267- The Trials of Dan and Dave

Roman Mars

This is the story of an ad campaign produced for the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. Perennial runner-up in the sports shoe category, Reebok, was trying to make its mark and take down Nike. They chose two athletes, plucked them out of obscurity, gave them Reeboks to wear, and turned them into household names, spending $25 million dollars in the process. That was more than Reebok’s entire marketing budget the previous year. This ad campaign is pretty much remembered as a disaster for Reebok, but it created an epic drama that pitted two world class decathletes against each other and ended up resulting in so many strange twists and turns. All because someone thought this was a clever way to sell shoes. This is the first episode of 30 for 30 podcasts, which are original audio documentaries from ESPN – stories about sports, that delves into their impact on culture, politics, and more. Hosted here by Jody Avirgan.