Nike – Dream Crazy
Nike’s ‘Just do it’ campaign is back and bigger than ever with ex-NFL athlete Colin Kaepernick headlining campaign creative.
Due to his profile and unique history, this is a bold move which presents an opportunity for Nike to maintain its market leading status while supporting the pursuit of social equality. It is a polarising debate, but one which Nike sees real commercial value in pursuing despite the initial damage to its share price.
The campaign was launched via Nike’s YouTube channel on 5th September, and within 24 hours the video titled ‘Dream Crazy’ had received over six million views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq2CvmgoO7I
Alongside this, Colin Kaepernick’s organic Twitter post received over 357,000 retweets and 900,000 likes in the same window, becoming the highest trending topic the platform and spurring countless reactive articles, shares and videos – not least helped by his personal following of over 2 million. It placed the Nike brand at the heart of US debate but it’s a narrative with global relevancy, traction and interest.
Although Nike’s share price dropped 2% in response to Wall Street’s jitters about controversy, Bloomberg’s report suggests the campaign is a success and was a gamble worth taking. For example, $113m’s worth of media-generated revenue was notched by the campaign over the US Labor Day period.
This fuelled a 31% increase in online sales vs. 17% in 2017.
A week on from launch, the buzz around the campaign cements Nike’s status as a disruptive market leader, challenging its customers to think differently and inspire confidence in the face of adversity – exactly in line with its core brand values.
With Kaepernick tied to Nike for the entirety of the campaign, we are intrigued as to see how the creative evolves through the rest of the year and beyond. Undoubtedly, the controversy surrounding Kaepernick will continue and be magnified as the NFL season progresses, so watch this space!
