I can’t help but feel a little sorry for poor Wayne Rooney right now. After completing his best-ever season, he’s fallen from grace so quickly it makes Tiger look like he used a parachute on his way down.
But sponsor of both of these adulterous athletes Nike seemed to predict Rooney’s downfall with incredible accuracy in their Write the Future advert. The ad depicts our Wayne having a shocking World Cup, being jeered by the nation, coming home in shame, and ending up a dishevelled hobo living alone...
So if our favourite ginger-bearded womaniser needs to blame anyone, at least he now knows where to turn.
But where does all of this leave Nike? The advert was initially a runaway success – 20% of respondents in a post World Cup poll stated Nike were the official sports brand sponsor at the tournament, higher than any other brand. In reality they didn’t pay a single penny to FIFA and close-rival Adidas had the official rights. They also led the way for on-line ‘buzz’ throughout June. USA Today reported Nike accounted for 26% of all online chatter during the World Cup, again ahead of official sponsor Adidas at 20%.
But the Nostrodamus-like accuracy of their ad must be leaving Nike budget holders scratching their heads - was it money well spent, or has it weakened their brand by creating an association with failure? The problem with Nike is that they’re a monolith; almost too big to rely on creativity alone. They’ve long been the kings of ambush marketing at major events, but they need a guaranteed splash – and perhaps they feel endorsements are the only way to go.
But when this guaranteed 'safe route' is no longer safe, is it time to move to the big creative idea, rather than exhaust the big fat budget? The award for best-use-of-creative-thinking at the World Cup of course went to Bavaria. The little-known Dutch beer brand that paid 30 models to wear orange t-shirts in one of the ambush coups of the decade. FIFA’s reaction to threaten criminal prosecution played directly into Bavaria’s hands and whipped up such a media storm that the brand gained £70k worth of free editorial coverage in print and broadcast media in South Africa and a global estimate of £3.5million according to Ornico.
The story quickly died as FIFA and Bavaria came to an out-of-court agreement which is believed to have cost the brewer very little, other than to keep quiet and to avoid ambushing any further tournaments until 2022. FIFA also backed down on threats to prosecute the girls themselves. The problem is that unless the law changes significantly in favour of tournament organisers, anti-ambush cases will be left with more holes than a stadia of vuvuzelas.
So will Nike drop our Wayne in favour of more creative stunts. No chance. They might as well walk him to Adidas’ head office with an army of big-spending Rooney disciples. Their brand has so much depth, equity and loyalty that the Rooney effect is likely to make ripples, not waves. But celebrity association for smaller brands is a much more dangerous game. Working with anything living, breathing and as wholly unpredictable as people requires incredible skill and judgement.
Whether it’s celebrity endorsement, or developing an organisational culture for employees to follow, the human element is always the toughest factor to predict. Proven strategies, such as the ‘Culture’ stage of our Brand Truth model, build in processes to create greater control.
Building and managing a brand culture can’t guarantee a 100% success rate, but it can help radically reduce the risk involved in trusting people with your lovingly nurtured brand.
The problem is, and always will be, for every brand disciple, there’s always a Wayne lurking around the corner…
KATE GIBSON (Senior Account Manager)
