Nike Inc. (Nike) was well known for its smart marketing which helped it ambush market its brand in successive editions of FIFA World Cups despite Adidas AG (Adidas) being the official sponsor for the event. The case discusses US-based sports giant, Nike Inc.’s (Nike) ‘Vai na Brasileiragem’ marketing campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The campaign featuring professional football players such as Phillipe Coutinho, Willian Borges da Silva, and Tiago Silva in the dressing room was launched with the aim of inspiring the Brazilian team to win their sixth football World Cup. In addition to the campaign, Nike launched a ‘Believe’ series on mobiles featuring Brazilian football player, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. Nike tasted success with its Brasileiragem campaign as it earned over 25.6 million views and more than 100.5 million impressions. Nike’s Believe series also generated over 100 million views and 50 million engagements on several social platforms. The sports giant also gained huge brand recognition when both the teams it sponsored – France and Croatia –became the finalists in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Some analysts felt that Nike had yet again successfully ambushed German sportswear giant Adidas as more than 50% of the consumers were under the impression that Nike was the official sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup even though Adidas was the official tournament sponsor. However, some critics felt that going forward, Nike had to increase its marketing expenditure and come out with cooler products if it was to compete effectively with Adidas, which was rapidly closing the gap with Nike.
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PayPal (9 USD)
Issues
The case is structured to achieve the following teaching objectives:
Understand the concept of ambush marketing and the issues and challenges associated with it.
Understand the importance of sporting events and sponsorships for sales promotion and increasing brand awareness and engagement with target audience.
Analyze the effectiveness of Nike’s ‘Vai na Brasileiragem’ campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Understand the increasing importance of social media as a cost effective tool for marketing communication.
Ambush marketing; Social media marketing; Digital advertising; Pyramid of influence; Sales promotion; Sponsorships; Brand recognition; Brand identity; Brand image; Marketing campaign; Marketing strategy; 2018 FIFA World Cup; Vai na Brasileiragem; Nike; Adidas;
