We’ve seen it everywhere, some agree and get behind with the brand, others buy and burn sneakers, to achieve what exactly?, no one knows. The facts are these: some weeks ago Nike made Colin Kaepernic the brand new face of their marketing campaign. The ex-NFL player is famous for kneeling down during the national anthem to protest police brutality against african americans. It’s pretty obvious that many americans were in disagreement with the protest and controversy caused that no team would sign Kaepernic this season.
¿How did the people respond?
Knowing the context, it’s normal to think that Nike’s play was quite risky and that it would probably cost them a big chunk of buyers. It’s very easy to fall under the great typhoon of news that came after this ad which celebrates the 30th anniversary of the “Just Do It” slogan since, as we said, many of the stories cover people ripping and burning sneakers and other brand items, and we admit that’s enough to give shivers to any marketing team. It seems impossible to get out of a PR nightmare like this, no one comes back unscathed. We have the perfect example in Papa Johns whose market shares keep falling after a single racist comment by its CEO and founder, how could Nike possibly get out of this one?
Wall Street reacts
On September 4th, just a day after the campaign unveiling, Nike was showing a loss of 3.2% while #NikeBoycott became trending on Twitter. To get a little bit on context, in June this year Nike was trying to get back on the american market after showing low sales and many bankrupt stores, however during that time they presented earnings of up to 12% more than expected thanks to a complete transformation of end-to-end purchase into digital.
Nike online Sales over Labor Day 2017 vs 2018
Anyway, did it work or not?
We all love happy endings and that’s what happened with Nike, only a week after the brand had already gotten back the 3.2% lost and that’s only the beginning, just a couple of days after the campaign had gone worldwide online orders went up 27% a number that they didn’t see on the same period last year. Today, many are calling it “a stroke of genius” that demonstrated that they know their audience and they know how to speak to them and keep in line of what they expect from the brands they consume. Numbers don’t lie and Nike, being an international brand, has gained the hearts of the public with this campaign. In the end we can say that yes, the 30th anniversary of “Just Do It” campaign worked indeed.
Sources
www.cnbc.com
www.marketwatch.com