilere baktığımda, yarışmanın son 3 haftasında haftalık olarak sırasıyla 19, 23 ve 20 saatlik sürelere ulaştığımı gördüm. Ekran başında geçen sürenin bu kadar fazla olması, dış dünyadan kopma ve özel zamanımda ailemin yerine telefonumla ilgilenmem açısından bir dezavantajdı ancak neyse ki kısıtlı bir süreydi ve yarışmanın bitmesi ile ekran sürem de yine standardıma döndü. Yarışmanın ciddi bir bölümü Ramazan ayı içerisinde gerçekleşti ve sahura kalktığımda yeni günün challenge'ını tamamlayıp arkadaşlarımın challenge'lara verdikleri cevapları okumak ve yorumlamak adeta benim için bir ritüel haline gelmişti.

 

Peki bu dört haftalık sürecin sonunda yeni insanlar tanımak, şirketimizin sürdürülebilirlik çalışmalarını öğrenmek ve bireysel olarak ne gibi sürdürülebilirlik aksiyonları alabileceğimi görmek dışında bana ne katkısı oldu? İşte o da bu yarışmanın ödülü ile Cambridge Institute of Sustainability’ten seçeceğim bir Liderlik alanında eğitim almak olacak. Yani yolculuk devam ediyor. Şimdi önümde 8 haftalık yeni bir challenge var. 

Bakalım çıkacağım bu yeni yolculuğun bana ve çevreme nasıl katkısı olacak. Paylaşmaya devam edeceğim.

Bu arada haftalık ödüllerde de şirketim yine fark yarattı. Proje ekibimiz sunduğu ödüllerin biriyle treedom üzerinden adıma ağaç dikerken, diğerinde ise World Wild Life (WWF)’dan sembolik olarak penguen evlat edinmeme yaptıkları bağışla aracılık ederek doğaya en güzel hediyeyi verdi. Sürdürülebilirlik adına çok ince düşünülmüş bu hediyeler için minnettarım.

 

Unutmadan, şirketimizin sürdürülebilirlikle ilgili atmış olduğu adımlardan kendi radarıma girenleri geçtiğimiz günlerde paylaşmıştım. Burada paylaştıklarım günlük challenge’larda fikir bulmak açısından işimi çok kolaylaştırdı. İşte o fotoğrafları paylaştığım içerik: Volkan Yorulmaz: Capture PMI's Transformation Journey towards Sustainability

Yeri gelmişken PMI’ın sürdürülebilirlik konusundaki hedeflerine, attığı adımlara ve örnek vaka çalışmalarına aşağıdaki linkten ulaşabilirsiniz.

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