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1 May 2014

Nike Social Media: Nike’s Exceptional Social Media Campaigns

Nike Social Media Campaigns

Nike Social Media

Nike is an excellent example of a company who has successfully increased their brand exposure through a number of highly effective social media campaigns. Collected beneath are a number of these Nike social media examples, some of which tie into the brand’s huge #makeitcount initiative and their Nike+ network. However other examples include some of the brand’s viral videos and effective social media based competitions.

Nike Social Media – Fuel Your Team

This initiative was launched by Nike through their Nike+ platform. To date the Nike+ platform has amassed over six million members. In 2010 Nike began developing a series of training products which are linked digitally to the Nike+ FuelBand. Using their FuelBand users are able to accumulate “NikeFuel” points, set personal training goals or compete against other users.

During 2013 Nike ran the “Fuel Your Team” campaign, which provided users with the opportunity to show support to their local college basketball team. Support could be shown through earning NikeFuel points for a team of the participants choosing. The Nike social media campaign was accompanied by a video which can still be viewed by clicking here.

The Fuel Your Team initiative is an excellent example of Nike creating and successfully implementing a campaign which actively involves fans, as opposed to merely showering them in endless marketing messages.

Nike Social Media – Livestrong

Admittedly Nike’s Livestrong campaign may have lost some of its prestige due to the steroid induced downfall of Lance Armstrong. However Livestrong remains a good example of how Nike has used mobile devices as a means of involving consumers in their marketing campaigns.

The Nike social media Livestrong campaign was centred around printing messages and placing them on the roads surrounding the Tour De France. The “Chalkbot”, the robot which printed the messages, had been mechanically programmed to paint a combination of personalised text and online messages in yellow chalk along the route of the Tour De France as part of the Lance Armstrong Livestrong campaign. The Nike team produced an accompanying video explaining the concept of Chalkbot, this video can still be viewed by clicking here.

Once the Chalkbot had printed a message on the road it would take a picture of it and logged both the time and the GPS location of the message, before sending it back to the user. The aim of the Livestrong campaign was to generate funds for a charitable cause. Due to this, 100% of all of the money raised from the Livestrong campaign went directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

The Livestrong campaign was not only original, it was also extremely successful in generating funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. At the same time the campaign occurred, the Lance Armstrong Foundation received at 46% increase in sales. It has been announced that the Livestrong campaign successfully generated over four million dollars to help support Lance Armstrong’s fight against cancer.

Nike Social Media – Times Square billboard

Nike set up a mobile based campaign which involved an interactive billboard which was erected in Times Square, New York. The billboard provided participants with the opportunity to text in their trainer design idea for the chance to win a pair of Nike IDs. In order to participate, users had to dial the number which was displayed on the billboard, then using the phone’s keypad they were able to customise the giant shoe, displayed on the billboard.

Following this, participants were then sent a text message which contained a link enabling them to download their design as a wallpaper and participants could even purchase a pair of shoes in their design. By modern standards this campaign may seem pedestrian, however the campaign was run back in 2009. A time when the penetration of smartphones was much lower than it is today. The best bit about this campaign was that anyone could take part, as participants were not required to download an app or associated hardware. The Nike social media campaign was supported by a YouTube video which can still be viewed by clicking here.

Nike Social Media – Nike Grid

Back in 2010 Nike launched the “Nike Grid”, which transformed London into a huge virtual game board. The game board challenged the city’s runners to reach set checkpoints around the city in order to gain points. This approach created a city wide competition, Nike even provided participants with the opportunity to win virtual badges for performance in criteria ranging from speed to stamina.

The Nike Grid campaign was run via Facebook between May and October 2010. This campaign is of importance because it was one of the first times that Nike attempted to combine real world sporting performance with their digital and social media based marketing efforts. The combined participants of the Nike Grid campaign logged a total of 30, 177 individual runs. The combined distance of these runs was equivalent to a distance halfway around the world’s circumference. As with all Nike campaigns, the Nike Grid campaign was accompanied by a YouTube video which can still be viewed by clicking here.

Nike Social Media – The Chosen

Nike initially launched The Chosen campaign in 2011, however the campaign has been rerun numerous times in the subsequent years. The campaign marked a shift in Nike’s strategy from traditional mediums to social media, as the campaign was launched through Facebook. Furthermore, the accompanying video advert, which can still be viewed by clicking here, was launched through Facebook three days before it appeared on television.

The campaign focused on what Nike termed “niche” sports, these included snowboarding, BMX, surfing and skateboarding and asked participants to submit videos for each of these sports. Videos were to include “crews of bikers or boarders” and participants were actively encouraged to generate a buzz surrounding their video through their own Facebook following and on other social media networks.

The competitions judging board was comprised of a number of Nike sponsored professional athletes, who selected the overall winner who was then awarded with “The Chosen” lifestyle. The Chosen campaign is an excellent example of how a brand can utilise social media in conjunction with participant generated content, in order to create an increase in interest around their products.