MWCB - "The Showdown"

The masterminds behind the famous Michael Jordan-Larry Bird commercial had total creative freedom while coming up with the iconic spot.
Copywriter Jim Ferguson and art director Bob Shallcross, the top creative team at Leo Burnett Worldwide at the time, bounced ideas off one-another for days. They went for the longest game of H-O-R-S-E ever, and it is only to decide who eats the McDonald’s food Jordan had in his bag at the basketball gym. “It was a very simple idea, but what you find in advertising is that simple ideas are usually the best”, Ferguson later said.
Within days of the Jordan-Bird Commercial airing during the Super Bowl, the catchphrase “nothing but net” became ingrained in pop culture. Kids across the country challenged each other to emulate the spectacular trick shots Jordan and Bird made look easy.

Funny story behind the scenes: McDonald’s encountered an unexpected issue just before the commercial was scheduled to air. Nobody at Leo Burnett secured permission to use footage of the John Hancock Center, a huge problem since the final sequence of the commercial featured Jordan and Bird shooting from atop the 100-story Chicago skyscraper. The agreement that the agency eventually reached with Hancock Center officials underscores Jordan’s immense popularity in Chicago at that time. They could have easily said it would cost 100 grand to use a shot of the building, but instead they settled for autographed basketballs. 

The eye-catching outfit that Michael wore that day, which was released together with the matching bordeaux colorway of the Air Jordan VII — the model he wore during the 1992 Olympics — hits you in the face with 90s basketball flair like a right hook from Iron Mike.