“I’m not going to guarantee no championship, I’ll tell you that,” LeBron James says in a 2003 interview soon after joining his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers.

Obviously, that turned out to not be the case as the spot by Nike, created by Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, pulls away from the archival footage to show back-to-back titles with the Miami Heat, as well the Cavaliers’ first championship in 2017 after he returned to his original team.

“There’s no pressure,” he tells a reporter, going back to the 2003 interview. “There’s no pressure at all. I’ve been getting pressure since I was 10 years old.”

The piece launched just as James made his debut with the L.A. Lakers, and showcases a star in the making, honing in on not just his time on his court, but his cultural influence as an athlete, activist and business leader, and he heads into the next chapter of his career.

Set to Aretha Franklin’s “People Get Ready,” the ad ends with Nike’s campaign tagline: “It’s only crazy until you do it.”

“I’m doing something that I love to do,” James says. “That’s play the game of basketball.

READ MORE: AdAge

Tags: lebron james nike


  Save as PDF