- 9 hours ago
The Sneaker Boom - Season 1 Episode 5
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00one day in 1984 there was a meeting at Nike run by Rob Strausser who was second-in-command
00:11and Phil Knight obviously was the boss Nike had become somewhat successful when we introduced
00:18the colleges and the college players to wearing the shoe now this meeting was called for this
00:26reason Strausser opens it up we're doing something different we're gonna sign players to a record
00:35contract and we're gonna do marketing with them I was invited to this meeting they brought me in
00:43because I had the number one all-star game at that time for round ball classic it was the first
00:49nationalized game in the country and those players would eventually be pros so I had a good feel for
00:56that world hey live from the felt forum in New York City the USA Network presents the 1984 NBA college
01:06draft the draft was in 84 one of the greatest NBA drafts ever a cream Elijah one Charles Barkley
01:15Sam Bowie was a kid and he was gonna be drafted by the Portland Trailblazers you know you just go
01:22through the draft that was one of the most seminal years in sports history and especially for the
01:28Nike company the Chicago Bulls pick Michael Jordan the University of North Carolina they went around the
01:38room and they asked everybody well we have five hundred thousand dollars to spend who would you pick
01:46and I say you're doing it wrong what do you mean sonnet well if you're gonna do it give it to the
01:54kid well what do you mean what kid the kid from North Carolina give it to Jordan just give all the money to
02:00Jordan this will be far-fetched for anybody listening but it's so far-fetched it'd be ridiculous to even
02:07say unless you totally believe this to be true I didn't know Dean Smith from Dean Jones okay it was
02:15nothing there other than I saw the Georgetown game he was not a Nike school they were converse school
02:33and I said something to the effect if you don't get him in my opinion you'll never be able to get
02:39another kid like this because you won't have the money any there was only one choice for me and the
02:48choice was Jordan never met Michael in my life until after that when I met him with Tony Wilkes
02:54no one else from Nike went no one I was just told to get him Michael Jordan walked into that thing was
03:08very polite with me very nice very cordial and we got to a point where he did say to me the
03:14this is my pick even if you offer me more than them they're the favor I wasn't really prepared for that
03:23any other course that we go through in life there's always something there that turns the tide for you
03:35I knew they were making a special shoe and I said we're gonna make a shoe for you
03:43and advertise you we're going to market you
03:47the day in Tony Romo's history changed what I said to him at that meeting it changed that industry
03:58I don't know anything about shoes and I still don't but when I found out I started to understand
04:05what marketing was commercializing the athlete
04:35I grew up in Southeast DC and I was one of these people that was always able to interpret
04:52for my friends and my neighborhood and my community in Southeast what was happening in the business
04:57world so basically what was going on in the boardroom I could bring back to the corner and then the things
05:03that were happening out in the corner I could interpret and distribute and bring that stuff into the boardroom
05:09I always felt like my superpower was kind of like being that bridge between the two worlds
05:16everyone used to call Reebok at that time especially in the basketball category like we were the challenger brand
05:25being able to walk around and operate as a challenger brand and trying to always prove that
05:32you know you can sell product that you can perform at the level of the best having that chip on your shoulder
05:38it was everything and so now I'm in Reebok and I have a full year under my belt of working on the
05:46basketball business now and I'm realizing like what makes a really good endorser of a category like
05:52basketball there were a couple of insights that became reality where you got to have someone who kind
06:00of has the ball in their hand they can control the game number two was they need to be good looking
06:07they need to be someone that guys want to be and girls want to be with number three was kids would
06:14find inspiration in who they are you could look at him and say wow he can do it I can do it they needed to
06:21be relatable kids couldn't aspire to be seven feet 300 pounds shoot under 60 that's relatable that's
06:29somebody like any kid in the world can aspire to be not realizing a guy like Allen Iverson was blessed
06:35with all his God-given too much God-given talent and athleticism in that way coming out of high school
06:43in Virginia he was the number one football player in the state of Virginia and the number one basketball
06:48player in the state of Virginia and he was a state champion in both sports that is rare rare rare rare rare
06:56rare rare rare him going into his final year I really didn't think we had a real shot at him
07:05because honestly up until that point he was a Nike kid I used to talk to my teammates in Georgetown
07:14they used to ask me man do you think you gonna have your own shoe and all that I'm like I don't
07:19know you know hopefully something like that will happen for me but it was so far-fetched I don't think
07:27nothing like that would actually come true to where I had my own sneakers there was another gentleman at
07:39the time a young guy who was working in product development by the name of Todd Krinsky Todd and I
07:44just started clicking up like look man we gotta figure out how we're gonna get AI and it just so
07:48happened that Todd agreed that AI was the guy I was actually an associate development manager working on
07:55like the tennis business at the time but my passion was in basketball and I was playing ball at lunch
08:00every day meeting all the basketball guys and that's when I kind of met Q and so our whole thing was
08:04instead of just going to the executives with Allen Iverson we went to the executives and said yo it's
08:09Allen Iverson we've created a shoe we created all this kind of passion will we get the company to
08:15support us should we even be spending our time thinking about this guy can we get it done and
08:21that's why we called the shoot a question like we knew his nickname was the answer but we called it the
08:27question because there was just so many questions no one gave us permission to do this like we just did
08:34there weren't a lot of people that were excited about especially retailers retailers I mean I knew
08:43these guys at the time and they were kind of like yeah you know he's six foot can't really shoot he had
08:49all this trouble I mean it wasn't like he was the slam dunk that he was gonna be the guy so people did
08:54not want to take a strong position on the product for a lot of the buyers for a lot of these top doors
09:00they were like white older males like they're in their 40s right you know they're all wearing khakis
09:06and buttons up every day to work so I'm not really trusting their opinion on what looks flat and so
09:12we're showing this product internally and everyone is laughing at us so I started taking this out to
09:20the playgrounds up and down the east coast to show it to kids so I started in Boston I go to Rhode Island
09:29I go to New York I go to Jersey I go to Baltimore I go to DC and maybe I took a trip to Atlanta or something
09:36but for the most part I'm up and down I-95 because I'm also a hooper still so I'm still going around
09:41playing at all these playgrounds been going to my trunk showing them product afterwards I'm showing it
09:46the older players I'm showing it the younger players and everybody in the streets they feel
09:51in the vision and then they're going crazy over the product on its own I'm never presenting the
09:58product as Allen Iverson's product because we don't even have him signed I don't even know if we're going
10:03to get him there was also all these things against us like you know his mentor John Thompson was on the
10:08board of directors at Nike and we were talking at the time but the money was getting really high
10:13she was like yo there's going to be a boardroom meeting on Iverson we're going
10:17neither of us had any right to be talking about a multi-million dollar long-term deal with an
10:22athlete neither of us had that juice at the time but we were like so passionate about it and then
10:28eventually Paul Farmer gets brought in we started to share the reports of what we were doing with the
10:34kids and showing them some of that feedback but these old white buyers they're not getting the story
10:39they're not saying it at one point Paul said this thing's getting really high I really feel
10:46like and he paused and he said there'll be another Allen Iverson talk another reason right wait what
10:54we both hit the table like no Paul no there won't there will never be another Allen Iverson trust us
11:02I think one of the smartest things in the beginning that Allen did was that he had David Falk as his
11:12agent and joining me now is David Falk Michael's longtime agent and manager David David was a super
11:20agent and I know this is recorded and I'm sorry David for saying it because I know you're a great
11:25guy and I love you to death but back then I would argue that David Falk's ego was bigger than Allen
11:31and there was a time when he was definitely you could argue the most powerful man in basketball
11:38for sure you know with having Mike and AI at the same time while he was pro Nike for sure at times
11:44he definitely was more pro David and it's really about showing Allen that we get him and that we connect
11:51with him we don't want you to be the next Michael Jordan we're gonna let you be you but I mean that's
11:58basically the crux of our pitch and I think David understood that if he had a top guy at Nike and a
12:06top guy at Reebok he had real power when I first met Allen and he walked in I remember like the aura he
12:17had and I was like this guy is ready for everything that's coming at him and Allen was really really
12:24ready for it we go through our storytelling the vision for our business all the boring stuff up
12:29front Allen was just sitting there in the cool AI fashion just taking it all in playing poker not
12:36really giving us nothing and then Todd and I look at each other like yo we gotta get the shoe on the
12:40table we really gotta put this shoe on the table because that's really that's what he really wants to see
12:43right so we kind of saved that towards the end and then it was like okay any questions and they
12:48were like no no question we're like well we got a question
12:51I remember seeing the shoe and it didn't really matter what it looked like
13:01it didn't even matter you know just the fact of it being my shoe was enough for me
13:08but then seeing the shoe made it that much better I couldn't wait to put him on
13:15I think he was super impressed that we had a product for him when he went and met with Nike
13:22they didn't and then honestly it came down to money it wasn't like we got Allen for the cheap
13:28like we had to pay a lot of money to get him Allen was a 50 million dollar investment that the brand
13:33was making at the time at Nike Jordan had Howard White who everyone had known had been like his
13:39confidant and kind of helped shepherd him through the process they wanted me to kind of work in a
13:44similar capacity and then that's when Paul and others volunteered like and Q's gonna be your day-to-day
13:50contact your point person I was just happy to have my own shoe that was my dream that was my biggest
14:09one of my biggest dreams obviously to make it to the NBA but to have my own signature shoe
14:16that's icing on the cake just a dream come true it was just an incredible feeling
14:23all right Alex congratulations Hubie Brown says there's nobody in the league quicker than you
14:28is there anybody that could stop you one-on-one no I hope not no I don't think so
14:34you've pretty well been able to do whatever you want on the court in high school and in college
14:38all the campaigns with Allen where they were very unscripted maybe we would have an idea or maybe
14:44we wouldn't we were very kind of flexible with being an authentic brand and wanting him to
14:48really just express who he was I want everybody to know I play every game like it's my last it seemed
14:56like just yesterday I was talking with my friends about one day making it to the NBA everything was
15:02freestyle everything was authentic it was all original that was the genius of Reebok
15:08looking at the logo this is something I watched all my life the guys that came in with me the guys
15:14that were my age you know they all thought it was cool you know I mean the fact that I had my own shoe
15:20the older guys you know how old the guys are when it come to young guys a lot of guys had contracts
15:27with uh different shoe companies but didn't have their signature shoe I kind of stuck my chest out a
15:35little bit a little bit a little bit we were in Philly a lot we were watching every game we could he had the
15:47most aspirational but somewhat relatable game he wasn't freakish in terms of stature or size but he was
15:54fearless it was very difficult to stop him
15:56Allen was always going to be taken care of in terms of being able to have product to go on court
16:04what we were struggling with was where we're going to have product at retail to be able to match what
16:09was happening on court so when we're going through that sales cycle when we need them to place purchase
16:15orders so that we can get the shoe ready for retail there's no purchase order none
16:22we had no purchase orders on the shoe because remember none of the buyers believed in it
16:34the most they could do at that moment in time for his very first shoe and I don't know if this has
16:40ever been publicly stated but it was it was like 5,000 pairs and that's nothing like 5,000 pairs is
16:46nothing and for God we're slotted for 50 billion you need 100,000 pairs to start paying back that kind
16:51of money I was in Philadelphia in the mall and the Foot Locker buyers were in there I remember
16:58bumping into them because everyone was shopping them all that day and they were like every single
17:02Foot Locker in Philly was sold out it sold out in two minutes this word started spreading across the
17:10country because people across the country wanted this product and no one could get the product because
17:16we never disclosed the number of how many pairs we ended up having it probably ended up being the
17:21best thing never happened so on the blue toe we flooded the market with pairs of the blue toe and
17:27that ended up even selling out but it was hundreds of thousands of pairs so by the time that one came
17:33the market was primed they were ready and as they say the rest is history
17:37you know you got your own shoe but seeing somebody else with them on that's the best part about it all and I'm not talking about your family and your friends you know because they're gonna wear them regardless but just seeing the fans wear them and to go even further the people that's not even fans would like the shoe that's one of the best feelings ever it's incredible
18:03to me growing up how you look how you play you know I want to make myself up to look not only just like a basketball player but look like a superhero
18:17a skinny one but a superhero so that's how I came up with style like what hasn't been done
18:24the NBA has admitted to cracking down on traveling calls this year and one of the moves that's been singled out is the crossover dribble of Allen Iverson
18:32commonly known as palming the ball Iverson was kind enough this afternoon to show us a slow exaggerated look at the violation
18:40when they have memos out on my move I just you know just try to break it down if they say it's too hot
18:47and if they sit my hand on the bottom of the ball I put it right on the side
18:50so just try to change it up the referees haven't been calling me lately
18:55the only person who's going to stop him night in and night out will be himself
19:00no one player can guard him one on one
19:03I can have all these different flavors because I'm coming up with original things that haven't been done
19:10nobody would do this nobody would do that
19:14that's how I used to come up with it like a superhero
19:17to where they don't even look real
19:19and it gives me great pleasure on behalf of the Philadelphia 76ers
19:24to present
19:25our rookie Allen Iverson with the
19:28chic NBA rookie of the year award
19:30yeah
19:31I literally shadowed Allen everywhere he went
19:38I loved being a fly on the wall so to speak
19:41in Allen's life
19:42by me being everywhere with him all the time
19:47it was also a way for me to make sure that he was always representing Reebok
19:52I felt like in the beginning
19:55the media had labeled him a little bit of a thug or menace
19:59he used to catch a lot of flack for always having family and friends around
20:06and they were calling all of us the posse
20:08there were a lot of times historically where black athletes had become really successful
20:14and they had forgotten where they came from
20:16and I think Allen was very conscious of not wanting to be one of those types of athletes
20:22I think he wanted to make sure
20:23and his success that he was pulling people along the way
20:27I know what my nephew likes
20:29my name is Jesse
20:30I'm Allen's aunt
20:32this is his favorite dish
20:33lasagna
20:34I'm blessed to be part of his life
20:37every game he always come up with some kind of new move
20:41I tell my friend I said watch it watch it
20:43Allen Iverson's number one quality that everybody loved
20:46is that he did not change
20:49Allen Iverson was never going to be the dude
20:58who was going to switch up and change
21:01just to maybe get that mainstream adulation
21:05that so many athletes frankly trade for authenticity all the time
21:09and everybody loves somebody who's kind of going against the system
21:13he just felt like rebellion
21:16and it was cool
21:17I like to think that me being a basketball player
21:22is totally different from me setting trends
21:26this is who I am and that's that
21:29that's the great part of who I created within myself
21:34you know what I mean
21:35to be myself
21:36and let people know that I'm cool with that whole aspect of life
21:39just being me
21:41Mike had everyone wearing suits
21:44Mike because of his power
21:46had everyone looking to him
21:48for a lot of direction in that way
21:50and I think AI recognized that
21:52while all that's great and he loved Mike
21:54Mike was like the big brother of the big uncle
21:56but the little cousin don't necessarily want to be like the big brother and the big uncle
22:00they want to create their own path, their own way
22:02this was also when the urban market was starting to be focused on
22:08and paid attention to as a real consumer base
22:12you got to remember prior to that
22:14a lot of brands weren't really paying attention to the urban consumer
22:17in an intentional way
22:18what's been the biggest surprise since you got in the NBA
22:40I mean the response that I've gotten from kids
22:46I mean it's just unbelievable man
22:49sometimes you know I'll be on my block
22:50and I see a kid just walk by
22:52and I'll sit there and watch him
22:54I mean he have on my sneakers
22:55and I'll watch him until he get out of sight man
22:57I mean because I used to be a sneaker fanatic man
23:00and finally see little kids wearing my sneaker
23:03and look up to me
23:04they don't care about what these adults care about
23:06what is Alan doing with his posse
23:08and blah zay blah
23:09all they care about is Alan Iverson
23:10and Alan Iverson they see
23:12and that's real with me man
23:13okay
23:13Magic had a bad TV show
23:15Shaq did a genie movie
23:18how are you going to embarrass yourself?
23:25it was amazing for me
23:26you know because me wanting to be a future marketer
23:31it was definitely something that
23:33put a certifiable stamp on my career
23:36I really got hands on with this project
23:39I was brought to Philly because of AI
23:43I ended up moving from Boston
23:45and moving to Philly
23:46but had I not been there first hand
23:49to kind of see it
23:50dissect it
23:51analyze it
23:52and then try to figure out
23:53how to create and execute against it
23:55we would have never built
23:56let's call it anywhere
23:57from a half a billion
23:58to a billion dollar business
24:00on his behalf
24:01we were kids man
24:04I mean I was learning the business
24:05as I was showing him shoes
24:06I didn't know what I was doing either
24:07Q as well
24:08we kind of learned on the job
24:09I think what made it really work
24:12was we weren't trying to create a legacy
24:14we weren't trying to set a standard
24:16we weren't trying to
24:17create some new trend
24:19we just like
24:20we're living in the moment
24:21of working with one of the
24:22I think most prolific players ever
24:24at the time
24:24we were just trying to allow him to be himself
24:26and I think that authenticity
24:29of who he is
24:30and us allowing him to do that
24:32is the magic of what happened
24:33Reebok made the right pick
24:37they were looking for the new hero
24:39and Alan was that
24:41he did everything that Reebok
24:42could possibly ever want
24:43he was all the other great ones
24:46who were before him
24:5491 or 92
24:55August that particular summer
24:57Michael and I had just come back
24:59from the New York tour
25:00and we had a big meeting
25:02with the Nike staff
25:03and for whatever reason
25:05fate has it
25:06because it's true
25:08Phil Knight
25:10he fired me
25:10just like that
25:12so I bounced around
25:15for a minute or two
25:16doing some other things
25:17and I got a call
25:19Rob Strauss from Peter Moore
25:21bought Adidas America
25:23Rob and Peter
25:26invited me
25:28to fly to New York
25:29and I go to New York
25:30and I meet him
25:31I said
25:32what are you going to do?
25:33we're buying Adidas America
25:34we ain't got no money
25:36but come aboard
25:37we'll figure this out
25:38and he asked me a question
25:40how would you like
25:42to climb the same mountain twice?
25:46there were three or four kids
25:47that we were looking at
25:48but we had to get it right
25:50at this camp
25:52we had all these
25:53high school kids
25:54150 of them
25:56in one building
25:57for a week
25:58I went there
25:59looking for the next Michael
26:01that's why I went there
26:02what I saw
26:05move my life on
26:06and move the shoe industry on
26:08I saw a kid
26:10that came out of nowhere
26:12and I called Peter
26:17and I said
26:17I got the guy
26:19we're going to offer him
26:21this is the one
26:22I got the one
26:27I got the one
26:29and I asked him
26:31if I was there
26:31I got the one
26:33and I said
26:359
26:36I got the one
26:37and I said
26:40I have to get the one
26:42and I said
26:46I own
26:48and I was top
26:49a storage
Be the first to comment