The Duke-UNC Rivalry
The Duke-University of North Carolina Basketball rivalry. Arguably the best rivalry in the history of every sport. This is the setting. With Cameron Indoor Stadium packed with fans from both universities, the entire nation was geared up for an amazing competition between two elite programs.
To further the build-up, it was the first time these teams played each other all year. UNC is a team with marginal talent but tremendous leadership and experience while Duke is a team primary made up of unbelievable talent from freshman with little to no experience in important college games.
Exactly 33 seconds into the game, the unthinkable happens. Zion Williamson, the projected number one overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, splits his Nike shoe. Wait, what? Yes. His shoe completely split, injuring and removing this player from this intense game. The backlash of this event was horrific for many organizations, specifically Nike. UNC went on winning the game easily as Duke was without one of their star players who averages over twenty-two points per game.
Zion Williamson’s split shoe
Nike immediately released a statement which informed the public “The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance. While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue.” Despite this, Nike stocks dropped noticeably and many consumers expressed their concern and lack of trust in the Nike products on social media.
Duke University is in their fourth year of a 12-year contract with Nike for all appeals, equipment, and shoes and it would not surprise me if this contract was reviewed in some fashion due to the catastrophic event that happened during this game. This injury could have easily cost Duke University a shot at a championship this season. Luckily, the injury was not significant, and Zion Williamson has only missed a couple of games thus far.
Sketchers’s “Just Blew It” Ad
Finally, a few brands decided to take advantage of this major mistake by the currently popular brand that Nike is. Specifically, Sketchers released this ad calling out the massive flaw of Nike. Using Nike’s classic branding of “Just Do It”, this ad states “Just Blew It” displaying a picture of the busted Nike shoe that Zion Williamson wore. Interesting idea from Sketchers to try to further sabotage the brand name of Nike.
This is definitely a wild case, but what are your thoughts about this situation? Should Nike be taking this much heat? Should Duke University sue and/ or cut ties with Nike due to this mistake? What is another situation that reminds you of this one? Interested in hearing your thoughts.
Thank you for reading. Signing off, Woz.
Personally, this event does not affect whether I buy Nike shoes or not, because in all honesty I will never come close to physically exerting myself as much as a college basketball player. If I was the Duke coach, however, I would be extremely angry with Nike and be trying renegotiate its contract with Duke. I’m sure that shoes cost the school over a hundred dollars, it should not be splitting on its users!
Has anybody considered sabotage? Perhaps low possibility but not a NO possibility