The Jordan brand itself is seen as the first majorly successful collaboration in sports history. The partnership with Nike has given him the name of the “ultimate collaborator” (Albertini).
In the sports marketing world, it has become commonplace to collaborate with other athletes or brand names, but the Jordan brand truly established the category of collaborations within professional sports (Albertini).
The Jordan brand jumped straight into the collaboration game, working with everyone from rappers to social media influencers to professional athletes and sports clubs. The approach of collaborating with others does not take away from the Jordan brand in any sense but reimagines the brand in new ways. This leads to not only more money for the brand but more exposure and marketing power for those involved in the collaboration (Albertini).
Getting the chance to collaboration with the Jordan Brand has become one of the highest honors for any athlete or sports team. The Jordan brand has not just stayed within the realm of basketball but has crossed boundaries with multiple sport collaborations.
Some of the past Jordan sports collaborations have included:
The Jordan brand created this distinct category of collaborations for athletes, teams, and major sports organizations. It created this legacy of partnering with Jordan to be the epitome of sports marketing and commercialization; a goal that any athlete aspires to reach during his or her career. These collaborations may have started within the NBA, but the brand has now expanded into partnerships with almost every major sport in today’s world. The Jordan brand has shown how powerful of a tool collaborations are and how brands can benefit from pairing up with a team or athlete to launch a partnership that draws in consumers from various spaces in the sports world.
The Jordan brand ultimately transformed collaborations in sports marketing.