Ahhhhh, the marketing genius that is the AND1 Mixtape. Chances are, if you visited a local FootAction in the very late 90’s/early 2000’s you were part of And1’s audience. These raw mixtapes showcased some of the best local basketball players throughout the United States; blacktop legends such as Philip “Hotsauce” Champion, Hugh “Baby Shack” Jones, and Rafer “Skip 2 My Lou” Alston (the man who would go on to sign AND1’s first endorsement deal) to name a few. By creating these mixtapes, AND1 took marketing for the outdoor game (something that was heavily promoted by Reebok in the early 90’s via their “Blacktop” line), and brought it to a whole new level. FootAction was taking notice and by 1999, the two companies became product partners. This partnership lead to one of the most successful promotions in the history of U.S. retail with FootAction distributing 200,000 tapes in only 3 weeks (they gave them away free with each purchase). In 2003, Dave Chappelle paid homage by doing a spoof of the tapes declaring “the new AND1 mixtapes are better, they cover all sports.” The skit interpreted the original street feel of the tapes into baseball, tennis and bowling (do yourself a favor and watch it below!)
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| And-1 Mixtape | ||||
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Today, the tour is alive and well and can be followed by visiting www.and1live.com. For more info on AND1 or to check out some of their products visit www.and1.com. Make sure to check out a clip from one of the earlier tapes below and take a trip back to 2001 above!