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Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2018

Branding and Politics: Nike and Colin Kaepernick

by Jill Avery and Koen Pauwels

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Abstract

Nike's selection of politically polarizing Colin Kaepernick as the spokesperson for the thirtieth anniversary of its iconic "Just Do It" campaign catapulted the brand into the media spotlight and made it a political flashpoint for consumers across America. Would the choice of Kaepernick positively or negatively affect Nike's business results or just generate a lot of social media chatter? As Nike's management team watched some people burn their sneakers in protest on YouTube and others applaud the company's behavior on Facebook, they wondered whether inserting Nike into the middle of a heated political debate was the right thing to do or the most reckless action Nike's brand stewards had ever taken, putting Nike's $30 billion brand asset at risk? After all, on social media, it was easy to say that one would boycott or buycott a brand due to one's political beliefs, but in the marketplace, other purchase criteria often reigned supreme.

Keywords: social media; digital marketing; entertainment; politics; activism; Brand equity; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Sports; Advertising; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America;

Language: English Format: Print 35 pages Educators

Citation:

Avery, Jill, and Koen Pauwels. "Branding and Politics: Nike and Colin Kaepernick." Harvard Business School Case 519-046, December 2018.

About the Author

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Jill J. Avery
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Marketing

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More from the Author

  • Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019

    Glossier: Co-Creating a Cult Brand with a Digital Community

    Jill Avery

    Glossier’s proclaimed strategy was “born from content, fueled by community”. The digital-first, direct-to-consumer beauty brand had experienced rapid growth, with sales up 600% in 2017 and a customer portfolio that grew by threefold. But, its founder, Emily Weiss, was not complacent. Instead, she dreamed of creating the world’s first socially-driven brand that inserted its community into the buying experience so that the company was merchandising people, their opinions, and their content, just as much as they were merchandising products. As her team debates marketing strategies for 2018, they recognize the opportunities and challenges associated with managing Glossier’s rapidly scaling brand community. While the community’s support had emerged organically in the past, the team was now debating whether the company’s next phase of growth would need to be fueled by a greater emphasis on paid peer-to-peer sales representatives, professional influencer marketing, paid media, and a physical market presence.

    Keywords: Brands; brand management; brand communication; retailing; e-commerce; DTC; influencer; digital marketing; social media; Startup; internet marketing; big data; crowdsourcing; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Consumer Behavior; Distribution; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Retail Industry; United States; North America;

    Citation:

    Avery, Jill. "Glossier: Co-Creating a Cult Brand with a Digital Community." Harvard Business School Case 519-022, January 2019.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducators Related
  • Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | January 2019

    Brand Storytelling

    Jill Avery

    Marketers have long appreciated the value and power of storytelling. Stories fill brands with resonant and relevant meaning and empower brands to serve as critical elements in the lives of consumers. Mastering the art of brand storytelling is an increasingly important part of managing brands in the contemporary brandscape, as today, we live in a world filled with an ever-expanding panoply of physical and virtual media spaces and places within which to create and tell stories with and to our consumers. This technical note outlines how and why consumers respond to brand stories, illuminates the four elements that make up good stories, discusses the use of archetypal plots and characters and other storytelling appeals, and provides guidance and a template for creating resonant, relevant, authentic, and differentiated brand stories.

    Keywords: brand communication; brand management; brand storytelling; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Advertising; Consumer Behavior; Consumer Products Industry;

    Citation:

    Avery, Jill. "Brand Storytelling." Harvard Business School Technical Note 519-049, January 2019.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducators Related
  • Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2018

    Shiseido: Reinvesting in Brand

    Jill Avery and Nobuo Sato

    Shiseido was in the midst of a six year corporate turnaround, trying to reverse the effects of decades of under-investment in R&D and marketing which had led to a cycle of declining customer support and brand value. Would the CEO’s VISION 2020 plan, centered on four strategies: 1.) increasing R&D spending from 1.8% to 3% of sales, 2.) investing an incremental ¥120 billion in brand-building marketing, 3.) moving to a “think global-act local” matrixed brand management structure, and 4.) rethinking brand portfolio strategy, be enough to achieve aggressive 8% per year sales goals while simultaneously increasing the company’s operating margin from 8% to 10% in the highly competitive and slow growing beauty industry?

    Keywords: brand management; Brand Value; turnaround; brand portfolio; brand communication; global brands; digital marketing; Return on investment; marketing ROI; internet marketing; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Value; Growth and Development Strategy; Investment Return; Consumer Behavior; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Japan; Asia;

    Citation:

    Avery, Jill, and Nobuo Sato. "Shiseido: Reinvesting in Brand." Harvard Business School Case 519-026, December 2018.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducators Related
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