Nike proved why it's the most bold company in the world, with LeBron's excellent new spot coinciding with the nationwide launch of the LeBron 8's tomorrow. The type of directive that Nike gave its ad firm Wieden+Kennedy is consistent with what it has done when its biggest stars face trouble. They weren't scared to make noise or comment on it with Kobe, Tiger and now James.
What did the YouTube release of the commercial, which will run on air tomorrow for the Heat-Celtics opener on TNT, do? It did what LeBron himself hasn't been able to do since "The Decision" took place 110 days ago. It was the first day that the collective sports world thought positively about him. In the first two hours of its release Monday afternoon, approximately 9 out of every 10 people who posted the ad on their Twitter account felt that the ad was good.
Source: Nike
But now comes the real business.
Will people spend $159.99 to buy the shoes, which are — in typical Nike style — barely mentioned in the spot?
That's the bigger question.
And because Nike never releases sales numbers, most of what we'll have to look at is good anecdotal information from the stores.
That's everything from the stores blowing out the doors in Miami, where a special edition of the LeBron 8 easily sold out last weekend to the stores in the Midwest which ordered their allotment of LeBron 8's before "The Decision."
