Nike made Colin Kaepernick the face of their 30th anniversary 'Just Do It' campaign with the line 'Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.' #BoycottNike trended worldwide. Revenue grew by $6 billion.
The Full Story
On September 3, 2018 — the eve of the NFL season, a calculated choice — Nike posted a close-up of Colin Kaepernick's face with text reading: 'Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.' Kaepernick had been effectively blacklisted from the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police violence against Black Americans. He had not played a professional football game in nearly two years. Nike's CMO and agency Wieden+Kennedy knew what they were doing. The backlash arrived within hours: #BoycottNike became the top global trending hashtag. Videos of people burning Nike shoes and cutting the Swoosh off their socks went viral. The President tweeted his disapproval. Nike's stock dropped 3.2% in the first two days — approximately $3.75 billion in market capitalization, on paper, in 48 hours. Then it stabilized. Then it recovered. Then it hit all-time highs. Online sales jumped 31% in the three days immediately following the launch, according to Edison Trends. The campaign won the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial and the Cannes Grand Prix.
Why It's Crazy
Nike voluntarily chose the single most politically divisive athlete in American sports — someone literally blacklisted by the sport that built Nike's brand — as the face of their most important anniversary campaign. Their stock dropped $3.75 billion in two days. Most brand teams would have pulled the campaign. Nike shipped it anyway and let the market respond. The market responded by setting all-time highs.
The Strategy Behind It
Nike's core customer skews young, urban, and had overwhelmingly supported Kaepernick. The people burning their shoes were not Nike's growth customers — they were customers who were already aging out of the brand's demographic. By making this choice, Nike didn't lose customers: they sorted them, cemented the loyalty of the people who mattered to their future, and gave every Kaepernick supporter a reason to visibly demonstrate their own values by buying Nike. The brand became a permission structure.
The Results
Online sales +31% in three days post-launch (Edison Trends). Revenue grew $6B in the following year. Stock hit all-time highs within weeks. Won Cannes Grand Prix, Emmy Outstanding Commercial, and dozens more awards. Named the most impactful campaign of 2018. Kaepernick's deal was reportedly worth $20M+.
Steal This Idea
Know precisely who your customer is and be willing to lose everyone else. Truly divisive campaigns shed the people who were never going to be your customers anyway, while cementing profound loyalty in the people who already believed in you. The critical requirement: your position must be genuinely held by your company's leadership, not adopted for marketing purposes. People can tell the difference — and so can markets.
Campaign Details
- Industry
- Consumer Goods
- Budget
- High ($1M+)
- Era
- 2010s · 2018
- Views
- 91,200
- Brand Size
- Enterprise
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