The Kaep Effect

October 7th, 2018

As I wrap up my blog posts on the effects that celebrities have on social media marketing I want to focus on the major sports athletes and how they are utilized on social media ad campaigns. Obviously of late the one that would pop to mind pretty fast is Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Whether you support his beliefs or not you can’t deny his polarizing effect on social media over the past calendar year and nothing was bigger when Nike decided to utilize his services in an ad about standing up for what you believe in no matter the cost. The video itself was viewed on YouTube 26 million times alone with over 9 million on Instagram. While there were varying opinions on how this effected Nike’s business as a whole with reported greater sales but a fall in stock it ended up being just what it was intended to be, a talking point. Obviously, ad campaigns are supposed to be made to do nothing but help business but this isn’t a perfect world and unfortunately no matter what people aren’t going to like it but what usually doesn’t happen is the viralness of an ad like the Kaepernick one. EVERYONE was talking about Nike after that aired, Nike isn’t a company anyone would consider small, everyone knows what they bring to the table and in my opinion this ad was more about showing where they stand. Did they lose customers, and will they lose more?  Sure, that goes without saying but what they gain is potential customers that may have been on the fence about having a reason to support Nike in the first place and this could be the thing that makes them purchase a Nike shoe. Conversely you may be thinking well what about all the people that they lost, sure they may have alienated a large group of people but I see a company that is so sure they are the best when it comes to sportwear that all those disgruntled people will come back when they aren’t getting what they had for years with the Nike in the first place It’s a calculated risk, Nike decided to weigh out the options and they decided to go with what they felt was the right decision. A Social Media marketing hurricane brought on my an athlete that not only did all this with off the field actions but one that hasn’t played in 2 years. Imagine the power someone like LeBron James has on social media. But alas that is for another time. Thank you for following me on this Journey, until next time, thanks for reading.

Alec