“Nike Fighting Back”: America Forgets Caitlin Clark Controversy as ROTY Victor Wembanyama Campaign Hits Markets

Nike’s advertising team must be credited for two reasons. One, for their unique way of marketing a product to the modern audience, and two, for diverting fans away from the controversies about them. The multi-billion company has ticked the above two boxes with its latest advertisement campaign featuring 2024 Rookie of the Year, Victor Wembanyama, aka the Alien. A new video was released by Nike yesterday, teasing the arrival of his signature shoes. Sneakily, this helped them overcome the backlash around the entire women’s basketball matter.

The fans are loving Nike’s new commercial with the San Antonio Spurs sensation. The 20-year-old center will be getting his signature shoes soon. And, coming to the WNBA, Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark will also be getting her sneakers by the end of next year. It’s a fair decision from Nike to give Clark an 8-figure deal, considering the hype around her name. But fans were frustrated that WNBA superstar A’ja Wilson has not got a signature shoe yet. 

Wilson has an incredible record in the WNBA. She is a 2x MVP, 2x DPOY, 2x WNBA Champion, a Finals MVP, and a gold medalist. With a flawless resume like that, fans were in disbelief that she had not got her own sneakers yet. With Nike striking new deals with the youngsters, they turned into the scapegoat sadly. However, the Victor Wembanyama commercial has come in handy now.

“Honestly fire”: Nike’s Victor Wembanyama ad receives the plaudits!

Nike has made the best decisions when it comes to signing the rookies. Be it the NBA or the WNBA, their deals with the newbies have always made a mark, starting with Michael Jordan. Here are a few reactions from the netizens on what they feel about the commercial: 

A fan wrote on Twitter, “Nike fighting back“, as it has been quite some time since they signed a No. 1 draft pick in the last few years. Nike will try everything in its power to capitalize on the hype behind the French sensation.

“This just earned Nike a new follower, fantastic ad!“, added another fan. Nike initially revealed a video of the logo a few weeks back on April 8. This is the second video for Victor Wembanyama and fans are already in awe of it. 

Another fan spoke about the marketing behind Wembanyama’s sneakers, “This is honestly fire. The marketing around this is fantastic.” On April 8th, during the solar eclipse, Nike revealed their first video. It had references to the eclipse, which was a unique way to market the shoes. Fans were appreciative of the creativity. 

“The best logo ever“, has claimed a fan on Twitter already. Nike’s design team has created some of the best logos for star athletes. Michael Jordan’s logo is arguably the best one so far. However, he might have a new competition now. 

A few fans commented, “Alien invasion“, which shows how influential the logo has already become. Thanks to the scoring leader LeBron James, who gave Wembanyama the ‘Alien’ tag. If everything goes according to plan, Wembanyama can get a fanbase, equivalent to that of Jordan, but that will obviously take quite some time.