Shares of Nike fell by 3% after the company came out with an ad campaign involving Colin Kaepernick. However, it also helped them create massive media buzz.
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Colin Kaepernick is a talented quarterback who was roped in by the San Francisco 49ers back in 2011. He served as Alex Smith’s backup in his rookie year and got the opportunity to showcase his talent during the 2012 season.
Kaepernick’s dynamic plays really impressed fans and experts and steadily, he established himself in the unit as the ‘go to’ QB. In fact, he played a massive role in guiding the 49ers to the Super Bowl during the 2012 season where they were defeated by the Ravens.
In 2014, he signed a six-year $126 million extension deal with the San Francisco-based franchise. However, Kaepernick had to go through multiples surgeries due to recurring injuries and as one can expect, his numbers were also affected greatly.
Nike’s shares fell by 3% after they came out with the Colin Kaepernick ad campaign
However, things really went awry when Kaepernick decided to a knee during a preseason game when the national anthem was on. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way,” Colin had said in a post-game interview.
The controversy grew bigger than expected with many people wanting Kaepernick to be dropped from the league forever. Then in 2018, Nike decided to launch an ad campaign with Kaepernick.
“Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything” was the campaign slogan and as one can expect, huge backlash ensued on Twitter with many people even burning Nike products.
Nike’s stock also slumped down by 3% and investors were not happy with the extremely risky call the sports apparel company took to gain public attention.
However, on the flip side, because Kaepernick had become a phenomena, everybody had an opinion on what he should or shouldn’t have done.
Some loved him, some hated him but everybody knew about him and that’s where Nike stepped in to push its brand further. As reported by Money, the Kaepernick-Nike ad resulted in $43 million worth of media buzz within a single day.
Moreover, it would be fair to say that Colin was the clear winner here as his deal with Nike allowed him to rake in a lot of money. As of now, Kaepernick has been trying to make his way into the league but not many franchises have shown interest in roping him in.
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