COMPLACENT MARKETING
Controversy: The New
Marketing Game!
By Diana Obath
T
he dust has finally settled on the
new-found bond between Nike
and Colin Kaepernick. Customers
are back to the Nike stores replacing the
shoes they burnt and posting them on
Instagram. Like every other social media
conflict, people will move on. The bad
taste in the hearts and minds of the Nike
customers did not last long enough to
cause losses.
If the numbers are anything to go buy,
Nike reported a 31 percent increase in
sales just days after signing on Kaepernick.
The heated opinions and increased activity
on social media earned Nike higher brand
exposure than they anticipated they would
ever get on a single campaign. The most
interesting spin that came out of the
sign up is a new conversation that turned
millions of customers into emotional
loyalists. April 2018 and was signed up as Nike
ambassador in September 2018.
Colin Kaeprnick, the former San Francisco
49ers quarterback became a news favorite
in 2016 when he begun kneeling during
the American National Anthem in protest
of racial injustice and police brutality.
Other players soon followed suit, an act
that would spark national debate and
criticism. Unlike other brands that find themselves
the centre of attack, Nike knew they were
walking into a battle field. They had either
understood clearly that their customers
were shifting to a people who stood for
nothing or a people looking for a brand
that stood for something.
The Telegraph reported that President
Trump suggested, ‘players who do not
stand for the national anthem should not
be in the country.’ Kaepernick later opted
out of his San Francisco 49ers contract
in March 2017, was named GQ's citizen
of the year in November 2017, accepted
an Amnesty International award in
It’s important to look at what your customers are
consuming. If your product is not hitting home
or is no longer as exciting for your customers,
then explore other alternatives, look at the needs
of your customer and offer your brand as the
solution to that gap. It does not always need to
be a rebrand or a shift in your offering, or the
development of a new product; it can just be one
step closer into your customer’s heart. Granted,
it will cause some controversy or discomfort but
it may also mean a growth in revenue.
06 MAL27/18 ISSUE
Many marketing studies reveal that
customers want an association with a
brand that associates with a cause or
takes part in cause activities. Yet Nike’s
move seemed to drive many advocates and
propagators of cause marketing up the
wall. But, the antagonists seem not to be
the audience they were targeting because
the customers they hoped to reach now
love them more than ever before. This
behavioral model speaks to a shift in the
preference of the customer – not just their
interests, but also their worldview.
As brands are constantly moving towards
achievement of closing the two-way
communication loop on all channels,
we can all agree that there is now much
more dialogue between brands and
consumers. The relationship is close to
real human interaction and the customers
hold the power. We witnessed the power
of the consumer in the case of H&M
and Dove a few months ago after which
many businesses reviewed their ethics
policies to avoid social media flogging and
unforeseen losses.