DeAndre Hopkins’ Viral Play Comes with a Marketing Catch
Despite being in what many fans and analysts are calling the play of the year, DeAndre Hopkins’ Hail Mary moment will not result in the same marketing and advertisement treatment that Odell Beckham Jr.’s one-handed catch received in 2014. Although Hopkins was wearing a Jordan Brand glove, he is not a Nike athlete.
The viral photo of Hopkins grabbing the ball over the outstretched hands of the Buffalo Bills defenders has helped Jordan Brand get $5.7 million in media exposure from social media, TV and print, according to Apex Marketing. For context, Beckham’s catch ended up with at least $2.2 million in media exposure, according to Front Row Analytics. Beckham is currently still signed with Nike.
Nike Football’s official Twitter account tweeted a photo of the New York Giants receiver with the caption “Drop jaws. Catch everything else.” and a link to the Vapor Jet 3.0, the gloves he was wearing during the play. Beckham’s catch served as a catapult for his career in terms of his social media following as well as his marketability for Nike.
Since then, Nike has released special edition sneakers, hats and cleats under Beckham’s name. For Hopkins, it appears as if none of this will happen. Hopkins, who was an Adidas athlete up until earlier this year, has not been posted by Adidas, Nike or Jordan social media accounts.
The Cardinals wide receiver signed a multiyear deal with Adidas in 2016 that made him the face of its adizero franchise, which was dubbed to be the lightest cleat in football. But he’s been seen sporting the Jordan 1 TD Low cleat earlier this year. Outside of OBJ, Nike’s other football athletes include Russell Wilson, Christian McCaffrey, Aaron Donald and Saquon Barkley.
“He’s just a huge fan of Jordan, so he did this on his own volition,” a Nike spokesperson said.
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