In the ads, we looked at showing Kobe Bryant marketing his shoes in the form of an assembly of a lot of famous people getting advice from Kobe. The thing that made the ad so interesting and captivating despite it no making literal sense is the idea that Nike was not selling the shoes but Kobe’s brand as a whole. Giving advice that doesn’t make sense with the baseline of becoming amazing automatically makes it so interesting to watch and makes us want the shoe. Kobe is someone in society that is a household name and a person we instantly look up to, especially in American culture. To have bim saying useless motivational platitudes work better than him actually giving motivational advice. In the American consumerism ideal that a lot of children have been brought up in, these jokes of motivational advice make them feel more interested in the product than something that generally helps them with there basketball game or looks cooler. Nike eliminates the need to further research on the quality or price of the shoe and makes you want it simply because of the ad. The inspirational things Kobe is saying appeals to the younger audience as genuinely inspirational despite the joke. I feel that when looking at the younger audience to this commercial, the underlying message they receive from the ad, is that these ‘useless platitudes’ do on some level actually help, why else would other idols, Kanye West or Aziz Ansari listen to them then?

Additionally, we are in the audience listening to his meaningless speech and it normalizes the celebrities in the audience like we are with them watching the same speech and getting the same advice. This another way Nike makes its product so desirables, the celebrities. The fact that these well-respected people are listening to Kobe and this seminar, makes consumers think if they should as well. Also, I noticed that each level or different actor focused on appealing to a different target audience, making the ad as a whole appealing to everyone. For example, Kanye West is someone countless youths know, Aziz Ansari is a bit older, people watching his stand up or other shows maybe in there 20’s or 30’s and Wang Leehom, appealing to the Asian market. Nike stacks all these actors up to eventually encapsulate everyone in society, the chances that we know none of the people in the ad are so low we are not forced to relate to it and remember personal experiences regarding those actors.

Also, Nike sells the whole brand of Nike through association, saying the full name of the celebrities articulately makes it stick in our brain. Additionally, even though the shoe is very expensive we create a bias to Nike shoe as we associate it with the laugh we had as well as the famous people we saw. Nike sells the brand so when we look in a Nike store, realize how expensive the shoe is our next thought is what else do you have that’s associated with Kobe or Nike in general. Also, I think that this could be an overall marketing strategy by selling the shoe at a high price to make the shoes that are already overpriced be a more reasonable price. This overall just increases the Nike brand and with the price going up brings the perception of a reasonable price for the consumer. The product only applies to a specific audience but they help the whole Nike brand, increasing the demand for other Nike shoes.