Legend has it that back in 1978, when Michael Jordan was in his second year at Emsley A. Laney High School and was running for the last spot to join the high school team, the unexpected happened, Jordan was not selected by his coach. In his place, one of his childhood friends, who was 2.01 meters tall at the time, had been chosen. His name? Harvest Leroy Smith. Motivated by rejection and competitiveness from an early age, the player gained 10 centimeters in height, trained a lot and got a spot on the team the following year, achieving averages of 20 points per game, and then being selected by McDonald's All American in his last year with an average of triple-double to nearly 30, drawing attention from the best universities at the time and securing his scholarship at the University of North Carolina.
This story gained momentum during Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame induction year and it was the origin of one of Nike's most fun and creative campaigns, “Get Your Basketball On”, in which the true story of Leroy Smith inspired the creation of the fictional character performed by Charlie Murphy, the brother of the famous comedian Eddie Murphy.
The six-week campaign aired with television space between NBA playoff games, introducing the character directly to basketball fans, among them young people who were unfamiliar with Jordan's early career as a player. Alongside these televised advertisements, Nike has also actively posted Leroy Smith profiles on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to engage with fans and numerous exclusive interviews for ESPN, NBA.com, Hypebeast, Sports Illustrated and CNBC, which made everyone at the time buy the story of the man who motivated the best of all times.
In order for the campaign to become truly multi-channel and make the most of this character who was present even in Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech, a website was also created with more than an hour of informative, motivational, training content , between a virtual store and the detailed story of Leroy Smith. In addition to that, they created a game in app format for the iPhone, on which you could play two against two with the character, a music video directed by Leroy, banners, activations on New York courts and even an exclusive Air Jordan 1 color.
This energetic and relaxed advertisement campaign was a success among basketball fans and brought, in addition to more recognition and authenticity for the Jordan brand, it also brought amazing business figures. During the six-week campaign, it generated approximately 300,000 clicks on Leroy Smith's website, 229,000 views on the informational video and 188 million impressions, in other words, this was the audience reached by the campaign.
