How Nike and Juve’s CR7 are crushing it on the gram — A match made in heaven between a super brand and its super influencer.

Nike is the biggest sports brand in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest footballer of all time, and Instagram is fastly becoming the most popular platform for promoting branded content. Bring all three together and what you get is a wonderful series of short stories about believing in yourself narrated by one of the greatest athletes of the modern era.

Yesterday Ronaldo made yet another monumental move in his career by ending his nine year spell with Spanish footballing giants Real Madrid and signing with Italian top boys Juventus. His accolades while at Madrid are unparalleled and will remain unforgettable for generations to come.

The GOAT had the following to say to his Madrid’s fans on his way out;

“These years in Real Madrid, and in this city of Madrid, have been possibly the happiest of my life.

I only have feelings of enormous gratitude for this club, for its fans and for this city. I can only thank all of them for the love and affection I have received.

However, I believe that the time has come to open a new stage in my life and that is why I have asked the club to accept transferring me. I feel that way and I ask everyone, and especially our fans, to please understand me.

They have been absolutely wonderful for nine years. They have been nine unique years. It has been an emotional time for me, full of consideration but also hard because Real Madrid is of the highest demands, but I know very well that I will never forget that I have enjoyed football here in a unique way.

I have had fabulous team-mates on the field and in the dressing room, I have felt the warmth of an incredible crowd and together we have won three Championships in a row and four Championships in five years. And with them also, on an individual level, I have the satisfaction of having won four Gold Balls and three Gold Boots. All during my time in this immense and extraordinary club.

Real Madrid has conquered my heart, and that of my family, and that is why more than ever I want to say thank you: thanks to the club, the President, the directors, my colleagues, all the technical staff, doctors, physios and incredible workers that make everything work, that tirelessly pursue every minute detail.

Thank you infinitely once more to our fans and thanks also to Spanish Football. During these nine exciting years I have played against great players. My respect and my recognition for all of them.

I have reflected a lot and I know that the time has come for a new cycle. I’m leaving but this shirt, this badge and the Santiago Bernabeu but they will continue to always feel part of me wherever I am.

Thanks to all and, of course, as I said that first time in our stadium nine years ago: Go Madrid!”

Since the beginning of his career, Ronaldo has always been endorsed by Nike and is one of the few players signed to the brand that got his own personally branded collection of goods under his CR7 moniker.

Nike are the second most popular brand on Instagram after Natgeo and have been game changers in the practice of digital brand communications since its genesis. Growing up I always used to look forward to watching the latest Nike ads on TV because they always used the best athletes, and shot the ads with really high quality production. Nothing has changed over the years and Nike has only got better at telling even more inspiring stories. It shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone that Cristiano is the poster boy for most of Nike’s communications because he has been the man of the moment for the past few years. For Ronaldo, his motivation comes from conquering the doubt that sometimes creeps into his subconscious at defining moments in his career and that is what Nike wanted to share in their latest Instagram campaign. It’s a really simple series of stories about doing something that is sometimes easier said than most of us can do, TO JUST BELIEVE!

Nike has several Instagram accounts among which is their main account for allround sporting content and then more specifc sports related accounts like @NikeFootball which has its own fair share of followers. From my observation of the brands digital content strategy on the gram it seems like the main account is where the bulk of all the inspirational video content is shared and the more specific sub accounts is where products are overtly promoted. Similarly to Nike, Ronaldo is a mega personal brand on the gram and eclispses the likes of Kim Kardashian and Beyonce in terms popularity by number of followers. In the mix of Ronaldo’s personal pictures on his feed is a healthy blend of sponsored content from a variety of brands that he has partnered up with,including Nike. Nike are very proactive in advertising their goods on his feed under Instagram’s branded content policy.

Sometime last year Instagram introduced a new feature to promote transparency of commercial content on the platform by creating their branded content tools for businesses and influencers to make their partnerships more visible. The feature isn’t universally accessible to every user on the gram as yet but has been regularly used by elite brands like Nike and Cristiano. It’s plain to see that storytelling and obvious selling have been used in tandem here but no one has yet to complain because they seem to have found the right balance of when to inspire their followers and when to ask them to take action.