September 2018

It’s safe to say that Nike has had its fair share of controversies over the years. However, it was last week when the sportswear brand arguably fell into its most divisive campaign to date. Nike chose Colin Kaepernick to be the face of their latest campaign, a famous American football player, and also civil rights activist. At a glance, the partnership doesn’t come as a surprise. Nike has always prided itself on encouraging diverse ways of thinking in their advertising, but did they take it a step too far this time?

Kaepernick has been a polarising character ever since he first refused to stand for the national anthem before a match in 2016, instead sitting down and then later sinking to his knees. He has consistently adopted this token of protest ever since, using his presence in sport to draw attention to social injustice in both his actions and his words. The following year, no football club offered him a contract.

This year, Nike decided to make the most of his story by placing it at the heart of their latest campaign. ‘Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything’ was captioned over a close up image of the sportsman’s face – arguably a perfect fit with Nike’s mindset of ‘just do it.’ However, Kaepernick’s supposed disrespect towards America prompted backlash on social media and beyond- even Trump got in on the action. Consequently, there were calls to pull the ad, with #BoycottNike generating over 1.4 billion impressions on Twitter. (Crimson Hexagon, 2018) It wasn’t just a social media storm – customers threatened to burn their Nike shoes, and more importantly, their share prices dropped by 3%. (CNBC, 2018)

However, Nike stuck to what they truly believed in and didn’t give into backlash, still affirming that the Kaepernick is “one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation,” Gino Fisanotti, vice-president of brand. Their loyalty and consistency towards their brand and the sportsman paid off. Over the same period of uproar, Nike’s online sales increased by 31%- almost doubling that of this time last year, refuting any previous conspiracy that the campaign would negatively affect sales. (Edison Trends, 2018) Whilst still early days, it will be interesting to see how Nike moves forward. Will they build on the Kaepernick strategy, or will they choose a safer figure in future advertising?

It’s that time of year again – after a long glorious summer, schools will be opening their doors to students all around the country for the start of the new school year. This time often raises a mixture of ‘back to school’ emotions with some feeling excited while others slightly anxious, driven by the anticipation of new classes, homework and being back in a routine after nearly six weeks of fun, relaxation and freedom.

However, these emotions are not only felt by students. September can also evoke nostalgic back to school feelings in adults, even after being out of the education system for some time. An article in The Guardian(1) suggests that after all those years of having term times and set holidays during our education, for many of us, the cycle has been so ingrained within our psyche that it’s hard to break the association of September with start of a new school year.

This has shown to lead many to view September as an opportunity for something new or a fresh start. Pinterest’s recently released their Back to Life report, which found people often think of this particular time of the year as a chance to address and make changes in their lives, from reorganising their wardrobes, improving fitness or focusing on health and wellbeing(2). An example of this already in action is; 320,000 Brits are planning to take part in the Royal Society for Public Health’s ‘Scroll Free September’ campaign in a bid to improve wellbeing(3).

This time of year is also found to be used as an opportunity to explore bigger decisions, such as a new career or job, or maybe just simply updating a resume. For example; Google Trends data from 2017 shows a marked increase in the search term ‘CV’ from the end of August onwards after a steady decline over the summer months(4).

An example of brands already utilising this September feeling as an opportunity, include online florist Bloom & Wild, who are using the back to school vibe to encourage subscribers to get organised for the ‘term’ ahead by ordering flowers for any upcoming occasions(5). Also, whether you’re a student or not, clothing brand Superdry has used this moment to release a ‘back to school’ themed range, inspired by the 80’s New-York Hip Hop scene and positioned as a wardrobe refresh for the colder months ahead(6).

1. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/29/circle-of-life-september-autumn
2. https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en-gb/post/back-to-life-2018
3. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/scroll-free-september-explained-what-quit-social-media-delete-facebook-instagram-twitter-a8515331.html
4. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2017-01-01%202018-01-01&geo=GB&q=%2Fm%2F07kgs9_,CV
5. Bloom & Wild, The September Issue, newsletter@bloomandwild.com
6. https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion/streetwear-staples-for-the-new-term-a3903406.html