Is Nike's "Dream Crazy"?
I feel that many of the recent actions by both the head of our country and progressive organizations (such as Nike) are working in tandem to stir up the polarization of the American people.
I also feel that I've seen enough war between both sides, regarding Nike's decision to name Colin Kaepernik the face of their new "Dream Crazy" campaign to voice my own opinion as both a marketer and an American citizen.
As a marketer, I can definitively say that this was a brilliant move. Bold, progressive, and iconic, this was a move that fit Nike's desired brand image extraordinarily well. After first hearing the news, I immediately followed Nike CMO, Dirk-Jan van Hameren on LinkedIn. The impending implications and backlash were undoubtedly taken into great consideration beforehand, where it surely was apparent that the organization would incur some degree of financial loss. As all companies that operate at the highest level in commodity consumer goods though, Nike is a marketing organization with long-term vision and a clear roadmap of how they want to position themselves in the minds of their consumers. It was also pre-conceived that regardless of what kind of sentiment they would evoke, their number of impressions nationwide and globally would skyrocket (as it has reportedly by over 3000% over the last few days). The objective was to make people talk, to stir conversation born of emotion. The job of a marketer is to influence action on behalf of the consumer and that is exactly what was accomplished here; people mentioning the brand in one form or another, be it positive or negative.
The political implications were likely more of an afterthought. Kaepernik is a controversial figure and this was the primary interest of Nike. The public and polarized people on both sides of the political spectrum have played their role well, acting exactly as Nike expected they would:
People on the right, upset because they feel Nike has shown themselves to be a leftist group that spits on the graves of dead soldiers.
People on the left, championing the brand when Nike hasn't even necessarily proven themselves to be any more left then supporting the 1st amendment (i.e. the right to peacefully protest).
Neither side is the winner here, only Nike.