Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.' Never have more prophetic words been spoken by a Nike Ad campaign.
To recap, Nike launched its new campaign in September, celebrating 30 years of its famous “Just do it slogan. It’s fronted by highly controversial figure Colin Kaepernick, the former Superbowl contending quarterback, who famously kneeled during the national anthem in protest at social injustices faced by black people in the United States.
Not since the days of Muhammad Ali has there been a more politically divisive figure in the sporting world and it’s, quite frankly, overdue
and full credit to Nike for embracing it while many others may have shied away from his nuclear heat.
The reason the quote at the beginning of the article is so apt is that the ad hasn’t come without its detractors. The company’s stock price fell by 3% by the close of the market in the 48 hours after the ad first aired. Of course, social media was alight, ironically, with people burning their shoes and socks in protest of Kaepernick’s inclusion in the ad and Nike’s voluminous support of him. Let’s not forget, this is a guy who hasn’t played for a professional team since the San Francisco 49ers released him at the end of that famous 2016 season.
However, at the time of writing this article stocks had already rebounded to above pre ad values and the suspicion is they won’t stop there. Nike was perceived to be losing ground on the youth market to the highly socially aware Adidas, with the three-striped brand utilising some of the biggest influencers in the world to out-influence their competition (just after Nike released their ad, Adidas announce Kylie Jenner as their latest brand ambassador).
Nike’s ad will no doubt swing that balance, with Nike going all-in on the gamble that the socially conscious millennial generation will counteract the, perhaps more stern, older market. More than a few, however, have been critical of Nike’s calculated gamble of making commercial gain from political tension. However, cause-related activity is becoming one of the smarter ways of aligning your brand with something that actually matters to people. Is that such a crime?
On social, in the week after the first play of the ad, a very vocal minority of close on 9,000 were sharing the hashtag #JustBurnIt. When compared with the 719,000 uses of #JustDoIt, the level criticism doesn’t appear that bad. It’s pretty safe to assume Nike would have run this campaign knowing full well there would be some strong backlash. Kaepernick wasn’t the only athlete featured in the campaign, with flamboyant wide-receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and tennis great Serena Williams also included. Ironically, just days after the ad released, Williams unleashed a justified (or unjustified, depending on what side of the fence you stand on) outburst at the match umpire in the US Open Final. She was docked a game during the match, which she would go on to lose, and was fined $17,000 for what many commentators said was no more or no less of a crime that many male players appear to go unpunished for. ‘Stand for something, even if it means sacrificing everything.’ Wow, Nike had it bang on. Even in the ad, they were already pointing an accusatory finger at tennis officialdom, when they highlighted the mistreatment Williams received while playing in a bodysuit in the French Open recently.
I think this should serve as a lesson to a lot of creators and communicators to embrace messages to their full effect. Far too many fall into mediocrity while sitting on the fence for fear of reprisal. I for one applaud Nike on giving back a small deposit of the profit and faith that African-American athletes have given them over the years.
Ben Holden is an account executive at W North. www.wnorth.co.uk. Follow @WCommNorth on Twitter
