Product placement is no longer just a function of plunking down a Starbucks mug on the set of MSNBC’s Morning Joe or handing Seinfeld’s Kramer some Junior Mints.

That’s so 1.0, yo.

Welcome to Product Placement Umpteen.0, yo.

From yesterday’s Wall Street Journal:

Game, Set, Product Match for Nike

Michael Jordan’s appearance at Roger Federer‘s first-round match at the U.S. Open wasn’t a simple case of one sports legend cheering on another.

Instead, it was a carefully arranged marketing grand slam for sponsor Nike Inc. —a product- placement coup that pulled in both stars and piqued the interest of the ESPN broadcast team.

The point of Mr. Jordan’s presence at the match, coordinated by Nike executives, was to promote a new limited edition of Mr. Federer’s line of tennis shoes. The white and cement-patterned NikeCourt Zoom Vapor AJ3′s feature Air Jordan styling and logos. Mr. Federer wore them in Tuesday’s match, and they went on sale Wednesday.

Here’s a taste of ESPN’s shoe-licking . . .

Read the rest at Sneak Adtack.