As Tiger Woods teed off at the US Masters yesterday, Nike launched their latest ad to feature not only the newly-controversial golfing superstar, but, a little spookily, the voice of his dead father, too.
Instead of running a mile from one of their hottest promotional properties when the going got tough (as many a sponsor would; think Kate Moss, Kerry Katona, Peaches Geldof… the list goes on), the global sports and fashion brand has adopted a rather different approach: go for it with all guns blazing. While the likes of Pepsi, and Procter & Gamble’s Gillette brand hit the panic button, pumping out dated, re-cut, re-hashed and Tiger-less ads to fill the void, Nike has taken its own advice: Just do it – boldly standing by their man and slapping the swoosh front-and-centre.
So is this ad, and the strategy behind it, tasteless golfsploitation or marketing genius? So far, opinion is divided. A Yahoo poll is showing 63% (of some 166,000-ish respondents) saying they love it, while a separate vote on celebrity site TMZ finds 77% of 90,000-odd readers calling it marketing bullsh*t.
Pundits haven’t been slow to fuel the fire either, with top US sports journo Dave Zirin describing the campaign as a “cultural rock bottom” and “simply sickening”. Neverthless, one has a sneaking suspicion that with all the high profile commentary on the ad, and over 700,000 views on YouTube in the first 24 hours, it’s surely already a case of “doubles all round” at the Nike marketing dept.’s nineteenth hole.
One question remains: could all the edginess and controversy backfire, damaging the Nike brand? It seems unlikely, given the tactical nature of the spot and the breakneck churn of popular culture in our online era. As well as trading on the heroism of its chosen athletes, Nike relies on the street credibility of its brand – a dynamic tension perfectly captured in the recent Tiger saga.
The message that we, as marketeers, must take away is one of courage and creativity: when the faeces hit the fan, stick to your guns and turn the situation to your advantage.
See the ad that’s causing all the fuss here: www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6373084n
Watch a Tiger/Nike ad with an altogether different tone of voice here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oTMosZ76b8
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