Nike believed in something and sacrificed nothing
Well, it’s safe to say that the last 15 days have been quite hectic for major sportswear brands Nike. Unless you’re returning to civilization, you must have heard of an American controversy involving Colin Kaepernick and Nike’s “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” This is part of the “Just Do It” campaign, found at Trade mark rules. Well, say what you want about the ad and how it has become popular, it appears that Nike has benefited greatly from the ad, as sales of Nike products have increased by almost 61%. Isn’t it amazing how much revenue a business can achieve with just one simple advertisement? Here’s a tweet from the same man Colin Kaepernick tweeted from his account on September 4. An image that made the Nike Board of Directors very happy.
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.Twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO
– Colin Kaepernick (@ Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018
What is all this fuss about?
Let’s tackle the elephant in the room: Why did Nike launch this ad? What is the story behind it?
Let’s start at the beginning with the story dating back to 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the Sanfransico 49ers NFL team, generated controversy by kneeling during the United States national anthem instead of standing. He did so in an attempt to protest the unfair and sometimes biased way in which the State Police treated people of color.
As a result of this act of protest, Colin was removed from his team and would not be recruited by any other NFL team, as the NFL changed its guidelines on protests during the national anthem. Colin, however, did not back down from his stance and continued to protest at the games. This is where the “belief in something” part came from and the rest, as we know, was his total dedication to the issue that even after being effectively “fired” from his team, however, he continued to press for what he would perceive. . be “justice”.
Immediate impacts
Well, it is safe to say that national controversies always stir up a lot of emotions in every individual in the country. In an immediate response to the announcement, many Americans seemed distraught and angry that they had taken a political stance that was not far from controversy. Many Americans posted videos and tweeted themselves damaging Nike products they had already purchased. Here is an example of a man burning his Nike shoes in a furnace.
. @ Nike Due to your support of CK in his next additions, I, as an American, can no longer support your company. #boycottNike #IStandForOurFlag pic.Twitter.com/5JxSMD8SSO
– AlterAtYeshiva (@alteratyeshiva) September 4, 2018
US President Donald Trump, who is far from being a diplomat on social media, also tweeted: “Nike is being killed entirely with anger and boycotts.” Nike also had a small drop in share value and it looked like Nike would end up “sacrificing everything.”
Nike’s Smart Move: An Ad Worth Billions
Even after the widespread hatred, burning and damage of Nike products, it seems that after all that was said and done, the ad was a stroke of pure genius from the sportswear brand. Some sources also claim that this ad has long been a deliberate marketing effort that also does the job of creating one’s brand image that will not endorse crimes or discrimination against human beings based on skin color. 15 days from the release of the image, Nike shares are at an all-time high with a direct increase of $ 5 billion in valuation. Now that is a marketing campaign! A normal image tweeted on social media only increased your sales by 61%. What a day for Nike and their marketing team.
That’s not all, the image went viral around the world and spawned some funny and witty parodies that simply brought more attention to the brand and its tagline and ultimately resulted in people loving Nike even more than before. We leave you with some of the famous parodies of Nike’s advertising campaign. You know, if you haven’t seen them yet!