Nike and Tiger Woods part ways following 27-year partnership

Sportswear brand Nike has parted ways with long-time ambassador and American professional golfer, Tiger Woods after a 27-year long partnership.

In a post on its official Instagram page, Nike made a tribute to Woods with the words, “It was a hell of a round, Tiger”.

“You challenged your competition, stereotypes, conventions, the old school way of thinking. You challenged the entire institution of golf. You challenged us. And most of all, yourself. And for that challenge we’re grateful,” it said.

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Woods also announced the end of the partnership on his X (formerly Twitter) account, with a personal thank you to Nike’s co-founder, Phil Knight, for his passion and vision that brought the Nike and Nike Golf partnership together.

“Over 27 years ago, I was fortunate to start a partnership with one of the most iconic brands in the world. The days since have been filled with so many amazing moments and memories, if I started naming them, I could go on forever,” Woods said in his statement.

He went on to acknowledge the Nike employees and athletes that he had worked with along to way, along with a hint for new projects to come.

According to Reuters, Nike signed the then-20-year-old Woods to his first five-year contract in 1996 for US$40 million. This was marked by the iconic “Hello World” commercial, in which Woods began the press conference with the line, “I guess, hello world, huh?”, CNN reported. The contract was renewed repeatedly, with the last renewal in 2013 for a 10-year pact worth a reported US$200 million.

CNN also reported that Woods signed a five-year endorsement contract with Nike in 2000, worth an estimated US$85 million.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Nike for more information.

The partnership between Nike and Woods has been closely interlinked with his golfing career. In 2019, following Woods’ fifth victory at the 2019 Masters Championship, Nike put out a video of the win on the same day. Titled “Tiger Woods: Same Dream”, the 51-second spot showed snippets of the athlete participating in the tournament, followed by a few clips of him golfing when he was younger.

"It's crazy to think a 43-year-old, who has ever experienced every high and every low and has just won his 15th major, is chasing the same dream as a three-year-old," the video said.

While some were critical of Nike for being opportunistic in capitalising on Woods’ win, industry players MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spoke to at the time saw it as a good call for brands to pre-empt sports wins and produce creatives in advance.

With that said, they also noted that brands should ensure their creatives do not look like they were pre-set, which would miss the point of being “in the moment”.

More recently, Nike was in the news for its partnership with personal care cosmetics brand, Dove, that sought to help build body confidence in girls aged 11 to 17, while empowering coaches and athletes around the world to celebrate the things active bodies can do.

The partnership brought about an online coaching programme titled “Body Coach by Dove”, including a scientifically proven set of coaching tools. The tools were developed over a two-year collaboration between Nike, world-renowned academic experts at the Centre for Appearance Research and the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport.

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