Eventually, it crafted “Be Like Mike,” one of the most memorable and effective campaigns in the history of sports marketing. However, Gatorade ad agency Bayer Bess Vanderwarker had to create a campaign worthy of Quaker’s Jordan investment. “We saw some competition coming and the only way they could challenge us was with a slew of athlete endorsers, so we got the endorser.” “Jordan got us instant credibility in countries where they had no idea what a sports drink was, and that it cost four times as much as water,” Marineau said. Adding Jordan, who eventually became the world’s most popular athlete, supercharged its marketing efforts at home and abroad. Gatorade was already doubling its business year after year. Negotiations with Falk started during the 1991 NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte. “I wanted Michael ever since I watched him hit the winning shot in the 1982 NCAA final,” Schmidt said. It wasn’t long before “Schmoozemaster Schmidt” was sending cases of Gatorade to Jordan’s home. Marineau insisted that the Jordan-Gatorade relationship actually began years earlier, when Gatorade got courtside seats next to the Bulls bench in the old Chicago Stadium. The formula of seven figures a year over 10 years became a template for many future Jordan deals. “To their credit, Falk said a deal was a deal,” he recalled.
“I don’t understand why they wouldn’t pay Michael the same.”Īfter losing the sealed-bid auction, Coke came back with more moneyĪnd a 10-year offer, according to former Quaker Oats President Phil Marineau. “They had Elton John and Whitney Houston making millions,” he said. Coke’s five-year offer did not, according to Falk. Gatorade owner Quaker Oats made an offer that fit those parameters. Falk said he told both sides he wanted a 10-year deal at seven figures per year.
When it came time to bid, Jordan and Falk decided to go with a sealed-bid process. Gatorade and Schmidt (above, far left) signed Jordan in 1991 and quickly filmed the iconic “Be Like Mike” campaign (below). “The creative wasn’t very imaginative, and Michael was one of 30 or so Coke endorsers,” said David Falk, then Jordan’s agent. Gatorade offered Jordan an average of $1.4 million a year over a decade to be Gatorade’s first and only endorser. Everyone agrees on the motivating force: MJ was one of dozens of stars in Coke’s constellation of endorsers. There are dozens of stories about how Gatorade snatched Jordan from Coca-Cola. Michael Jordan’s 23-year relationship with Gatorade has been around so long and supported by such artful advertising that most people forget what was at the heart of the deal: Gatorade stole Jordan from Coke.
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