After an early look at Nike’s Find Your Greatness campaign, which I blogged about last week, it appears the sporting giant has once again upped the ante with its ‘almost ambush’ marketing. Again, nothing breaks the rules – but it does sail close to the wind.
Nike has done a good job at getting its name out across London right now. The most visible parts of this are the digital posters on the tube referring to the Olympics, but – at the same time, cleverly not referring to them (ie. ‘Greatness doesn’t only exist in SW19’). These follow on from the launch of the ‘Greatness’ TV ad two weeks ago.
Since then Nike has been hard at work, with quick turn-around campaign creation. It was only a matter of days after Paula Radcliff pulled out of the Olympic marathon before we saw Nike’s #LegendsRunForever campaign, starring “the world’s greatest female distance runner”. It was terrible to hear of Paula’s injury which would rule her out of the race, but Nike jumped on the opportunity to use her right away, as it meant she was no longer associated with the Olympics. Nike quickly launched a campaign that will see all Nike+ running mileage dedicated to Paula, creating a wealth of positive brand discussion, as highlighted in Brandwatch.
Nike’s running arm takes things a step further by cheekily placing itself in the centre of Clapham Common, with its very own Fuel Station. The pop-up shop follows the successful launch of its first ever fuel station in Boxpark, London. It also acts as a workout station and most of all, brilliant publicity generator captures the attention of many, yet makes sure it doesn’t refer to the Olympics in any way. Selling products from the Nike range and using athletes, including former gold medalist Shawn Johnson, to host workout classes, ensures it reaches masses on Twitter and social networking sites. And research shows Nike still leads the way on social mentions, with almost 33% more coverage than Adidas.
The Royal Mail, not a sponsor of the Olympics, but the postal service of the nation, is also getting involved. As the postal service is owned by the government, its involvement is not brought in to question in the same way as other brands, and as a result, has capitalised on the Olympics with some great marketing.
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| Dunblane's golden postbox, with a photo via Andy Murray's mum, @judmoo |
A commemorative stamp is created with each gold medal won by Team GB, celebrating their achievement and featuring a photo of the winner. The speed of the availability is exceptional, with stamps going on sale the day after a gold medal is won. If that wasn’t enough, post boxes in the hometown of each winner are being painted gold, so locals can celebrate closer to home. Royal Mail has even launched a map to make it easier to find the golden boxes. Rumour has it, our very own MD, Steve, will be making a special trip to Andy Murray’s commemorative box in his hometown of Dunblane.
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| The Burger King Olympic hijack ad - via AdAge |
Moving slightly further afield, McDonald’s has been getting a tad angry with Burger King in Brazil, for what seems to be an obvious piece of ambush marketing. The local promotion offers double fries on days after Brazil win a gold medal during the games. The major giveaway, and where Burger King is likely to fall foul of IOC, is its use of the words gold, silver and bronze, oh and the small matter of the campaigns image bearing a striking resemblance to the Olympic Torch. Nice attempt Burger King.
From Insight Executive Mark Stuart @MisterMumble #YomegoSocial