*According to nytimes.com, Nike nearly dropped Colin Kaepernick before embracing him as the face of its groundbreaking new advertising campaign. The “Just Do It” advert has garnered more than 80 million views on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
But it almost didn’t happen, the report states.
Per NY Times:
In the summer of 2017, a debate raged in Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., over whether to cut loose the controversial, unemployed quarterback — and the company very nearly did, according to two individuals with knowledge of the discussions who requested anonymity because of nondisclosure agreements each has with Nike.
When the company did decide to embrace the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, it risked angering the National Football League, a Nike partner since 2012, but the company ultimately decided it was a risk worth taking, given the credibility the company would gain with the young, urban market it has long targeted.
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The risk appears to have paid off.
Mark Parker, the chief executive of Nike, told Wall Street analysts that the campaign had yielded “record engagement with the brand.”
“We feel actually very good and are very proud of the work we’ve been doing,” Parker said. “We know it’s resonated actually quite strongly with consumers.”
In a mid-September note to clients, Camilo Lyon, an analyst at the financial services firm Canaccord Genuity, wrote that Nike had been “courageous” in taking a stand “in support of a social issue where few (if any) companies have of late,” the Times writes.
He added that the campaign “spoke to Nike’s core consumers in a very Nike-esque, provocative way that shows it understands them and the issues that matter to them.”
Last week, Nike’s stock closed at an all-time high of more than $85 a share.
Nike may be is getting a lot of love because of their Kaepernick ad, but they’re also donating money to the GOP.
WATCH:
Nike is getting a lot of love because of their Kaepernick ad, but they’re also donating money to the GOP. pic.twitter.com/UD2oS53i3s
— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 27, 2018
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