Can LeBron Take the Heat?
With the NBA season starting, the much publicized team re-alliances are back in the headlines. The leader of these shifts is LeBron James’ abandonment of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the more championship-favored Miami Heat. The announcement, made by James in a one-hour ESPN special July 8, left Cleveland fans heartbroken and betrayed by their once hometown hero. The fallout led to a stream of anti-LeBron YouTube videos, Facebook pages and accusatory statements by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.
Nike, which endorsed James since he was 18, saw this November as its time to speak up. The company released a commercial asking “What should I do?”. In it, James asks what the public wants from him, to disappear, to admit he’s a championship chaser or to just sell shoes? He asks the hard question of what exactly fans expect from athletes.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c]
This is a challenge for any PR professional responsible for handling an athlete’s image. In all logical sense, James made a business decision. He switched from one company to another; people do it all the time without sparking Facebook hate groups. But Nike, a company that makes its money off understanding the personal connection people form with athletes, knew this was not the case.
So, what do you do when an athlete’s image could be in jeopardy? No, he didn’t get caught in a series of infidelities or sending inappropriate text messages to a reporter. What he did was much worse in the eyes of the fans: he let down the people who wear his jersey and buy his shoes.
That is what’s so great about James’ new commercial. It puts this heavy question in the hands of the fans. Nike does not condone his decision as right or wrong. It simply addresses the issue and allows fans to draw their own conclusions, while reminding us that at the end of the day James is a basketball player making a career choice.
This isn’t the first time the Nike PR team responded to an image problem with a commercial. In fact, they seem to follow the same plan they did with Tiger Woods. After Woods’ infidelities came to light, Nike waited a few months, then ran a simple but heavy-hitting commercial with a recording of Woods’ late father speaking to him. The commercial seemed to be Nike’s way of reprimanding him for his actions while also showing it would continue to support him and not drop its sponsorship.
It worked. Sure, there are still Tiger jokes and no one supports him the way they used to, but no one questions Nike’s business decision to stick by him. So the question is, “will this work for James?”. Of course, no Cleveland fans are about to jump back on the James bandwagon, but the almost 4 million views on YouTube suggest that those of us stuck in the middle can certainly forgive and forget.
By Megan Cotton
Opinions
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LeBron fan or not, it is hard to ignore the fact that he has remained in the public eye and sparked conversation. How many athletes have had an hour special dedicated to the decision they are making about where they will play? I would be surprised if any other player has. I am sure LeBron had plenty of reasons for choosing to leave Cleveland and play for the Heat, but his reasons were not explained fully. Perhaps this was on purpose to keep people talking about him. For an athlete to have so many people, fans and fan-emies alike, talking about him seems like good PR to me. I think Nike’s PR did an excellent job with the angle they took on the new commercial and it has certainly sparked even more conversation. It seems that today it is becoming more and more important for athletes to promote themselves not only to coaches and scouts, but to the public as well. I believe that LeBron (or at least someone working for him) knows the value of this and has been sure to keep people talking.
PermalinkI agree that people will learn to forgive and forget. What James did is not significant enough to ruin his reputation. He is still one of the greatest athletes to ever live. So what if he switched teams? He will gain just as many, if not more fans in Miami. I think that this commercial was a great pr strategy for Nike. I was moved when I watched it. To see Lebron recognize and express his feelings and vulnerability of the situation was a bold move on his part. He is basically saying, “This is who I am, I am not perfect, we all make choices that upset people, what should I do to make everyone happy?” And the sad thing is in life that we can’t please everyone all of the time. I’m sure this was just as hard of a choice for Lebron as it was for his fans to see him go. Life goes on. I stick by Lebron James and admire his attitude throughout all the scrutiny he has received.
PermalinkGreat job Megan>
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