The 50 Best Sneaker Ad Campaigns

It's actually not just the shoes.

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Image via Complex Original
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When you consider the greatest sneakers of all-time, they still carry the name of the player who made them famous. We obviously have Air Jordan and the Pennys, but even others like the Agassi, Bo Jackson and David Robinson sneakers are most often referred to by these player’s names rather than by the ones given to them by Nike.

50. Jordan 9,000 Shots

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49. 1996 Nike Ads with Phone Number

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48. Vans BMX

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47. "Fall Down 7 Times, Get up 8."

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46. "Maybe It's My Fault..."

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45. Pump it Up

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44. Jordan Wheaties

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42. Vans Skateboarding 1977

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41. Nike Air Force 1

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40. Ewing adidas "Unstoppable"

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39. Pippen Flight Dimension

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38. Iverson Crossover

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37. Nike Instant Karma

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36. Rayguns Dr Funk

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 2006

Nike keeps the funk alive with Vince Carter starring as Dr. Funk, leader of the Roswell Rayguns. The campaign is based in 1975 where the (2006 current player) Rayguns are competing against various ABA All-Stars in a nice highlight reel filled with finger rolls and afros. In another spot, Dr. Funk shows up mid-game and starts breaking ankles at Rucker Park. Bootsy Collins provides the soundtrack to these funky commercials with some tasty bass lines and Funkadelic vocals.

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35. LA Gear MJ

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34. Kenny Powers K Swiss

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33. Jordan Fake Retirement

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32. Let Your Game Speak

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31. Ronaldhino Goalpost

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30. Kobe's Leap of Faith

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29. "Super Dave" for Air Flight from Nike

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 1991

Before Marty Funkhauser there was Super Dave Osborne. He was half mad scientist and half clumsy lunatic; the perfect character to introduce the new Nike Air Flight series of sneakers. Super Dave was paired up with Gerald Wilkins, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller in a series of commercials intended to demonstrate the technology and benefits of the “The lightest Nike basketball shoe on Earth”. Unfortunately we never really got to find out what those technical aspects of the sneaker were, but we did get to see Super Dave shatter the backboard and break both his face and brain. 

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28. Frozen Moment

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27. Fun Police

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26. "Do The Right Thing"

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25. Griffey For President

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24. "Play Together"

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 1992

Spike Lee directs these 1992 commercials intended to promote both the Nike Air Raid sneaker and racial unity. Nike and Spike create an awesome set for this series which they named Spike's Urban Jungle Gym. Spike's message here is, “If we're going to live together, we've got to play together.” In one of the commercials we see a stereotype name calling scene reminiscent of the classic one in "Do the Right Thing." In another spot, Tim Hardaway drops his classic line “I got skeels” as he's draining buckets. Two ironies here are that 1) this commercial was filmed in an area of L.A. that was hit hard by (Rodney King verdict) violence only weeks after the filming, and 2) Tim Hardaway apparently didn't hold the same feelings about playing together.

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23. Skechers Shape Ups

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22. Chicks Dig the Long Ball

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21. Dan & Dave

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20. JogaTV

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19. Charles Barkley vs. Godzilla

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18. Rock and Roll Tennis

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17. Bugs and Michael

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16. Be True To Your School

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15. Force vs. Flight

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14. Pump Up and Air Out

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Agency: Lois/GGK
Year(s): 1991

Between 1988-1992, Reebok changed advertising agencies nine times. In 1991, they commissioned Lois/ GGK to create a campaign to directly take on their main competitor, Nike. Reebok had been losing market share over the years, and executives felt that it was partially due to inferior campaigns and brand messages that couldn't compete with Just Do It. They were having some success with The Pump and gained enough confidence to start challenging Nike with this campaign. Pump Up And Air Out encourages the consumer to forget about Nike Air and start pumping up your Reeboks. Dominique Wilkins, Greg Norman, Michael Chang, Boomer Esiason and more make appearances in this campaign.

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13. Choose Your Weapon

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Agency: Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson
Year(s): 1986

In 1986, Converse struck gold by pairing up Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as the faces of their Choose Your Weapon campaign. These guys had appeared together in ads before, but now Converse was introducing a new sneaker that was made primarily for the top two players in the game. It was the Converse Weapon. This sneaker came in a variety of colors, but the most significant belonged to these two rivals — the unmistakable Lakers color combination and the Boston Celtics black version. The most memorable commercial played up on the dichotomy and friendship between the two players. Larry Legend is practicing in his backyard in French Lick when Magic comes rolling up in a limo to challenge him in one-one-one. For some reason, Magic is already in full uniform (including Laker snap-off pants), but who cares? Magic pops some shit, Larry tells him to bring it and they start ballin' on the blacktop in their Weapons. The other commercial with Kevin McHale rapping is pretty comical and the print ads are all classics too. The Converse Weapon was the official sneaker of the NBA for a couple years and was sold as an Officially Licensed Product in a variety of team colors. Converse continues to release The Weapon today in a variety of inferior materials and color combinations.

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12. Nike Boing

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 2000

This is another campaign that is simple and on point. Nike wanted us to think of Shox as mini shock-absorbing pogo sticks for our feet. What sound do we associate with bouncing? Boing! We have the Electric Factory spoof here, as well as the Boing Stampede. Gary Payton is always a great Nike commercial performer. This is definitely another campaign that had people running to the mall to see if these “springs” really worked.

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11. Nike Freestyle

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10. Beatles Revolution

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9. Terry Tate Office Linebacker

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8. Grandmama

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Agency: Houston Effler & Partners
Year(s): 1993-1994

The idea of creating an alter-ego for an athlete's Sneaker Personality wasn't a new concept by the time Larry Johnson signed with Converse, but we have never seen a character with as much charisma as LJ's Grandmama. I thought for sure that Larry Johnson would have signed with Nike after coming out of UNLV, but it just wasn't the case. Larry Johnson stated that, “Coming out of college, I was going to be the number one pick. I was coming out of UNLV which is a big-time Nike school and that's all we ever wore. I couldn't wait to sign with Nike coming out of college. And believe it or not, Nike did not sign me. They flat out told me they didn't think I was going to be a good pro. They went after Billy Owens, Kenny Anderson, and Dikembe Mutumbo as their three main guys. I was the number-one pick and they didn't have faith in my abilities. Converse came to me after that saying 'we love you, we have a great idea for a commercial.' And they pitched me a great idea. (in regards to the Grandmama character)”. From Larry Brown Sports (Via Nice Kicks)

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7. "My adidas"

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6. Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 1990

In 1988, Nike signed David Robinson to a five-year, $1 million endorsement contract. Wieden + Kennedy really figured out how to play up on the Admiral's 25.6 points per game and 1,320 SAT score when they launched ” Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood” in 1990. David's playful, calm and civilized demeanor was in stark contrast to their other Force pitchman, Barkley's persona (until he started using Right Guard, anyway). Along with Sir Charles, David Robinson became the anchor of Nike's $15 million ad campaign for its 1990 Force basketball line.

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5. Banned

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4. Lil Penny

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 1995

This campaign was first launched on November 4, 1995 to coincide with the start of the NBA season (remember those?). Lil' Penny was another Nike alter ego created for the newest league sensation, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. "Lil' Penny is crazy. But people will like him," said Hardaway in a 1995 interview."Most people see me as being very reserved so I think they will see a different side of me with the ads. The NIKE people know that I like to kid around and make jokes, so this concept really works for me." In each of the commercials, Lil' Penny's behavior always seems to be a source of contention between the two characters. Lil' Penny (voiced by Chris Rock) is always mouthing off and Anfernee is constantly trying to quiet him down. We also see the Lil' Penny campaign cross over with other Nike campaigns and athletes. We also have to thank (or blame) Lil' Penny for bringing a young Tyra Banks further into the national spotlight.

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3. I Am Not A Role Model

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2. Bo Knows

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 1989-1991

Who better to promote your line of cross-training sneakers than the first athlete (in the modern era, anyway) to play two professional sports at the same time? “Bo Knows” became part of the American vernacular after this campaign was introduced in 1989. Here we have the ultimate combination for making a successful Nike campaign… especially during this time period. First it starts with another revolutionary Tinker Hatfield concept and sneaker. Then they attach that sneaker to a charismatic, almost mythical sports hero. We all know Michael Jordan was in that echelon and so was Bo Jackson at the time. None of us could fly or play a professional sport. This guy was playing two. The final ingredient is that old school Nike humor. This campaign played on the idea that Bo Knows how to do everything. We saw him racing cars, cycling and even surfing, dude. Gretzky just responded “No” when it was suggested he could play hockey and the only thing he couldn't seem to do was keep up with Bo Diddley. The Bo Jacksons from this era are still some of Nike's top designs of all-time. Bo did eventually end up knowing Diddley, but some argue that he still don't know jack, because he can't rap.

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1. Spike and Mike

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Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Year(s): 1988-92

Is there any doubt that this is the most influential sneaker campaign of all time? Spike Lee first introduced sports-loving Brooklynite Mars Blackmon in the 1986 film "She's Gotta Have It." Two years later the planets aligned as Tinker Hatfield created the Air Jordan III, Nike hired advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, W+K hired Spike Lee to direct the Air Jordan campaign, Spike Lee enlisted his alter-ego Mars Blackmon to co-star in the spots, and this formula produced the greatest sneaker campaign and legacy in history. Mars continued to appear in countless classic Air Jordan ads until he was eventually bumped by Bugs Bunny in 1992….coincidentally, the same year I stopped wearing Air Jordans. (He did eventually return, following Michael's own retirement.)

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