Nike: THE LIVEBOARD

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Special Events and Stunt/Live Advertising

Advertiser: NIKE

Product/Service: NIKE SPORTSWEAR / WORLD CUP ACTIVITY

Agency: US

Date of First Appearance: May 24 2010

Entrant Company: US, Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Executive Creative Director: Josh Moore

Creative Director/Art Director: Chad Mackenzie

Creative: David Roberts

Producer: Corinne Porter

Account Director: Joel Frost

Account Manager: Stefanie Hubel

Nike Brand Manager - Football & Running: Tim Wood (Nike)

Media placement: Outdoor - Sports stadium screen - Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Australia - 24th May 2010



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

NIKE’s global Write the Future campaign failed to feature Australian footballers and in turn was failing to resonate with Aussies. We were tasked with coming up with a ‘moment in time’ creative idea that captured the imaginations of diehard local fans.



We also had to recruit local fans to NIKE Football Facebook AU/NZ and increase visits to the website in the lead up to the World Cup.



Our insight stemmed from the Write The Future concept: that a player’s actions on the field can change their fate forever. Instead of a film spot depicting players in a fictional match, we wanted to show the ripple effects during a real match. Our idea was to write the future live at the Socceroos farewell match before the World Cup.



Creative Execution

We identified the one opportunity to target 55,659 diehard fans and invented a new media format to capture their imaginations. Our idea was use a stadium billboard in a way that hadn’t been done before at Australia’s farewell match before the World Cup.



When a player created a moment on the field, the creative team (who were sitting live in the stadium) wrote a future news headline inspired by the moment and uploaded it directly to the Liveboard. While the scoreboard reported on the moment, the Liveboard showed the ripple effect. These satirical news headlines were edited and updated live throughout the match as the action unfolded. It was live response creative that interacted with the match and the crowd.



NB: Please see case study video for the match highlights and our flash forward news headlines.



Results and Effectiveness

The Liveboard engaged with the 55,659 crowd for the full match. It was discussed on fan forums and helped Nike become the brand “of the moment” for Australia’s diehard fans. The Liveboard gave local meaning to the global campaign, with over 57,000 new fans joining NIKE Football’s AU/NZ Facebook. There were also 202,348 unique visits to nikefootball.com (May - July). And for the first time, NIKE became the #1 brand associated with the World Cup in Australia (despite not being an official sponsor).



We also achieved our most important objective: Australia won 2-1 with the last kick of the game!