If you think advertising doesn’t work, just look at the latest
NIKE campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the NFL Quarterback
who knelt during the playing of the National Anthem. Boy this campaign has lite a gas can on fire.
Let’s go back to another “controversial” NIKE campaign…the
TV ad NIKE did with Charlies Barkley in 1993… the “I’m Not a Role Model”
campaign. It was a hot topic then,
but that campaign had something going for it.
- - The focus was on a topic that didn’t have a
tremendous amount of controversy and passion around it and
- - The ad had :30 seconds of airtime to explain why
parents should be role models not athletes
I look at this latest campaign from NIKE in a couple of ways.
1. Consumer.
Summing it up, I don’t care for it – but I’m not the target audience for NIKE. Their target audience is clearly younger and
the campaign probably resonates with them.
2. Marketing Professional. There is a risk/reward with everything in
marketing. With that in mind, the
short-term backlash over the Kaepernick ad might be enough to actually hurt
NIKE with its intended target audience.
Let me explain. If NIKE bends to the
pressure and dumps the campaign ad featuring Kaepernick they look weak to
their intended target audience as they’ve “caved in to pressure of society.” In today’s society, empowerment has become a
theme permeating our culture. The message integrates society and sports
together.
“Hey you support Colin Kaepernick,
but you don’t have the guts to stay with the campaign? “Whoops”… now who eats
crow?
And although NIKE is clearly trying to
resonate with younger audiences by using well known athletes, it seems to me
they could have chosen a better individual to focus on.
I trust they’ve thought through all the permeations
this ad campaign might cause.
3. Business Professional. As you’ve heard me say before “there is no
other reason to invest in marketing unless it drives sales.” Whether or not this campaign drives sales
via the brand is up in the air. Look to
NIKE’s next two quarterly earnings statement to see what success it’s had.
So where does all this lead us? I don’t know, but I would hate to be in their
PR department these days.
Scott
