Nike and Sedona Prince: The Perfect Team
These days it seems almost impossible to scroll through social media without coming across multiple social influencers. That’s most likely because influencer marketing is on the rise and expected to be worth $15 billion by 2022, according to Business Insider. Influencer marketing can be a game changer in a social media campaign and can certainly be beneficial for brands of all sizes.
Nike
Nike is the leader in sportswear companies for both revenue and brand awareness. They rely heavily on influencer marketing, partnering with big-time athletes like Colin Kaepernick, to promote their products and their core values. Luckily for Nike, they can look no further, because I found their next big macro influencer: Sedona Prince.
Sedona
Sedona Prince is a college basketball player for the Oregon Ducks, who recently went viral on TikTok for putting the NCAA on blast for their blatant inequities between the Men’s March Madness tournament and the Women’s. Her video not only prompted significant change for female athletes, but also left her with a loyal following and fan base. She acquired a huge female following, particularly members of the LGBTQIA+ community, which makes her the perfect face of Nike’s 2021 BeTrue campaign.
Relevance
Nike’s BeTrue campaign launched back in June of 2019 to honor athletes who support, or are a part of, the LGBTQIA+ community. The campaign continued again in 2020 with new, exciting products and awarded $25,000 (each) to 20 different LGBTQIA+ organizations. As an openly gay athlete, Sedona would be extrememly relevant to the campaign and its target market, which consists of athletes, allies, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Being a part of the campaign would be authentic for Sedona, as she already posts a plethora of basketball content on social media and is currently trending on gay TikTok.
Reach
Sedona hosts 221K followers on Instagram, 41.1K on Twitter, and a whopping 1.6 million on her verified TikTok account (though she has two others that collectively bring in another 836K). She has a huge female following, which is important because according to Digital Marketing Institute, 86% of women use social media for purchasing advice. Plus, 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, which means this partnership could really help Nike turn leads into sales.
Resonance
The most important aspect of an influencer/audience relationship is trust. An influencer must have established credibility, respect, and morally align with the target audience in order to maximize campaign results. Her NCAA viral TikTok video has earned her an audience filled with female athletes, femanist allies, and females in general, who now see her as a role model. As mentioned, she also has a huge LGBTQIA+ following and is known for being engaging and responsive, by consistently interacting with comments and videos from her followers on social media. She makes her followers feel part of a community and already has an established trust across multiple platforms, which would make this partnership an extremely effective social media strategy for Nike.
Conclusion
Nike and Sedona align perfectly on several social and moral topics. Nike is known for empowering female athletes and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, which are important to both Sedona and her audience. The Nike BeTrue campaign would be a golden opportunity for this partnership to flourish amd maximize ROI.
As a bonus, Nike founders Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight are University of Oregon alumni, where Sedona currently plays basketball. It’s fairly obvious that this is a match made in heaven, so Nike should take their own advice and ‘Just Do It’.
