Cannes Lions
WIEDEN+KENNEDY NEW YORK / JORDAN / 2019
Overview
Entries
Credits
Background
Named after Michael Jordan, the livelihood of Jordan Brand is greatness. And while the brand has dozens of male athlete endorsers, their most accomplished athlete is a woman; Maya Moore. And as a brand known for the greatest of all time, it was time to acknowledge that maybe there's a new greatest of all time.
Idea
Maya would grow up to win back-to-back NCAA National Championships, four WNBA Titles, two Olympic Gold Medals, countless MVPs, All-Star Selections and individual accolades, and become the most-awarded athlete on the Jordan Brand roster.
Three decades later, Maya Moore had lived up to her dreams. She too had become the greatest of all time. But this story wasn’t being told enough. To prove that greatness is not set in stone, with Michael’s blessing, we recreated the photograph with Maya and then turned the image into a film using the original quote, plus one very important edit, voiced by Michael himself: “No bird soars too high if SHE soars with HER own wings.”
Strategy
The strategy was to give credit to greatness, where credit is due. Maya Moore is one of the most accomplished athletes on the planet and the brand had not recognized it. This was an opportunity to redefine where we look for greatness in our culture. In doing so, we could reach an aspiring audience of young women and show them someone to aspire to. In the midst of gender equality and female empowerment conversations everywhere, we saw an opportunity to lead the way for generations to come.
Execution
We recreated the 1990 Michael Jordan "Wings" image with Maya Moore, as a film, posters and OOH. The executions were as true to form as the original in production and design. In addition to the film, we created massive wallscapes of Maya’s Wings in NY, LA and outside the stadium where she plays in Minnesota.
Outcome
There was a huge cultural impact; we saw an outpouring of support on social media applauding the support of Maya and better representation of female athletes. In Minneapolis, a large OOH board of the poster had a short media run, and residents were so enthralled by it, they petitioned to have it reinstalled.
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