So Pitzel went back to the drawing board, sat down at his favorite Italian restaurant, and came up with the 'Be Like Mike' lyrics on a napkin in four hours. But Pitzel said Disney wanted Gatorade to pay $350,000 for a five-week run. Pitzel's original idea was to show kids looking up to Jordan while playing the song 'I Wan'na Be Like You' from the 1967 film 'The Jungle Book' that Disney had recently rereleased. So the ad went from idea to final version in three days. Pitzel wanted a chance to do something iconic. It merely featured highlights of Jordan dunking, something that Nike had shown countless times in its spots with Jordan over the previous six years.

Quaker paid a hefty price to land Michael Jordan - a 10-year, $13.5 million deal and the promise that he would be the beverage's only endorser.ĭays before the first commercial was to debut, advertising exec Bernie Pitzel, who had come in late in the process, got a preview of the spot that was already approved. But it's just as good as the commercial itself.Įxecutives at Gatorade, then owned by Chicago-based Quaker Oats, were head-over-heels for good reason - they'd just stolen their hometown star from Coca-Cola, fresh off his first championship. While the commercial is famous, the story of how the spot came to be isn't told as much. Twenty-five years ago, one of the most famous commercials of all time debuted: Gatorade's 'Be Like Mike.' Fans of a certain age are probably already hearing the jingle in their heads. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserįamed 'Be Like Mike' Gatorade ad debuted 25 years ago

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