Stripping away materials from the tooling and upper, the 34th Air Jordan signature shoe gives athletes only what they need to perform.
Source: Air Jordan 34 Official Images and Release Date
Brands don’t discuss their product or marketing segmentation. Those are internal discussions which take place between the sales team and the marketing teams. As a product is born a decision is made about who the product is made for and why the product is being created. With Jordan Brand the goal has always been more style than performance… actually that isn’t true. The goal always seemed to be that the model being designed would crossover from the court to streetwear.
In Nike’s initial push for the 34, they didn’t target the hyped sneaker news outlets. They did deliver pairs to WearTesters and Jacques Slade, but those two YouTubers fit within the frame of who they are targeting. The Brand placed the release into the hands of their most prominent social media athlete Zion Williamson. It’s not a secret that the New Orleans Pelicans new superstar signed with Jordan Brand. It was one of the biggest stories of the off season. What is clear is that Nike and Jordan Brand’s internal meetings on who the explosive forward would help to usher into the next generation of Jordan Brand. In every image created during Zion’s introduction of the 34 it looks and feels like one of his high school games.
As Zion enters the stage, a crowd full of young basketball players bounce around anxiously waiting for him to perform some of his signature dunks. The kids are already in a frenzy when he takes the ball and begins his approach. The young athletes realize he doesn’t have much room, but what they understand is that Zion doesn’t need much room. He only needs a few feet. They know this, they anticipate and then Zion does what Zion does, he flies.
The segment is clear and the wording from Jordan Brand is clear, this is a new generation of flight. This is the recreation of Jordan taking off from the free throw line. This is retro and future. This is for the kids:
The Air Jordan XXXIV delivers a distinctly Jordan perspective on providing the best basketball shoe for the sport’s future stars.
“The Air Jordan signature game shoes have become the most influential line of performance footwear in basketball history,” says Gentry Humphrey, VP of Jordan Brand Footwear. “By introducing new, proprietary innovation with the XXXIV, the line’s game-changing legacy is extended to a new generation of athletes.”
If I took a moment to compare the release of signature shoes by other brands, even Nike’s own signature shoes, there has never been a segmentation with such clearly defined lines. This is a technical shoe. The original Jordan line, the Jordan 4 in particular which is now 30 years old, was a technical shoe. It didn’t feature a big Swoosh on the upper. The netting on the side was revolutionary. The Visible Air at the heel continued to capture the imagination of fans of Air Jordan. It was a hoop shoes unlike anything ever created. The 34 is a direct descendant and the marketing feels retro, but is every bit of a millennial focus.