Jordan Brand
Too Easy
Jordan’s FA25 Too Easy campaign marked the release of the Air Jordan 40 and the reissue of the Shattered Backboard AJ1.
Working with the Jordan Brand Design Team, we created the Global Retail Directive to bring the campaign’s defiant, bold and disruptive DNA into stores worldwide.
Basketball culture continues to be driven by performance but energised by streetwear. This moment was about reclaiming Jordan’s place at the centre of that culture — speaking directly to a new generation of hoopers while continuing the brand’s forty-year legacy of innovation and influence.
"We make this sh*t look easy." That phrase captured the tone of the entire project. It became a design principle — a reminder that confidence, not effort, defines Jordan.
Our Directive revolved around communicating Jordan’s unique and bold take on greatness and success. An unapologetic voice emerged, which we translated into a retail language that would work across the campaign.
Our goal was to translate that attitude into space. Sketches explored how movement, light and proportion could communicate the campaign’s effortless power. The result was a retail language that felt cinematic and retrofuturistic, rich in texture and contrast, yet grounded in performance.
The key challenge was to design a spatial palette that could simultaneously showcase both a brand-new, innovation-led product (the AJ40) and a retro pack of heritage icons (the AJ1 and AJ3 Shattered Backboard pack). We drew direct inspiration from the 40° angled segments on the AJ40’s sole pattern, translating these into monolithic forms at a range of scales for different retail applications.
These 40° structures became the visual and architectural foundation of the campaign. The angled geometry linked to the wide-angled photographic direction, creating an epic sense of cultural gravity befitting Jordan Brand’s 40-year milestone. Large-scale photography of the next generation of Jordan hoopers was incorporated throughout the spaces, framing the anniversary as both a reflection on legacy and a statement of intent for the future.
Product storytelling anchored each zone. For the AJ40, innovation credibility was key. Floating footwear displays over steel surfaces were paired with technical drawings and dimensional treatments that highlighted the shoe’s advanced construction and technology.
For the AJ1 and AJ3, the focus shifted toward heritage and narrative. The Shattered Backboard story inspired both materiality and motion — shattered glass textures paired with looping footage of the infamous moment for the AJ1, and a montage of historic highlights for the AJ3, each presented against tactile, premium materials.
The monolithic 40° forms were treated as canvases for culture, layered with wheatpasted montages of lifestyle photography — a direct nod to street culture and the Jordan silhouettes’ enduring presence within it.
The retail directive we created was implemented locally by Jordan teams in the US, Europe and Asia. Across all environments, the design stayed cohesive — grounded in innovation, elevated through detail, and unmistakably Jordan.
Nods to the reissue of the Shattered Backboard AJ1, and Jordan’s heritage combined to communicate the campaign’s defiant, bold and disruptive DNA into stores worldwide.
Together, all of these elements created a spatial experience rooted in innovation, irreverence and Jordan’s effortless cultural edge. This unapologetic energy successfully guided every detail of the campaign. The inclusion of performance-led zones that showcased innovation and culture-first zones where we connected Jordan’s heritage with the edge of culture today, meant that consumers could experience and celebrate Jordan style and ethos.
Credits
Jordan Brand:
Warren Cochrane, Global Art Director
Benjamin Kaplan, Global Sr. Creative Director
Richard Lee, Retail Marketing Director
Jon Moy, Brand Narrative Manager
Joe Plaster, Global Retail Brand Marketing Lead