Nike Team Pilipinas Campaign

Posted by New Media Philippines in Case Studies Aug 8th, 2009 | no responses

It looks like more and more people are getting into the Permission Marketing model. Nike recently launched their “Team Pilipinas” online campaign. The concept is very similar to Senator Villar’s Akala Mo and SMART-PLDT’s Ako Mismo. Basically you log-on to their website and you get to publish a comment on their wall. In order to post, you’ll have to give your name and e-mail address. Here’s a screenshot of the banner ad in one of the blogs I was reading.

Let me share some insights about this campaign after the break. I have a few suggestions and comments for the people behind it.

Animated Banner Ads are Slow
Animated Banner Ads can be useful, especially if you’re doing rich media executions. However, if it’s just a normal ad and you want it to look nice, don’t sacrifice function for style. If you time this ad by Nike, it will take more than 5 seconds before you reach the actual marketing message. The first part is a Philippine flag waving, then transitions to a picture of basketball players, then more players, and then finally the main copy at the end. It takes too long. Do you really believe that users will stick to find out what’s at the bottom of the rabbit hole? I don’t think so. Let’s be direct to the point and flashy at the same time. Strike a balance otherwise you’re losing a lot of potential customers.

Permission Marketing Needs Incentives
Don’t just rely on the feeling of Nationalism for users to give you their contact information, especially after the uproar caused by the Ako Mismo Campaign. Filipino Internet Users are definitely more cautious now when it comes to giving away their e-mail address and other personal information. Once you have an incentive, make sure to publicize it and include it in your marketing materials.

Too Much Clutter Kills
Here’s a screenshot of the website of Nike’s Team Pilipinas Campaign that I took:

First, let me just say that it looks really nice – however I’m not sure if in terms of function if it delivers. The thing about user generated content systems like this one is that users like to be recognized for what they say… which I don’t see in the clutter of texts in the middle. It’s just too messy to read through all of them. Also, in the lower right hand corner of the site, there’s a small copy saying “Red Shirts Left xxx/xxx”. Is that the incentive? How do we get the shirts? Where are the mechanics?

The “publish-something-in-our-wall-so-we-can-get-your-email-address” model is probably here to stay for a long time. I’m expecting to see more and more companies invest in this but what they need to realize is that it doesn’t have to be too flashy to be effective. In fact, the more you add, the less chances for your user to actually stick to the site.

Just my two cents.

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