Michael Jordan’s iconic “Like Mike” ad for Gatorade has been named the best sports ad of all time.
Gambling Zone’s experts compiled the data by evaluating Google search data, YouTube’s most popular sports ads and the ads that inspired the most online articles to compile the final list.
According to this list, Nike holds two of the top three sports ads, thanks to their excellent football product offering in the 1990s.
Their ad, titled ‘Take It To The Next Level’, was released on the eve of the 2008 European Championships and starred Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Ronaldinho (Ronaldinho).
With 5 million views on YouTube and nearly 24,000 searches on Google, it’s clearly a hit.
Two years later, however, Nike outdid themselves with the release of “Write The Future.”
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Ronaldo and Ronaldinho joined Fabio Cannavaro and Didier Drogba in the epic three-minute ad, which was released during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and has 9.6 million views, and appears in 255,000 articles online.
While the two men were legends in their own right, they couldn’t compete with Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” ads.
Released in 1991, the 60-second spot features NBA icon Michael Jordan playing with a variety of children and adults.
Although the advert predates the digital age, it has been the subject of 318,000 online articles, racked up 318,000 and 4,565,657 verified views on YouTube.
Even though it’s 32 years old, the “Be Like Mike” campaign certainly set the tone for sports advertising, putting today’s most popular sports stars at center stage.