BACKGROUND

Athletes today are more conscious. Winning means a lot, but it isn’t everything. Nike Basketball came to Endeavor’s Obsedian Works with a desire to shift their brand from being a Work of Perfection to a Work in Progress. They asked us to leverage Lebron James and his platform to inspire and enable progress for their athletes and reestablish Nike’s dominant position in basketball and culture. However, Lebron James is basketball royalty and it is hard not to attach perfection to a king.

Agency: ObsidianWorks

Nike Basketball Strategy

To reflect the brand shift from Work of Perfection to Work in Progress, Nike Basketball will show Lebron James walking away from the crown.

Lebron forgoing the opportunity to remain king makes his accomplishments less about his personal achievement, but that of human achievement and the potential of every athlete.

Because truthfully, the power (progress) is in the people (the collective), not the king.

By democratizing the crown, athletes are no longer just witnesses to perfection.

They become shareholders of progress.

And when everyone has skin in the game and the endgame isn’t perfection, progress becomes something to celebrate for Nike Basketball.