Nike’s bet on Colin Kaepernick appears to be paying off for the brand, as the former NFL quarterback has generated an estimated $7.6 million in earned media, according to an analysis from ad-tracking firm Kantar Media.
Earned media is the term that marketers use to define the amount of publicity gained through promotional efforts that aren’t paid for. Data from Kantar Media’s social valuation partner, Hookit, estimated Kaepernick’s social presence to have delivered $7.6 million in earned media value for Nike.
In addition, Nike spent an estimated $4 million on TV advertising through Sept. 9 to promote its first commercial with Kaepernick, Kantar found. The ad ran during both of NBC’s NFL games last week, as well as college football and tennis’ U.S. Open.
The bet on Kaepernick also affected Nike’s stock price, in a good way.
Shares of NKE stock had initially dropped Sept. 4, the day after Nike first announced Kaepernick as the face of the campaign, as #NikeBoycott was trending on Twitter. But in the days after, the stock recovered, closing Wednesday at $83 per share, an all-time high for the company. The stock price continued to rise on Thursday — albeit slightly — up nearly half a percent at $83.41 at around 2:45 p.m. ET.
Nike unveiled the new “Just Do It” campaign over Labor Day weekend, tied to its 30th anniversary. Since Sept. 3, Nike was mentioned in more than 1.7 million social media posts globally. As the debate over the ad grew, that figure rose to almost 4 million daily — seven times more mentions than Nike would experience on a typical day, Kantar Media found.
For each of the next seven days, Nike was mentioned in more than one million posts as the story trended worldwide.
Kantar Media reports that while the U.S. accounted for the majority of social media posts, social platforms in many other countries were taken over by the story. In the UK, mentions of Nike increased more than five times in the week following the announcement. In France, Nike’s mentions doubled with a similar impact in India, Brazil & Germany.
Kaepernick gained notoriety in 2016 when he began kneeling during the national anthem before NFL games as a means of raising awareness and protesting racial inequality in America, and the shooting deaths of unarmed black men, women and children by police officers. After playing for the 49ers that season, Kaepernick has yet to be signed by another team.
Kaepernick brought a lawsuit against the NFL, accusing the league of colluding to keep him from being signed by any NFL team. Last week a court issued him a preliminary win in his case, essentially granting a full hearing on the dispute, according to The New York Times, despite the NFL’s efforts to sweep the issue under the rug.
Nike is the official uniform maker for the NFL and recently extended its contract through 2028.
Sports and Politics Don't Mix? History Says Otherwise (Photos)
With President Donald Trump's grousing over recent protests in the NFL, the debate over whether athletes should express their political views through the platform of sports has heated up once again. But contrary to what some might believe, the phenomenon of athletes protesting didn't begin with Colin Kaepernick. Read on as TheWrap delves into the long-term relationship between sports and politics.
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos -- who'd taken the gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter dash -- took to the winners podium and raised their fists above their heads in a silent protest against discrimination against African-Americans in the United States. "If I win I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then they would say 'a Negro.' We are black and we are proud of being black," Smith said of the protest.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali famously refused to serve in the U.S. military during the Vietnam war, noting, “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?" In 2005, President George W. Bush awarded Ali the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him "a fierce fighter and a man of peace."
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. The boycott would grow to 65 nations who refused to participate in the games.
Four years later, the USSR would return the favor, boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. "Chauvinistic sentiments and anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in this country," the Soviet government said of the boycott, which 13 other communist countries would also join.
At the beginning of the 1995-1996 NBA season, Denver Nuggets point guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf decided that he wouldn't salute the American flag during the playing of the national anthem prior to games. The decision went unnoticed for some time; when NBA commissioner David Stern handed down a one-game suspension to the player. The NBA later reached a compromise, mandating that Abdul-Rauf stand for the anthem, but allowing him to close his eyes and face downward.
In 2014, following the death of Eric Garner after a confrontation with police in New York, Cleveland Cavaliers stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving wore shirts emblazoned with the phrase "I Can't Breathe" -- Garner's reported last words -- while warming up for a game against the Brooklyn Nets. Nets players Jarrett Jack, Alan Anderson, Deron Williams and Kevin Garnett also donned the shirts.
In 2016, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick opted not to stand during the national anthem, saying, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color ... To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
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From Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, a timeline of protesting athletes
With President Donald Trump's grousing over recent protests in the NFL, the debate over whether athletes should express their political views through the platform of sports has heated up once again. But contrary to what some might believe, the phenomenon of athletes protesting didn't begin with Colin Kaepernick. Read on as TheWrap delves into the long-term relationship between sports and politics.
