To celebrate 30 years of “Just Do It,” the creative agency Wieden+Kennedy created a series of films accompanied by visual campaigns highlighting how this slogan has become an international mantra “[…] across all sports and all levels of play.” The campaign showed a collection of stories from multiple athletes that “[…] leverage the power of sport to move the world forward.”
Dream Crazy
In this ad, Kaepernick narrates a series of clips from athletes defying expectations at different levels and sports. From Nyjah Huston to 6-year-old Isaiah Bird. Multiple stories are referenced, showing diversity in Nike-sponsored athletes. The overall message is to overcome society's expectations no matter how impossible they might seem to others and not allow expectations to limit your dreams. This principle goes way beyond sports, showcasing a wide range of challenges these athletes had to overcome to achieve their dreams.
In 2017 former Us president Trump publicly expressed himself against NFL players kneeling in protest following Colin Kaepernick's actions in 2016. Trump's exact words were: "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's fired!'". He then encouraged people to stop watching the show stating that the only worse thing than kneeling during the anthem was watching those games on TV. Following this speech, Kaepernick became a free agent and remained that way.
2017 was also the year when the term woke was finally absorbed by the general public. After being used in the American black community for decades to express awareness of social injustice, the Black lives matter movement adopted it entirely during the Michael Brown protest in 2014. A couple of significant pop culture references, the song "Redbone" by Childish Gambino in 2016 and Jordan Peele's movie "Get out," established the term as a synonym for being conscious about social injustice.
All the stories in this ad could be related to this term and indicate Nike's position in the debate generated by Trump in his 2017 speech.
A bit of context
Economical impact
Even though the immediate response of this campaign caused a fall in Nike's net worth, just a few months later, it finally paid off, generating a steady increase in Nike's market share and embedding the brand even deeper in the culture of their target market. This growth can be tracked until the beginning of the COVID pandemic, a global phenomenon that affected almost every need.
“Bring Inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world
*If you have a body, you are an athlete.”
Nike has a rich history of revolutionary video campaigns; from the very beginning, they challenged the limits of what a sportswear company can be perceived as and treated their athletes as more than just models of what humans are physically capable of, but as cultural icons. They integrated pop culture, allowing them to establish themselves as innovative and authentic, and adapted to the times, staying at the forefront of media.
About Nike
Reception
Positive
After more than 65 million views in just five days, the "Dream Crazy" campaign immediately became one of Nike's most important campaigns, establishing how the public would perceive the brand from that point on. In addition to the unbelievable amount of interactions caused in social media and the vast stir in traditional media, this campaign was overwhelmingly positively received, with awards ranging from an Emmy to the coveted Effie "Best of the best" award.
Negative
The Controversial nature of the central figure for this campaign in the context of a public expression of disapproval of his actions by the president of the united states was always going to result in a mixed reception by the public. In this case, many people reacted passionately against it, from publicly taking a stance against the brand to burning their products publicly as a protest. This was also briefly reflected in Nike's market value.
Know your market
Social and political campaigns will always divide; choosing your market correctly is crucial to success. Forget about appealing to everybody; focus on the right people.
Know yourself
Relying on your own brand history will allow for less criticism and better public reception; go against the grain but stay true to your brand’s values and history.
Authenticity is your strongest weapon.
Context is everything
A campaign's relevance is all about what surrounds it. Look around and ask yourself what is relevant, who is talking about it, and how the Zeitgeist is at that moment. This topic is alive; only context can tell you what they mean now.
Show, don’t tell
What better way to tell people where you stand than by showing what you’ve done? There is no need to commit to a political stance if your actions already prove what your brand means. Words can be proven wrong; actions stand for themselves.
Follow through
The public will question your commitment, and the best way to prove you actually care is to keep going. Don’t just point for the spotlight; live up to the own expectations you just created for yourself.
Value your team
Nike decided to show who they are through the people that make them. You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep.
Key Takeaways
More about the athletes
