Since Michael Jordan partnered with Nike in 1984, Air Jordan has been an iconic brand. Which is why when I heard that I was going to be involved with an Air Jordan event for New York Fashion Week, I was pretty pumped. Only there was a catch, the event was going to be the launch of the short film Heirs, created by Boma Iluma and Lauren Kim in collaboration with Air Jordan. This meant we were working with the filmmakers, not the brand itself.
Our work with the Heirs event started with a conference call with the FYID NYC team. We had some ideas that were going to make the event more exciting (I mean, the film itself was only 8 minutes, we needed to fill time somehow). We came up with a dance battle, arcade games, and a active wear fashion show (cause it's NYFW after all). We were even told that Michael Jordan himself might make an appearance. That phone call was the last I heard anything about this event, so when the day finally arrived, I had no clue what was happening.
When I arrived at The VYNL, my plan was just to do whatever I was told to do because I truly had no clue what was going on. Shortly after I arrived, the rest of our team and the Heirs team showed up. The film crew also had planned on an art gallery, with photos taken during the creation of their film. We helped them set that up, and it looked amazing, and I was glad to know their something else going on other than the launch of their film.
When the event finally started, we, in typical FYID NYC fashion, had several live performances. Then the film launched, we had a Q & A with the filmmakers, and their art was auctioned off. Other than a few more live performances, that was the entire event. I was left wondering, what had happened to all the ideas we had planned. Why didn't they come into fruition? It wasn't till our debrief at the end of the night that I found out what happened.
It turned out the filmmakers' budget was lower than we had anticipated, and did not allow for what we had planned. Of course, this was a disappointment to our team, but at the end of the day, did not take away from the success of the event. The Heirs team had plenty of friends and family that came to celebrate their film, and without our #extra ideas it kept the focus on Heirs. Which is why this event existed in the first place. It reminded me of an important lesson I learned in my Event Planning and Production class in college. The event is not about what the planner wants, but what the client wants. So, no, I did not get to meet Michael Jordan, but I got to be a part of a successful film launch, and see another team's hard work pay off, and that was rewarding.
XOXO,
Kristin
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