While the advertisement did not drastically improve sales for Gatorade, it helped to further portray Jordan as a likable superstar, endearing him to children who wished to emulate his play.

The commercial begins with footage of Jordan during Game 2 of the 1991 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, where he performs a difficult layup by moving the basketball from his right hand to his left while in midair.

Seeing an opportunity to market Gatorade to the general public, they ran daytime television and print advertisements outside of sports-related media to great success.

[11] As competitors like Powerade and Mountain Dew Sport began to appear on shelves, Quaker introduced more varieties like Gatorade Light and Free Style to attract people interested in lighter versions of their beverage.

The company had not included an athlete spokesperson in their American Gatorade promotions before,[5]: 97  and had only used tennis players Jennifer Capriati and Ivan Lendl to market the drink overseas.

[23] Jordan also had many sponsorship deals with other companies like Nike,[24] General Mills,[25] and McDonald's,[26] making him an attractive prospect for Gatorade.

[28][29] In February 1991 however, Schmidt met with Jordan's agent, David Falk, in Charlotte to discuss the possibility of a sponsorship deal.

"[5]: 105 For Jordan's first Gatorade commercial, Bayer Bess Vanderwarker produced a draft version featuring highlights of him dunking.

Midway through production, and after the draft had been approved, the ad agency convinced one of its former advertising executives, Bernie Pitzel, to come back and work on the project.

According to Pitzel, Disney wanted $350,000 for Gatorade to be able to use the song commercially for five weeks,[31] and additionally requested that the lyrics could not be changed to include the phrase "be like Mike".

"[5] With the help of music producer Bonny Dolan,[38] the songwriters got eight singers to sing on the recording presented to Gatorade executives at the American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin.

[39][45] The following year, Gatorade expanded Be Like Mike into a multimedia campaign, including updated packaging with different images of Jordan on each of its flavors.

[47] Following Jordan's 1993 retirement from the NBA and subsequent signing to Minor League Baseball, Gatorade chose to move away from using the jingle for American commercials.

Schmidt confirmed the following year that the company would restructure their marketing around Jordan's new occupation, stating, "People in the U.S. realize that Michael has retired.

[49] Using Jordan's star power, the ad implied that if people wanted to gain his abilities and success in sports, they would need to drink Gatorade.

"[52] Quaker had hoped that their commercial would help sell more of the drink; chief executive officer William Smithburg had declared, "Michael is perfect to represent Gatorade.

[5]: 113 [31] However, by signing Jordan to a sponsorship deal in the first place, Quaker was able to prevent him from re-signing with Coca-Cola and potentially endorsing Gatorade's rival product, Powerade.

[31] In an earlier article from 2003, they rated it as the greatest commercial starring Jordan, stating that "millions of people still have the 'Be Like Mike' jingle stuck in their head so many years later.

[60] Marvin the Martian, Bugs Bunny and Larry Bird (who had an intense rivalry with Jordan) also make appearances, with the latter speaking, "I'm not gonna sing.

"[59] As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2015, Gatorade re-aired a digitally remastered version of the commercial during NBA All-Star Weekend.

[65][66] In a press release, Leonard stated that "being part of a holiday campaign that pays homage to the original 'Be Like Mike' Gatorade ad is really special.