Can CR7 brand match the legacy of the Air Jordan brand

stw2022

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In America the commercialisation of sport is as important as the sport itself. In Europe, whilst it certainly exists, it isn't anywhere near to the same level. I'd doubt anyone can remember a single commercial during the half-time of a Champions League final yet SuperBowl half-time commercials are almost an event as big as the game itself.

Michael Jordan is arguably more synonymous with the footwear than the sport in a way that's only possible in America. It's not to diminish the role of sponsorships and the rest of it in Europe but a top sports star in Europe being more famous for the products they endorse than the sport they play is something I don't think could ever happen.

Messi, Ronaldo, Federer - sports starts from or based in Europe of course make shedloads in commercial endorsements but they're primarily known for the sport they play. Federer didn't become "that guy off the shoe commercial...think he plays tennis" in the same way the top American sports starts tend to. That's why Ronaldo or any player based in Europe will never surpass the commercial achievements of the top American stars.

The relationship between public and sport in America vs Europe is vastly different. Entire sports teams just leaving their towns and moving across the country isn't that big of a deal. The love of the sport isn't there to the same degree. Most football fans wouldn't give a shit what products Ronaldo endorsed and would only be interested in his performances. In America, to a much larger degree, that is reversed; the products he endorsed would be much more important
 
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Fortitude

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It’s a measure of how huge the Jordan brand is that people are using the footwear alone as the counter, when you don’t even have to include them as Jordan clothing is huge in its own right and a mountain to overcome before even thinking about the shoe range.
 

MrSingh2002

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With the right product and marketing yes.

I'd wear something if it looked good enough.
 

Zen

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Nope. Aim for Foreman grills or Lineker's Walkers(basically the same :lol:) first before going for the unattainable.
 

Green_Red

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In terms of brand, Jordan is pretty strong. I don't think Ronaldo can match that brand
 

Jam

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No, Air Jordan was a perfect storm of timing, personality, public perception of commercialism and sport, marketing genius and last but not least culture.

CR7 as a “brand” will never come close to Air Jordan, no matter how big Ronaldo is or how much money is thrown at marketing the brand.

Air Jordan is the absolute pinnacle of sport commercialism. It’s not a slight on Ronaldo, it just isn’t a feasible accomplishment because I don’t think any other sport brand imprint will be as successful. It’s the blueprint.
 

Sayros

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No, Air Jordan was a perfect storm of timing, personality, public perception of commercialism and sport, marketing genius and last but not least culture.

CR7 as a “brand” will never come close to Air Jordan, no matter how big Ronaldo is or how much money is thrown at marketing the brand.

Air Jordan is the absolute pinnacle of sport commercialism. It’s not a slight on Ronaldo, it just isn’t a feasible accomplishment because I don’t think any other sport brand imprint will be as successful. It’s the blueprint.
This. The timing is key, the whole development of the league and its stars came around then on a global scale, especially after Barcelona '92. Now there is an over-saturation of athlete-driven brands, I see the Messi collection, the CR7 collection on social media ads, not once was I ever even remotely interested in checking out either one. I think both logos are bad and I wouldn't want that on my clothes. You can be better, you can be smarter, or you can be first, and Jordan was the first major athlete to brand in that manner, everyone else is just looking to replicate or surpass that but they aren't better or smarter in their approach. Even Lebron has no shot, and he's as good of an athlete/commercial star you could ask for (much better than CR7 or Messi in his personality, sense of humor, language, etc), but he will never have the success Jordan had with his shoes, but he makes it up in other ways with content production and I believe CR7 will be very successful post football as well as I believe he has several commercial properties and other ventures.
 

Rado_N

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I'll be honest, and this is just my opinion of course, I think every pair of Jordan's I've seen are hideous. I love my trainers, but Jordan's are just pure fugly to me. Big shapeless, clunky things. Each to their own but I find them very difficult to class as something I could easily wear daily unlike many other trainers.

I'm obviously in the minority or they wouldn't be so popular, but I've just never understood the appeal to the actual look of the shoe itself. The Jordan brand however is super cool, the Jumpman logo has been around for a long time, so naturally is very difficult to CR7's brand to over take that.
Depends which ones you’re talking about. Personally I don’t like Jordan’s after the 4s.

1s are my favourite, followed by 4s then 3s.

Most if not all of the ones after that I agree with your description.
 

RUCK4444

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Depends which ones you’re talking about. Personally I don’t like Jordan’s after the 4s.

1s are my favourite, followed by 4s then 3s.

Most if not all of the ones after that I agree with your description.
Just not really been a fan at all of any version. I've had some Air Jordan clobber and like the brand (loved the recent PSG kits) but never warmed to the style of trainer, just think they are a bit clunky and never felt they suit me tbh.
 

Rado_N

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Just not really been a fan at all of any version. I've had some Air Jordan clobber and like the brand (loved the recent PSG kits) but never warmed to the style of trainer, just think they are a bit clunky and never felt they suit me tbh.
I mean it’s obviously all 100% subjective so it’s totally fair.

But for me: this:


Is awesome but this:


Is gross!
 

RUCK4444

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I mean it’s obviously all 100% subjective so it’s totally fair.

But for me: this:


Is awesome but this:


Is gross!
Yeah they've had some truly hideous ones like that second pic. but I assume most refer to the more iconic style of the first pic, which I agree is a lot better, just always thought they were a bit big and not really my style. Proper iconic trainer though.
 

Eli Zee

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I think it's easier to wear basketball shoes every day.. cleats not so much. That's one disadvantage.
 

KirkDuyt

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Nah, different era. Nothing will do that as a brand.

Also, great as Ronaldo may be, he lacks the personality that Jordan was.
 
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Dannyboy

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I grew up in my late teens and early twenties watching the Bulls and Jordan he was incredible he looked like he was playing against school boys. If Ronaldo were to win the Champions league/league the next 3 years in a row he would be on same level as Jordan not better but on the same level.
 

Giggs' right foot

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I grew up in my late teens and early twenties watching the Bulls and Jordan he was incredible he looked like he was playing against school boys. If Ronaldo were to win the Champions league/league the next 3 years in a row he would be on same level as Jordan not better but on the same level.
So he has to that for a third time?
 

JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo

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Air Jordan brand with 'Jumpman' was one the biggest stroke of marketing genius from MJ and the nike team. 30 years on, it's still one of most sought after shoes in the world

Can the CR7 create an everlasting brand like MJ. 30 years on, will folks be wearing CR7 kicks? Speaking of which, wonder why Nike isn't positioning it more around Ronaldo's trademark Siiii stance?
Not in the slightest.

An incredible amount of people have no idea who Jordan is and yet buy the merchandise because its continually relevant.
 

Sayros

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I grew up in my late teens and early twenties watching the Bulls and Jordan he was incredible he looked like he was playing against school boys. If Ronaldo were to win the Champions league/league the next 3 years in a row he would be on same level as Jordan not better but on the same level.
Not really for me, even then it wouldn't work because most people don't even consider CR7 the best player in the world, it's usually Messi. Jordan made sure if there was anybody even remotely making noise in his era that he squashed them and made his point thoroughly clear to everybody where you wouldn't even ask if there was anyone close to him, the answer was nobody. There really isn't anybody like Jordan in team sports, even Tom Brady is a poor example.
 

Dannyboy

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Not really for me, even then it wouldn't work because most people don't even consider CR7 the best player in the world, it's usually Messi. Jordan made sure if there was anybody even remotely making noise in his era that he squashed them and made his point thoroughly clear to everybody where you wouldn't even ask if there was anyone close to him, the answer was nobody. There really isn't anybody like Jordan in team sports, even Tom Brady is a poor example.
Jordan wasn’t considered the best until after his retirement when he came back a did what he did. He was on par with Bird and Johnson. If Ronaldo were to win 3 champions league in a row or even 2 while Messi just dithered in France he would surpass Messi as the greatest player of this generation and probably the best of all time and to me would put him on level as Jordan
 

Dannyboy

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So he has to that for a third time?
Ya, being that him and Messi have switched clubs. If Ronaldo were to win multiple champions league while Messi struggled that would do it. Jordan’s peers during his second time had all retired and didn’t do what Jordan did. Now if Messi were to win multiple champions leagues that would put him on par with Jordan
 

Salt Bailly

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I feel like the Hulk Hogan meat shoe isn't being discussed enough. Haven't we all, at one time or another, wondered around town with a handful of meat thinking, "If only I had somewhere to stow this..."?
 

Litch

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Bigger than Jordan? The brand that changed the way the world wore trainers. Jordan brand is more popular now than it's ever been....
 

Sayros

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Jordan wasn’t considered the best until after his retirement when he came back a did what he did. He was on par with Bird and Johnson. If Ronaldo were to win 3 champions league in a row or even 2 while Messi just dithered in France he would surpass Messi as the greatest player of this generation and probably the best of all time and to me would put him on level as Jordan
Eh, I remember that era pretty well, Jordan was considered one of the best players ever very quickly based on ability, but certainly not the GOAT because you have to win rings but Larry Bird called him God disguised as a basketball player when he had his first playoff game against the much-better Celtics and dropped 63 points on them, which incredibly is still a record for playoff game to this day; the only thing people held back against him was not winning (and a big part of that was being part of a terrible team). It's only in that sense that you could say maybe Messi has similarities because we were saying about Messi at 22-23 whether he may be the best player ever, commentators, pundits, etc were already asking the question, but he didn't dominate his era, he had to share it with CR7 even if I consider the latter not quite as good, he was still a rival. MJ had no rivals, he buried them before they could even convince anybody of their arguments, and he wasn't really the same era as Magic and Bird either.

As far as your first claim, he retired first in '93, but before that was the first 3-peat and also very importantly the Dream Team, it was pretty much by then that he was considered the best out of those three, even Bird and Johnson had to agree to it, it's pretty well-documented. Only old-school fans who refuse to adapt to the time and think the stars of their era will always be the best disagreed with that. Neither Messi or CR7 could surpass Jordan because the other existed. If Messi or CR7 (but not both) dominated their era bar the odd Ballon d'Or win a la Modric or maybe Lewandowski this season then sure, that would be a better comparison, but I just don't think there's anybody that comes close to just how dominant MJ was once he started winning. I do think his 'retirement' helped that legacy because I think the Rockets could have given him his first loss, or at least his first game 7 in the Finals.
 

Dannyboy

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Eh, I remember that era pretty well, Jordan was considered one of the best players ever very quickly based on ability, but certainly not the GOAT because you have to win rings but Larry Bird called him God disguised as a basketball player when he had his first playoff game against the much-better Celtics and dropped 63 points on them, which incredibly is still a record for playoff game to this day; the only thing people held back against him was not winning (and a big part of that was being part of a terrible team). It's only in that sense that you could say maybe Messi has similarities because we were saying about Messi at 22-23 whether he may be the best player ever, commentators, pundits, etc were already asking the question, but he didn't dominate his era, he had to share it with CR7 even if I consider the latter not quite as good, he was still a rival. MJ had no rivals, he buried them before they could even convince anybody of their arguments, and he wasn't really the same era as Magic and Bird either.

As far as your first claim, he retired first in '93, but before that was the first 3-peat and also very importantly the Dream Team, it was pretty much by then that he was considered the best out of those three, even Bird and Johnson had to agree to it, it's pretty well-documented. Only old-school fans who refuse to adapt to the time and think the stars of their era will always be the best disagreed with that. Neither Messi or CR7 could surpass Jordan because the other existed. If Messi or CR7 (but not both) dominated their era bar the odd Ballon d'Or win a la Modric or maybe Lewandowski this season then sure, that would be a better comparison, but I just don't think there's anybody that comes close to just how dominant MJ was once he started winning. I do think his 'retirement' helped that legacy because I think the Rockets could have given him his first loss, or at least his first game 7 in the Finals.
I agree Jordan dominated and no one was on par with him no one was close while he was playing. He eclipsed Bird and Jordan early on in his career but didn’t have a team to support his talents. I do think that if Ronaldo or Messi were to win a few more champions league it wouldn’t put them above Jordan but for me it would put them on par with him. To me it’s like when Jordan came out of retirement and dominated again. Ronaldo and Messi are at a crossroad in their careers
 

Sayros

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I agree Jordan dominated and no one was on par with him no one was close while he was playing. He eclipsed Bird and Jordan early on in his career but didn’t have a team to support his talents. I do think that if Ronaldo or Messi were to win a few more champions league it wouldn’t put them above Jordan but for me it would put them on par with him. To me it’s like when Jordan came out of retirement and dominated again. Ronaldo and Messi are at a crossroad in their careers
I can understand that. The only thing you can hold back against CR7/Messi in that comparison is that they both existed at the same time. In terms of domination of their peers, they are as dominant as Jordan was to his peers, but it's also why I say they don't compare because they had a rival.

I also need to make very clear that it's not to say I think Jordan is the better athlete or winner or whatever. Football and Basketball are so different. You have a great player in the NBA, that's 1/5th of your team on the field. Messi or CR7 are one of eleven, it's just an unfair comparison when we want to talk about domination of a sport. It's a fun debate to talk about though. :)
 

Luke1995

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If in 2003 when he first arrived, social media was as big as it is today and the United board had a plan on how to market Ronaldo, i'm sure that he could have had a massive impact on that kind of stuff.

But yeah, the Jordan brand is something that has been carefully built over decades.

A better question would be if CR7 today is a more recogiznable face in the world than Jordan. Ronaldo dominates social media but Jordan doesn't have it.

Outside of Pelé and Jordan, I think Ronaldo could be the third or fourth most known sports person though. And having someone like that at United, even at 36 years old, can only be good for the club's global appeal.
 

Sayros

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If in 2003 when he first arrived, social media was as big as it is today and the United board had a plan on how to market Ronaldo, i'm sure that he could have had a massive impact on that kind of stuff.

But yeah, the Jordan brand is something that has been carefully built over decades.

A better question would be if CR7 today is a more recogiznable face in the world than Jordan. Ronaldo dominates social media but Jordan doesn't have it.

Outside of Pelé and Jordan, I think Ronaldo could be the third or fourth most known sports person though. And having someone like that at United, even at 36 years old, can only be good for the club's global appeal.
He has to be up there for sure. I'd also give a shout to Muhammed Ali, Wayne Gretzki, and maybe Lebron James alongside Messi of course. There's also a change of generation, for a lot of people now MJ is the crying meme. :lol:
 

CR7Giggs11

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Cristiano Ronaldo would have to move to America and make an impact in America somehow. An impact most likely not entirely based on football. David Beckham is probably more known in America than Cristiano Ronaldo.
 

edcunited1878

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I'm all for the excitement and hype of Ronaldo coming back....but this OP is ludicrous. Impossible.

Just look at PSG and their Jordan Brand impact. Their collaboration has been so sick and sold extremely well...and it's a cultural thing that transcends sport. That is the scale of the Jordan Brand. A basketball brand that started in the U.S. and has now been a collaboration with a footballer from Brazil named Neymar (before he switched to Puma) and a football club in France called PSG.
 

saivet

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It was only watching the trophy presentation at the US Open final that I thought CR7 probably won't even have the the same sort of brand success (in terms of selling products) than Stan Smith.

In tennis you also have Fred Perry and Lacoste, though those were new fashion brands rather than a collaboration.
 

Andy_Cole

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I do think there’s an opportunity. If Nike released a great CR7 clothing range. Collaborated with off white, Travis Scott, or even Jordan himself. It would be an instant boost. In UK alone if he launched a huge campaign with Stormzy, Dave, Burna Boy.

Now he’s in Manchester it’s very possible more so than when he was in Europe. The next few years are huge for him.
 

Giggs' right foot

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Ya, being that him and Messi have switched clubs. If Ronaldo were to win multiple champions league while Messi struggled that would do it. Jordan’s peers during his second time had all retired and didn’t do what Jordan did. Now if Messi were to win multiple champions leagues that would put him on par with Jordan
I have no idea what you mean.
 

nameischarles

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Depends which ones you’re talking about. Personally I don’t like Jordan’s after the 4s.

1s are my favourite, followed by 4s then 3s.

Most if not all of the ones after that I agree with your description.
No love for the 11s?
 

Luke1995

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He has to be up there for sure. I'd also give a shout to Muhammed Ali, Wayne Gretzki, and maybe Lebron James alongside Messi of course. There's also a change of generation, for a lot of people now MJ is the crying meme. :lol:
Man I wonder if most basketball fans get pissed that Jordan and Lebron didn't play in the same era like Ronaldo and Messi or if it's better this way.

I'm not sure if back in the day, Lebron could have built a brand like Jordan did. Anyways, Jordan is clearly a global brand, while Ronaldo's commercial appeal is more limited to football.
 

SirReginald

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Air Jordan brand with 'Jumpman' was one the biggest stroke of marketing genius from MJ and the nike team. 30 years on, it's still one of most sought after shoes in the world

Can the CR7 create an everlasting brand like MJ. 30 years on, will folks be wearing CR7 kicks? Speaking of which, wonder why Nike isn't positioning it more around Ronaldo's trademark Siiii stance?
I really don’t think so. I don’t think there’s many people outside of football fans that know who Ronaldo is besides being a “soccer” player. For a brand to work, it needs to be recognizable and you don’t have to like basketball to know who Jordan is. The man was so good they changed the rules ffs
 

NasirTimothy

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Air Jordan brand with 'Jumpman' was one the biggest stroke of marketing genius from MJ and the nike team. 30 years on, it's still one of most sought after shoes in the world

Can the CR7 create an everlasting brand like MJ. 30 years on, will folks be wearing CR7 kicks? Speaking of which, wonder why Nike isn't positioning it more around Ronaldo's trademark Siiii stance?
Michael Jordan’s shoes today, 20 years after his retirement, outsell the signature kicks of every current basketball player combined. Steph Curry, Lebron, the lot. And those two guys in particular are commercial juggernauts themselves, so it just speaks to the heft of the Jordan brand.