Gatorade saved $1 million on Michael Jordan’s ‘Be Like Mike’ campaign through an ingenious move

Akash Murty | 09/08/2022
Gatorade saved $1 million on Michael Jordan's ‘Be Like Mike’ campaign through an ingenious move

Gatorade saw a great opportunity to steal Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan from Coke in 1991 and they grabbed it with both hands.

Other than his life-long earnings from Nike with whom he signed a deal in 1984 to become a billionaire in the future, Michael Jordan signed with a bunch of world-famous brands in the 90s or he himself made some of them famous with his superstardom and popular advertisements.

Food and beverages brands like McDonald’s, Coke etc. also saw and pounced on their opportunity to get a piece of the up-and-coming superstar of the best basketball league.

Still, for some reason, Coke refused to give MJ a 10-year contract during the 90s, which resulted in him singing with Gatorade getting an $18 million contract for a decade-long deal that he signed in 1991.

A new brand means new commercials, and to get the best clips, a piece of terrific background music or song was a must in the 90s. And it was going to cost the new brand another million if not for their advertising executive.

Also read: Not Michael Jordan but a $5.8 billion franchise’ legend was the ‘Black Jesus’ that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar knew of

 

Gatorade ad executive thought of a Michael Jordan game, came up with “Be Like Mike” lyrics in a few minutes and saved his company $1 million

We all remember the “Be Like Mike” advertisement which until now is a TikTok hit, but it almost never happened if not for Disney asking $350,000 for a five-week or a sum of $1 million to give the rights of the song, “I Wan’na Be Like You” from the movie Jungle Book for the commercial.

Bernie Pitzel, an advertisement executive with Gatorade at the time, pulled off a miracle that would become the OG song for the first popular sports drink. It took him only a few minutes while sitting in a restaurant to not only save his company a million dollars but also go down in the history of GOAT ads.

30 years later, it still feels like one of the best commercials ever made, and that had a lot to do with the song by Pitzel. Jordan was the first endorser of that budding brand, which is now worth around $19 billion. Whatever that man touched literally turned to gold, or should I say diamond?

Also read: Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls never lost 3 games in a row from 1990 to 1998, proving his dominance greater than Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain

 

 

 

 

Post Edited By: Akash Murty

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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