The Nike Beat

Company: Nike
Aired: May 2000
Channel: ESPN, Spike TV
Appeal: Rational, Endorsement

I remember this commercial so vividly from the very beginning of this decade. Basketball continued to be one of the most popular sports thanks to Michael Jordan and rising stars like Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Kevin Garnett.


But aside from the pros in the NBA, streetball was growing ever more popular. The AND1 Mixtape Tour, (a traveling basketball competition and exhibition sponsored by the popular basketball clothing line AND1) revolutionized the way kids played the game. It began in 1998 and this group of street ballers drew many comparisons with the Harlem Globetrotters. The games tended to be dominated by extensive one-on-one ball handling moves and acrobatic dunks often from an exciting alley-oop pass. As a 10 year-old kid my friends and I would constantly study and mimic the moves we learned from these amateurs on the tour. One player named Rafer Alston AKA “Skip 2 My Lou” was so talented he tried out and made the Milwaukee Bucks for the 1999-2000 NBA season. Companies began to exploit this growing phenomenon and attraction to the streetball level.

Nike first aired this commercial in May of 2000. They were able to use several NBA players to star in the ad including: Rasheed Wallace, Jason Williams and Vince Carter. At the time, Jason Williams was considered to be the most talented and skilled point guard in the league when it came to dribbling the ball. He brought a streetball type game to the NBA level with his fancy passes and dribbling. If you ask any guy twenty or older, I bet they could recall this ad. If not, check it out!

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I still want to jump up and start dribbling right in my living room when I watch that! Nike is as everyone knows an established brand. They do not need to make really detailed commercials explaining their products because as far as they are concerned, they have their competition beat already based purely on reputation. Nike is THE company. That little swoosh has become a status symbol for men and women of all ages. Nike’s reputation carries it’s ads, which is proven because not a single word was needed in this TV spot. The noises one would hear on a basketball court were used to create a beat. The player’s sneakers squeaking on the hardwood, the sound of the ball dribbling, an occasional grunt and even a referee’s whistle were all included to create one of my favorite commercials of all time.
In 2001 Scary Movie 2 came out in theaters across America. The Scary Movie franchise is a group of films in the dark comedy genre and are spoofs of many of the popular horror and slasher movies from recent years. In this movie, a group of college kids are in a haunted house when a basketball bounces down the stairs.

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A funny parady on the famous Nike commercial which ended with actor Marlon Wayans dribbling the ball into his “man-area.”