166. Ad of the Week: Nike Zoom China.
May 7, 2008 at 07:46PM
jj

zoom.jpgHere’s a great use of technology that makes advertising a participation sport. The Nike Zoom campaign, by MindShare China, fitted billboards with a shoe display that was equipped in each city (Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou) to send a Bluetooth signal aimed at nearby mobile phone users. When people approached the billboard, they received short-range signals on their activated mobiles to start a virtual stopwatch. Then they received a message to run to the nearest designated Nike store as fast as they could, where a second Bluetooth signal stopped the stopwatch and recorded their time. Every day, for the length of the promotion, the store gave away one different pair of running shoes for the fastest athlete. This is the kind of marketing that I like – it’s participatory and immersive. Though, I wonder how many innocent pedestrians were knocked to the sidewalk during this time? You can check out the Nike site (via a direct link to the .swf file.) It’s in simplified Chinese characters, but take a look around and be sure to check out the videos by clicking the bottom right navigation button. This concept won Campaign of the Year at The Venice Festival of Media - which, in full disclosure, I never even knew existed. (Photos via Nike's Site.)

1. User activates his/her phone.

zoom1.jpg 

2. Bluetooth message starts a timer.

zoom2.jpg 

3. Hold up your shorts as you run to the closest NIKE store.

zoom3.jpg 

4. Compare your time to others throughout the day.

zoom4.jpg

 


 

Article originally appeared on Graphicology (http://www.graphicology.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.