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Social Media Golf Nike

McIlroy boosts Nike followers but Under Armour's Masters winner Jordan Spieth shows true value

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

April 13, 2015 | 5 min read

As Nike Golf ambassadors Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy lagged behind Masters winner, Under Armour’s 21-year-old Jordan Spieth, the US brand had to set an alternative tone on social media.

Nike Golf, which has a decade-long £150 million contract with McIlroy, could feel short-changed as rival Under Armour's man Speith seized the day.

All eyes were on Woods and McIlroy, who were paired together for the Masters, which seemed like a dream pairing following the launch of its ad that chronicled how the former world number one inspired the current number one.

Despite the underwhelming performance of the pair at the tournament following the ad’s release 5 April, Nike Golf saw a Twitter follower growth of over 2,200 with the brand keen to borrow from McIlroy’s 2.37m-strong Twitter audience.

A full 83 per cent of the tweets on Nike Golf's account (563,000 followers) focused on the young Irishman, according to Twitter analytics platform SocialBro.

Furthermore, as a result of the partnership, Nike and McIlroy now share a 10 per cent follower crossover, dwarfing his 3.2 per cent follower share with competitor Adidas Golf.

Nike's £150m sum for McIlroy now looks dispropotionately large as Under Armour flouted its focus on the top prize, touting Speith for victory in a series of tweets.

Nike on the other hand, saw its golden boys Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods finish ten and eleven shots respectively off the lead, sounding a noticably less triumphant tone on the platform.

Although Spief's 318k following is dwarfed by McIlroy's, the exposure gained following his triumph at Augusta could spur growth on both his, and Under Armour Golf's (12.7k followers) accounts. The Tweet has been retweeted almost 30,000 times and favourited 50,000 at the time of writing.

Following his victory, Spief said:

Social Media Golf Nike

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