Category: Sports

Nike’s controversial new campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick is paying dividends. 

Despite protests from some consumers who set their swoosh-embroidered shoes ablaze, the sportswear giant’s online sales have rocketed since releasing ads like this commercial narrated by the former 49ers quarterback. 

Market Watch has further details: 

After an initial dip immediately after the news broke, Nike’s NKE, -0.12% online sales actually grew 31% from the Sunday of Labor Day weekend through Tuesday, as compared with a 17% gain recorded for the same period of 2017, according to San Francisco–based Edison Trends.

Some analysts predicted that Nike’s support of the NFL player who called attention to racial inequality by kneeling during the singing of the national anthem before games would lead to a sales slump. That’s not been the case so far. 

“There was speculation that the Nike-Kaepernick campaign would lead to a drop in sales, but our data over the last week does not support that theory,” said Hetal Pandya, co-founder of Edison Trends.

Nike stock has also held steady. Per Market Watch, 

The stock was up 1% on Friday and remains in the black for the month. It has gained 29% in 2018, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.31% , which since 2013 has counted Nike as a member, has gained 5%, as the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.22% has risen about 8%.

Data from marketing technology company 4C Insights shows that in addition to financial growth, Nike saw a 1,678 percent uptick in mentions and comments on social media over Sunday and Monday as sentiment toward the brand dropped 38 percent. 

“You can be darn sure that Nike has done its research and knows what will move its product and who this campaign will resonate with,” said  4C Chief Marketing Officer Aaron Goldman. “They are the ones [Nike has] decided will be its future customers, so, if others are getting upset, [Nike has] planned for that, and it doesn’t care.”

If any team wanted to sign Kaepernick, now might be the ideal time to do so.