Zion Williamson: Could Nike’s dream exposure become a nightmare?

Authors
Bradley W. Brooks, Queens University of Charlotte, Gary E. Powell, Queens University of Charlotte
Region
North America
Topic
Marketing & Sales
Accounting & Finance
Length
3 pages
Keywords
Branding
social media
Investment Analysis
Copyright Holder
Society for Case Research
Student Price
$4.00
Target Audience
Undergraduate Students

Leading sports apparel and shoe brands pay large sums of money to sponsor collegiate athletic teams in hopes of gaining significant exposure. Nike’s exposure from one of the year’s highest profile college basketball games turned into a high-profile product failure, one that immediately threatened the Nike brand value and the company’s market value. Within hours, negative social media mentions of Nike soared and Nike stock dropped. Nike faced a decision as to how (or if) to respond to the threat.

Learning Outcomes
  1. Identify risks of sponsoring sports teams and events within a consumer branding strategy
  2. Identify the key factors that likely lead to a quick decline in a consumer company’s stock price based on an incident that threatens the company’s reputation
  3. Evaluate how sponsoring collegiate sport teams can affect brand equity utilizing Keller’s (2001) Customer-Based Branding Equity (CBBE) Model
  4. Evaluate potential branding effects of public reactions to a high-profile product failure utilizing Aaker’s (1992) framework on brand asset and liabilities
  5. Evaluate whether an abrupt decline in a company’s stock price immediately following a negative incident suggests that investors should expect further price declines in the coming days or weeks
  6. Recommend a strategy for a consumer brand facing a high-profile product failure