Evaluation of Nike's N7 social media campaign targeting Native American consumers. Awarded top paper in the American Studies division of the National Communication Association in 2016. Paper published in American Indian Culture and Research Journal.

1. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
“Native” Advertising: An Evaluation of Nike’s N7
Social Media Campaign
W. Scott Sanders, Ph.D.
Department of Communication
College of Arts & Sciences
Selene Phillips, Ph.D.
Department of Communication
College of Arts & Sciences
Cecelia Hunt
Department of Communication
College of Arts & Sciences

2. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
The Nike N7 Campaign
N7 campaign grew out of charitable
programs launched by Nike in the early
2000’s to promote health and sport in
Native communities.
The N7 campaign markets a clothing line
primarily targeting Native American’s rather
than the general population.
The campaign’s spokespeople (i.e. N7
Ambassadors) are Native American
professional athletes who promote Nike
products and healthy lifestyles.

3. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Why don’t global brands market to Native Americans?:
Inadequate Return on Investment
1. Native American’s comprise
a small percentage of the
population.
2. There is a perception of
poverty.
Percent of Minority Buying Power
Native American
Hispanic
African American
Asians
Native American
consumers have
approximately. $100 billion
in buying power.

4. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Why don’t global brands market to Native Americans?:
It is too difficult to create targeted messages.
3. Cultural diversity amongst
Native communities makes
them difficult to treat as a
single, undifferentiated
market segment.
Public health studies
promote hyper targeted
messages through the use
of:
• Local residents
• Tribal nation members
• Local topography
• Tribal ttraditions & values
• Local/tribal media outlets

5. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Why don’t global brands market to Native Americans?:
It’s too hard to reach Native consumers.
4. The clustered nature of the
population makes large national
campaigns unattractive.
Social Media reduces the
importance of geography
(e.g. clustering) but may
not address issues of
access.

6. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Why don’t global brands market to Native Americans?:
It’s too hard to reach Native consumers.
4. The clustered nature of the
population makes large national
campaigns unattractive.
5. There is limited access to media
used for advertising in rural
areas.
The FCC acknowledges that
the lack of communication
services on tribal lands,
including broadcast,
telephony, and Internet
services, is an ongoing
issue.

7. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Is Nike reaching Native
consumers?
Does the tribal membership of
Nike’s N7 ambassadors matter?
Study One RQ’s

8. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Methods: Data Sources
The data in this study was collect from
three sources:
1. Twitter Search API
2. Nike Promotional Material
3. US Census Bureau

9. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Methods: Measures – Number of Followers per State
Public self-reported locations of
Nike N7 Twitter followers were
collected from the Twitter API
and stored in a MySQL database.
Next, follower locations were
geocoded using the Bing Maps
API.
Finally, a frequency table was
created in MySQL grouping the
number of followers per state.
Counties with Nike N7 Twitter Followers

10. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
The number of stores
carrying N7 products per
state was included to control
for in person exposure to the
campaign.
Store locations were
determined from Nike
promotional material posted
to social media.
Methods: Measures –
Number of Stores per State

11. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Methods: Measures – Total State and Native Populations
State population is the total
state population reported in the
2010 US census.
State Native Population is the
estimated Native population for
each state based on the 2014
American Community Survey
(ACS).
Visualization of State Native Populations
(ACS 2014)

12. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Methods: Measures – Tribal Representation
N7 Tribal Representation is the
percent of each state’s native
population whose tribal grouping
was represented by a Nike N7
spokesperson.
Σ (𝑻𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒐𝒑. 𝒘/𝑵𝟕 𝑨𝒎𝒃. )
𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒑.
+
The tribal grouping of N7 ambassadors
was determined from Nike promotional
material.
State populations for tribal groups were
determined from the 2014 American
Community Survey.

13. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Multiple Regression Analysis
Predicting Number of Followers Per
State (Model 2)
Variables B SE B β
Intercept -1.06 .42
State Pop. (Log) .29 .07** .30
Number of Stores .49 .13** .33
Native Pop. (Log) .35 .08** .45
Tribal Repres.
(Sqrt)
.16 .18 .06
Adjusted R2 .80
F for Change in R2 12.25*
*p<.05, **p < .001
Results Multiple Regression Analysis Predicting
Number of Followers Per State
Research Question Supported?
RQ1: Do states with higher
Native populations have higher
number of Nike N7 Twitter
followers than states with lower
Native populations?

RQ2: Is there a relationship
between the percent of a
state’s Native population
represented by a Nike N7
ambassador of the same tribal
grouping and the number of
account followers in a state?


14. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Multiple Regression Analysis
Predicting Number of Followers Per
State (Model 2)
Variables B SE B β
Intercept -1.06 .42
State Pop. (Log) .29 .07** .30
Number of Stores .49 .13** .33
Native Pop. (Log) .35 .08** .45
Tribal Repres.
(Sqrt)
.16 .18 .06
Adjusted R2 .80
F for Change in R2 12.25*
*p<.05, **p < .001
Results Multiple Regression Analysis Predicting
Number of Followers Per State
Research Question Supported?
RQ1: Do states with higher
Native populations have higher
number of Nike N7 Twitter
followers than states with lower
Native populations?

RQ2: Is there a relationship
between the percent of a
state’s Native population
represented by a Nike N7
ambassador of the same tribal
grouping and the number of
account followers in a state?


15. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Multiple Regression Analysis
Predicting Number of Followers Per
State (Model 2)
Variables B SE B β
Intercept -1.06 .42
State Pop. (Log) .29 .07** .30
Number of Stores .49 .13** .33
Native Pop. (Log) .35 .08** .45
Tribal Repres.
(Sqrt)
.16 .18 .06
Adjusted R2 .80
F for Change in R2 12.25*
*p<.05, **p < .001
Results Multiple Regression Analysis Predicting
Number of Followers Per State
Research Question Supported?
RQ1: Do states with higher
Native populations have higher
number of Nike N7 Twitter
followers than states with lower
Native populations?

RQ2: Is there a relationship
between the percent of a
state’s Native population
represented by a Nike N7
ambassador of the same tribal
grouping and the number of
account followers in a state?


16. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Study One Takeaway Points
1. National campaigns can effectively reach
geographically dispersed Native consumers
via social media.
2. The emphasis on tribal representation may
be misplaced – rather any authentic
representation may promote identification.

17. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Study Two: Do ethnic cues increase engagement?
Social identity theory holds that people engage in self-
categorization where prototypical group traits are applied to
the self and others to assess group membership.
The effectiveness of minority targeted advertisements depends
on the viewer’s identification with the minority culture.
Ads can promote self-categorization by increasing the salience
of ethnicity through the use of embedded cultural cues.

18. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Study Two Rationale H1a: The number of ethnic
cues present in a tweet posted
to the Nike N7 account will be
positively related to the number
of times that post is
retweeted.
H1b: The number of ethnic
cues present in a tweet posted
to the Nike N7 account will be
positively related to the number
of times that post is favorited.
Based on social identity
theory, Twitter users should
engage more with social
media posts with higher
numbers of ethnic cues.
RQ1: Which types of cues
are most important in
producing engagement?

19. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Model cues include:
• Race
• Traditional Hairstyles (e.g.
long hair, braids on men).
• Body Art (e.g. Tattoos)
Model Cues

20. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Product cues were coded
based on:
• Regional Designs/Patterns
Pendleton
Pacific NW
Southwest
Product Cues

21. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Product cues were coded
based on:
• Regional Designs/Patterns
• Moccasin Design
• Feathers & Fringe
Product Cues

22. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Text cues involve:
• Tribal names
• Native
Languages
• Appeals to
shared values,
heritage, or
history.
Text Cues

23. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
HighLow

24. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Results
Research Question Supported? Model 1
(CV: Acct Age, Human
model)
Model 2
(CV’s + # of Ethnic
Cues)
H1a:
Higher # of Ethnic Cues
 Higher # of Retweets 
F(2, 97) = 66.77, p<.001
R2 = .57
F(1, 96) = 6.80, p<.05
R2 change = .03
H1b:
Higher # of Ethnic Cues
 Higher # of Favorites 
F(2, 97) = 102.78 , p<.001
R2 =.67
F(1, 96) =14.54, p<.001
R2 change = .04

25. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Results:
Exploratory Analysis
Multiple Regression Analysis
Predicting Number of Times Favorited
(log)
Variables B SE B β
Intercept -1.29 .25
Model Presence .41 .14** .28
Age of Post .’04 .00** .66
Model Cues .26 .11** .22
Product Cues .19 .05** .25
Text Cues -.01 .08 -.01
Adjusted R2 .74
F for Change in R2 6.70*
*p<.05, **p < .001
An exploratory analysis was
conducted to examine what
types of ethnic cues
encouraged engagement.
Model and product cues
were found to be significant
predictors of the number of
times a post was favorited.

26. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Study Two Take Away Points
1. The number of ethnic cues in a post predicted Twitter user
engagement suggesting that they fostered self-categorization
– in other words culturally specific social media posts
work.
2. It may be preferable to focus on creating ethnically tailored
visuals - cues found in images (i.e. product and model cues)
were influential while text cues were non-significant.

27. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Implications
Social media lowers the barriers to reaching
Native consumers and may open up a national
market that is relatively untapped.
Effective advertisements can be culturally relevant
without being too narrowly targeted for specific
tribal groups.
In short, Nike has been successful by combining
technological solutions and savvy message design to
reach and appeal to Native consumers.

28. L O U I S V I L L E . E D U
Thank You!
Contact Information:
W. Scott Sanders
Twitter: @wscottsanders
Email: scottsanders@louisville.edu