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Case study: Branding strategies deployed at the 2012 Games in London

The case study also highlights how often unorthodox approaches of non-sponsor brands managed to steal the show through innovative use of social media and public relation campaigns at the 2012 games in london..

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How Nike always wins gold with ambush marketing

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Adidas spent around £100 million to be the "Official Sportswear Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the London 2012 Paralympic Games." So how come, when a case study was conducted by ‘Research Now’

Adidas spent around £100 million to be the “Official Sportswear Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the London 2012 Paralympic Games.” So how come, when a case study was conducted by ‘Research Now’ and published by Forbes – which included 7200 participants from a plethora of countries – did 60% of responses state that they believed Nike was the official sponsor? That’s where Nike’s Ambush marketing comes into play and how it has done it more than once at the Olympic Games.

What is ambush marketing?

Ambush marketing is a strategy used by third parties normally at a major event in an attempt to associate themselves with the event and reap the rewards without official authorisation or sponsorship rights. While ‘Ambush’ may give negative connotations, there are laws that stop ambush marketing from stepping too far and companies from reaping too many rewards. This has led to many legal disputes, including ones involving Nike, which makes ambush marketing a high-risk high reward strategy.

Nike’s ambush marketing

Nike has a long history in Ambush marketing and has relied on the strategy for multiple Olympic games to stand out from the crowd. Here are the most notable:

Los Angles 1984:

Official sponsor Converse had the official sportswear rights for a sum of £4 million but at the games, Nike ran adverts of athletes with Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” as the soundtrack. After the games, the research found that consumers thought Nike was the official sponsor – not Converse, who was the actual official sponsor.

Barcelona 1992:

In 1992, Reebok had exclusive rights to produce warm-up outfits and other outfits for American athletes – but Nike, who wasn’t a sponsor, wanted to boycott this situation and held a sponsors’ press conference with the US basketball team. This way, it was able to attract all the attention. In addition, when Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley accepted the gold medal for basketball, they covered up the Reebok logos on their tracksuits with American flags.

Atlanta 1996:

While Reebok may have had the official rights, Nike once again had a way to get a big share of the sponsorship limelight. Nike bought an extensive amount of out-of-home advertising in the city of Atlanta. The large Nike banners on city buildings and billboards could be seen very often on the TV broadcast while a brand new Nike store was built near the Olympic village becoming a major attraction and further allowing Nike to associate itself with both the city and the Games. Michael Johnson’s gold shoes were made by Nike in an attempt to overshadow any shoe Reebok made and it worked, with the shoes now an iconic image of the games.

London 2012:

When Adidas bought the rights to be the “Official Sportswear Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the London 2012 Paralympic Games.” it was buying the rights to use phrases such as “London Olympics” and “London 2012”. But Nike had a way around this. During its “find your greatness’ advertising campaign, everyday athletes can be seen in a multitude of places named London, Such as East London in South Africa, Little London in Jamaica, London Ohio in the US and a health club called London Gym. This allowed Nike to associate itself with London without technically making any sponsorship infringements.

This example of ambush marketing did leave Nike in some legal disputes but nothing can take away its association with the Games and the 60% of people that believed it was the official partner.

Nike, always on the top step?

While other companies have tried their hand at ambush marketing, no other company has quite managed to do it quite so successfully and consistently as Nike. Its worldwide appeal and, already, huge association with sports has clearly helped it but Nike’s marketing team may deserve a gold medal just as much as its prized athletes.

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Olympics 2012: Nike plots ambush ad campaign

Nike is set to test the limits of the Olympic rules on ambush marketing, launching a global TV campaign featuring everyday athletes competing in places around the world named London.

The sports brand, which is not an official sponsor of the International Olympic Committee or the London 2012 Olympics, is to launch its "Find your Greatness" campaign in 25 countries timed to coincide with the opening ceremony on Friday.

Nike's campaign is clearly designed to cash in on Olympic fever and get one over on arch-rival Adidas, which has paid tens of millions of pounds to be an official London 2012 global sponsor.

Locations for the TV ad include East London in South Africa, Little London in Jamaica, London Ohio in the US and a health club called London Gym.

However, Nike will be expecting to skirt stringent rules on ambush marketing by making sure it does not mention the London Games explicitly or use imagery related to the Olympic rings.

Nike would not reveal how much it was spending on the campaign, which will be backed by a Twitter marketing push using the hashtag #findgreatness. But it is likely to cost tens of millions of pounds globally over the course of the London Olympics.

"The idea is to simply inspire and energise everyday athletes everywhere and to celebrate their achievements, participate and enjoy the thrill of achieving in sport at their own level," said Nike brand chief Greg Hoffman, attempting to create clear water between the US sports giant's campaign and the Olympics.

A spokesman for Nike UK said that the commercial had been thoroughly vetted by Clearcast, the body responsible for checking TV ads to try to ensure they will not break the advertising code policed by the Advertising Standards Authority.

Nike UK has also developed an extension of the global campaign which will involve outdoor and print advertising as well as a separate online film featuring London-based "everyday" athletes.

The poster campaign is comprised of nine different ads featuring athletes, from basketball and tennis to running and skateboarding, which will run in prominent sites in London including taking over all billboards in Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus and one at Old Street.

Nike's ads run with straplines including "Greatness doesn't only exist in SW19," a clear reference to Wimbledon, which is hosting the Olympic tennis tournament; "Greatness doesn't need its own anthem" and "greatness doesn't need a stadium". Press ads also will run in a number of national newspapers.

The online film has been created off the back of Nike UK's #makeitcount campaign, which launched in January and has included regular events and experiences to help everyday athletes across a range of sports improve their performance.

Nike is appealing against a ruling by the advertising watchdog banning the celebrity element of the campaign – the first UK Twitter campaign to be banned – after tweets by stars including Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere were deemed to have broken ad rules.

The TV campaign was developed by US agency Wieden & Kennedy Portland, with UK-specific elements of the campaign created by Remix Southamerica from Buenos Aires. The online film was put together by M2.

Nike has a history of gatecrashing major sporting events with ambush marketing.

In 2008 the brand ran a campaign timed to coincide with the Olympic handover from Beijing to London featuring 2012 hopefuls including basketballer Luol Deng, middle-distance runner Emily Pidgeon and sprinter Ashlee Nelson.

In 2010 Nike also ambushed official World Cup sponsors with an ad featuring flashes of the future lives of stars such as Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

It also used Africa's largest digital advertising screen on a 30-story building in Johannesburg to display fan messages over Twitter and feature its football stars.

Nike is not the only brand to try and use the "London" connection to piggyback an ad campaign on the 2012 Olympics.

On Tuesday, Olympics organisers ordered Paddy Power to take down a tongue-in-cheek billboard campaign that proclaims the Irish bookmaker as the "official sponsor of the largest athletics event in London this year".

The campaign, which is running on billboards in London and several newspapers, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to an egg and spoon race in the town of London in France.

However, the organisers say they "draw the line" at the provocative references to the Olympics. On Wednesday Paddy Power instructed a London law firm to seek an order from the high court to allow the campaign to stay up , arguing that it was not in breach of Olympic advertising rules.

Sponsors such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Adidas have paid more than £700m for the right to be officially associated with the London Olympics.

Lord Coe, the Olympic delivery chairman, sparked a sponsorship row earlier this month when he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that ticket-holders might be turned away if they wore a T-shirt with non-official sponsor branding, such as Pepsi, but that people would "probably get in with Nike trainers".

London Olympics officials later claimed he misheard the question and was talking about the clothing rules for staff.

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Branding Tactics: Nike’s 2012 Sponsorship Story

Nike’s triumph in surpassing the official title sponsor of the 2012 Olympics in marketing can be ascribed to their strategic acumen and innovative maneuvers. By harnessing the power of athlete endorsements, embracing the digital landscape, and crafting indelible campaigns, Nike adeptly captivated the attention and unwavering devotion of consumers globally.

The Power of Athlete Endorsements

Throughout its extensive history, Nike has been forming partnerships with elite athletes, and they masterfully capitalized on these alliances during the 2012 Olympics. By featuring luminaries such as Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams in their marketing endeavors, Nike forged a formidable association between their brand and the Games. This alliance enabled Nike to tap into the exhilaration and fervor enveloping the Olympics, even without official sponsorship.

These athlete endorsements not only showcased Nike’s dedication to supporting athletes but also deeply resonated with consumers who revered and aspired to emulate their beloved sports icons. Nike deftly harnessed the influence and popularity of these athletes to amplify their brand identity and establish a profound connection with their target audience.

Embracing the Digital Landscape

Recognizing the burgeoning influence of digital platforms, Nike directed its focus on harnessing social media and online channels to engage their target audience. They artfully created interactive and shareable content, fostering user participation and generating a resounding buzz around their brand.

During the 2012 Olympics, Nike’s digital marketing initiatives encompassed enthralling storytelling, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and interactive campaigns that effectively immersed consumers in the Olympic experience. By leveraging platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, Nike adroitly reached a global audience, engendering a sense of camaraderie and connectedness around their brand.

Crafting Indelible Campaigns

Nike’s marketing campaigns during the 2012 Olympics were not only visually splendid but also evocatively stirring. They wove narratives that exalted the spirit of athleticism, inspiring viewers and eliciting profound emotions. A particularly notable campaign was “Find Your Greatness,” which featured everyday individuals pushing their boundaries and attaining greatness in their unique ways. This campaign underscored Nike’s conviction that greatness extends beyond elite athletes and resides in anyone who aspires to be their best.

By crafting campaigns that deeply resonated with consumers, Nike skillfully differentiated themselves and left an enduring impact in the hearts and minds of their audience.

Overcoming Adversities

Competing with Official Sponsorship: One of the primary challenges Nike confronted was contending with the official sponsor’s far-reaching marketing rights. The official sponsor typically enjoys exclusive branding and advertising privileges, making it arduous for non-sponsors to gain visibility. However, Nike’s strategic approach enabled them to stand out and carve a distinctive presence during the Games.
Navigating Ambush Marketing Regulations: Ambush marketing refers to the practice of affiliating a brand with an event without official sponsorship. Nike had to deftly navigate the regulatory landscape surrounding ambush marketing to avoid legal repercussions while still maximizing their marketing impact. Their campaigns adroitly skirted the line between association and infringement, enabling them to generate a buzz and command the attention of consumers without transgressing legal boundaries.

Nike’s triumphant navigation of these challenges serves as a testament to the significance of strategic thinking, creativity, and a profound understanding of the target audience.

Key Insights

Nike’s triumphant outshining of the official sponsor of the 2012 Olympics in marketing imparts valuable insights for brands seeking to leave a lasting impression in fiercely competitive environments. The key takeaways from Nike’s success include:

Harnessing athlete endorsements to establish a robust association with the event.
Embracing the realm of digital marketing to engage a global audience and foster a sense of community.
Crafting indelible campaigns that stir emotions and deeply resonate with consumers.
Setting themselves apart from the official sponsor by emphasizing their unique brand identity and values.
Navigating ambush marketing regulations to maximize marketing impact while adhering to legal boundaries.

By adopting these strategies and approaches, brands can elevate their marketing endeavors and create an indelible impact on consumers.

How Nike pulled off brilliant ambush marketing in the Olympics

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

August 22, 2012 | 3 min read

Listen to article 4 min

They were one of the most prominent non-sponsors of the Olympics - yet Nike managed to hi-jack the greatest show on earth with an amazing yellow-green neon shoe.

The shoe that stole the show

The man behind the Volt Shoe was Martin Lotti. The shoe is described in an Adage cover story: "The beautifully crafted, incandescent kicks that whizzed by on the feet of 400 Olympic athletes, including USA's Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee, Great Britain's Mo Farah and France's Renaud Lavillenie."

Nike, said the mag, captured the Olympic gold in ambush marketing.

Lotti, 37, was Nike's global creative director for the Olympics . An industrial designer by education, he has been at Nike for 15 years.

Painting Nike's Flyknit shoe Volt in that vivid way , was Lotti's way of creating a kind of "Team Nike."

Previously, the brand had matched the colour of the shoe to the color of the individual athlete's uniforms. Trouble was, it blended in. This year, hundreds of athletes from different countries wore the same vivid colour

The result, said AdAge, : a wave of attention that could well end up in marketing textbooks for its simplicity and effectiveness.

"Nike's move was really clever. They used marketing assets that belonged to them alone, and those assets gave them a pretty unique opportunity to take advantage of the Olympic rules," said Kent Grayson, professor of marketing at Northwestern University.

Focus groups of amateur, college and professional athletes had been shown the shoe in different colours .

Across the board, everybody loved the Volt, Lotti revealed .

There's a scientific reason for that. "It's the most-visible colour to the human eye." said Lotti.

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Brand Police Are on the Prowl for Ambush Marketers at London Games

By David Segal

July 24, 2012

LONDON — It is one of the fiercest contests at the Olympics, but it is not on any list of events. Every two years, the International Olympic Committee and the host city battle companies that want to bask in the Games’ prestige and global exposure but have not paid the small fortune required to be an official sponsor .

Ambush marketing, as it is called, has been around for decades, and no company has practiced this dark art with more verve and success than Nike. The triumphs of the sportswear giant, and other ambushers, have compelled the I.O.C. to impose ever more stringent rules to keep corporate crashers away from the party.

No city has drafted broader and more robust rules than the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which, with an assist from the British Parliament, criminalized the most egregious ambush tactics and made lesser offenses punishable with fines of $30,000 or more.

Since those laws were passed, the London organizing committee has been accused of protecting its sponsors with excessive zeal. But a larger question has remained: Would the rules work? Would they pass the toughest test of all by keeping a dedicated ambusher like Nike on the outside?

The answer, it appears, is yes.

At 7 a.m. Eastern Wednesday, Nike is scheduled to post a 60-second ad on YouTube that marks the worldwide unveiling of a campaign called “Find Your Greatness.” The ad takes an idea that would have run afoul of the rules and cheekily turns it on its head. Instead of showing Olympic athletes in action in London, England, viewers will see unknown athletes in towns and villages called London around the world.

Two men on bikes, for instance, are shown riding in London, Nigeria. Runners in London, Ontario, are seen cooling down after a marathon. There is a shot of London, Ohio, and Little London, Jamaica, and a few other Londons, accompanied by shots of a Little League pitcher, a guy doing situps and a menagerie of other unheralded warriors.

“There are no grand celebrations here, no speeches, no bright lights,” a narrator with an English accent intones. “But there are great athletes. Somehow we’ve come to believe that greatness is reserved for the chosen few, for the superstars. The truth is, greatness is for all of us.”

If there is a subtext, it translates to: “Don’t get all worked up about the Olympics, people. What really matters won’t happen in that London, with all its pomp and medals.”

If you cannot join them, in other words, diminish them. Or needle them a little.

“The other way of putting it,” the Nike spokesman Charlie Brooks said in an interview Tuesday, “is that greatness doesn’t just happen in the stadiums of London. We’re saying that greatness can be anywhere for anyone and you can achieve it on your own terms.”

Regardless of its meaning, the campaign seems a little bizarre coming from Nike, which has perhaps done more to deify superstar athletes than any other company. But leave aside the dissonance. News that the best of the ambushers will apparently not attempt a surreptitious assault is sure to be regarded by the organizers of the London Games as evidence that the legal battlements erected in recent years are solid. Sponsors are a major source of financing for the Games’ roughly $14.4 billion price tag.

Nike’s campaign is also likely to come as a relief to its archrival Adidas, which reportedly spent about $62 million to be an Olympic sponsor.

Which is not say that Nike will be invisible here. The company sponsors the United States Olympic Committee, which means that every athlete will wear Nike gear around the village or during medal ceremonies. Nike also sponsors a number of American federations, including basketball, soccer, and track and field, so those athletes will compete in Nike clothing. Athletes of every country are allowed to use any brand of footwear they like. In short, expect to see plenty of swooshes when the competition begins.

And while Nike is abiding by the rules, a few of its sponsored athletes have already hashtagged their way into controversy. In June, the Advertising Standards Authority, a British ad watchdog, moved to censure a Twitter campaign by Nike-sponsored English soccer stars, including Wayne Rooney. One of his posts read : “My resolution — to start the year as a champion, and finish it as a champion... #makeitcount gonike.me/makeitcount.”

The standards group concluded that the post failed to make it clear that it was part of an advertisement. Nike has appealed the decision.

Athletes are prohibited from participating in any kind of advertising campaign during the Games, and federations from many countries have been reminding athletes of the rules in briefings when they arrive. But it’s hard to imagine how the I.O.C., or a country’s Olympic oversight body, would actually punish a social media offender. Stripping medals or blocking someone from competing seems an excessive punishment for a few Twitter posts.

An e-mail sent Tuesday to the I.O.C.’s press office was not returned in time for this article.

What explains Nike’s noncombatant status in the 2012 Olympics? Diplomacy might be part of it. There have been rumors that the company will be a sponsor in 2016 in Brazil — Brooks would not comment — and perhaps this does not seem like the right moment to infuriate the I.O.C.

Another explanation is simply that the rules established here, largely through acts of Parliament in 1995 and 2006, are working. It took more than two decades, but perhaps the I.O.C. is nearing its ideal of an ambush-proof Games.

“It’s fair to say that we’re conscious that anything we do should be within the guidelines,” Brooks said. “There are times when we’re sponsors of things and we expect other brands to play by the rules. Although we’ll always push the rules to the limit, we haven’t set out to break or disregard the rules that are in place.”

The most aggressive of the London rules is the one prohibiting anything that creates an association in the mind of consumers between a nonsponsor and the Olympics. That, according to experts, is a first.

“The concept of association is very wide — wider than trademark analysis, where you need to prove there is confusion or another consequence of the association,” said Adam Rendle a London lawyer at Taylor Wessing specializing in intellectual property and media. “Anything that looks like it’s attempting to free-ride on the Games, using Games imagery or anything that would create in the consumer’s mind the image of the Games, is at risk of creating an association.”

The rules can be awfully specific. Marketers could be in jeopardy if they use two of the next four words: “Games,” “two thousand and twelve,” “2012” and “twenty-twelve.” And using any one of those words in tandem with “London,” “medals,” “sponsors,” “summer,” “gold,” “silver” and “bronze” is a no-no.

This level of detail led the London authorities to pick a few well-publicized nits. A butcher in Weymouth , near a yachting competition site, was told to take down the five-ring Olympic logo he had made with images of sausage links. A lingerie seller in central England was asked to remove a display that showcased the rings using bras and mannequins as the Olympic torch passed by.

A modest backlash was inevitable.

“At my own university,” said Alan Tomlinson a professor at the University of Brighton, “because we’ve got a big sports studies program, we decided to have a series of lectures about the Games. But we couldn’t use the phrase ‘London 2012’ in the name because we would have been pounced on.”

He lamented what he called “legislatively backed brand protection” for top sponsors.

The protection is about to start. The Olympic Delivery Authority, which is responsible for, among other jobs, enforcing the branding rules during the Games, said it was dispatching 250 “specialist enforcement officers” to 28 sites. Their mission is to spot infractions and foil unsanctioned publicity stunts. That could mean interrupting giveaways or tearing down illicit advertisements.

“The enforcement officers only have powers within narrow ‘event zones’ stretching no more than 500m from venues,” wrote an Olympic authority representative in an e-mail. “While these regulations do seek to stop so-called ambush marketing, they are also there to prevent unauthorized trading near the Games venues to ensure a welcoming environment for spectators.”

Despite all these precautions and rules, other companies may go where Nike seems reluctant to tread. Nike is hardly the only ambusher — American Express, Qantas Airways and Kodak are among the many that have profited from similar stratagems over the years. Nobody, however, ambushes like Nike.

In 1996, the company executed what has been called “the ambush of all ambushes,” at the Atlanta Games, when it bought a number of billboards around event sites and built Nike Village in an office block not far from Olympic Park. It also handed out branded banners for the cheering throngs to wave in the stands. None of those moves would be possible now.

Its most recent victory came at the other quadrennial athletic extravaganza, the 2010 World Cup. For that, Nike produced “Write the Future,” a kinetic and wryly comic ad starring soccer stars from around the world, that made its debut in a three-minute version on the Internet. The ad set a record by racking up 7.9 million online views in one week, according to the Web analytics company Visible Measures.

The Nielsen Company later analyzed social media, including Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, and found that Nike wound up with 30 percent of the World Cup-related buzz. That bested Adidas, which had 14 percent — and was an official sponsor.

2012 London

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2013 SILVER OLYMPICS MARKETING UNITED STATES

Nike find your greatness, ran in: united states.

Enrico Balleri - Global Brand Comm. Director

Wieden+Kennedy *Lead Agency

Karrelle Dixon - Global Acct. Director, Nike Ryan O'Rourke - Global Creative Director, Nike Alberto Ponte - Global Creative Director, Nike Daniel Sheniak - Global Media Director, Nike Rebecca Stambanis - Global Strategy Director, Nike Sezay Altinok - Sr. Art Director Caleb Jensen - Sr. Copywriter Brock Kirby - Copywriter Sara Phillips - Art Director

Sport is more elite than ever before and Nike needed a new approach to reclaim its motivational footing, inspiring everyday people to start moving. London 2012 provided the perfect backdrop. While the world focused on the podium, Nike shone a light on the unknown millions challenging the conventions of greatness. It was the most talked about campaign during the games, driving $506m in revenue growth. Most importantly, it got people moving, increasing Nike+ membership 55%. Find Your Greatness proved that if you have a body you are indeed an athlete.

Hero Medium: TV

Medium Featured On Video: TV, Interactive, Social Networking Sites/Applications, OOH

Audience: Teens (13-20)

Objectives: Other

Type: Business to Consumer

Classification: National

Language: English

Judge Tags:

2013 Effie Awards Journal ►
Case Library
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How Nike beat Adidas in 2012 London Olympics: Nike Marketing Case Study

Nike beating Adidas in London Olympics marketing case study

Nike Marketing Case Study

if Marketing an ART of NIKE is the perfect Artist for that art. they can able to beat a brand

which is the title sponsor of Olympics as well. they are so good at marketing ln the last century.

Today’s we are going to talk about one of the greatest sports brands in the world. The story that I’m about to tell you today is the story of a brand,

that is not just an inspiration for people like you and me but also a legend like Steve Jobs.

Steve Job’s Comeback to apple in 96

in 1996 when Steve Jobs came back to Apple, Apple was crippled with losses

because of 11 consecutive years of failure, it was almost about to go bankrupt.

During this time when Steve Jobs came back to the company the biggest challenge that he faced was the reputation of the company

which had degraded to such an extent that people had completely lost faith. And that is the reason why he had to do something magical to bring the company back on track. During this time he came out with a legendary campaign called the ‘ Think Different campaign which even today is known as one of the greatest marketing campaigns ever.

And you know what people?

Think Different ‘ Campaign by Steve Jobs

This campaign brought back the trust of the common man in Apple and laid a solid foundation to such an extent that

if Apple is a trillion-dollar company it is only because of legendary campaigns like the ‘Think Different campaign. So, when I was doing a deep dive to try and understand what exactly was Steve Jobs thinking while

he was designing the ‘Think Different ‘ campaign.

I found an archived video wherein Steve Jobs is addressing his executive and he states Nike to be one

of his inspirations for the ‘Think Different campaign. And that’s when I started to think what exactly is so special about a company that sells shoes

that it was able to inspire a legend like Steve Jobs.

Today we are going to decode the historic greatness of Nike with a classic example of an Olympics

2012 London Olympics

So, the story dates back to the year 2012 when Summer Olympics was being held in London. And because the Summer Olympics was being held all the sports brands were very eager to

become the title sponsors of the Olympics because they knew that if they could become the title sponsor of the Olympics they could pump in a lot of profit. So, the auction was held and the title sponsorship went to Adidas and Nike lost its chance to become the

title sponsor to its arch-rival.

And Adidas paid $150 million just to be the title sponsor of the Olympics.

And every time we hear a figure like this, the first question that comes to our mind is what exactly is so special about the title sponsorship that you would pay $150 million just to be associated with the name of Olympics.

Vivo IPL : The Sponsership Model

And the answer to that lies in a very simple example that is very closer to our home, that is, Vivo’s title sponsorship to IPL. Now, when I understood that Vivo is going to pay Rs 2,200 crore just to get its name as ‘Vivo IPL’

I got completely shocked and that is when I looked at the growth of Vivo in 2018 and 2019 and as it turns out, in 2018 Quater 1, that is, just before the IPL started Vivo was shipping about 2.1 million units, alright? But one year later , after the IPL happened in the same in 2019 Vivo was shipping 4.5 million units. That’s a staggering growth of more than 100% in the world’s second-largest mobile market. And t his is the reason why title sponsorship of any popular sports event is a goldmine investment for any company.

Adidas Vs Nike in London Olympics War

that’s the reason why the Olympics was like a golden gateway for Adidas to get way ahead of Nike. specifically, they also sat down with the Olympics committee to try to make sure that they make such stringent rules that no other brand, let alone Nike will be able to steal their thunder by actually associating their name with the Olympics. So,

the Olympics committee came out with a bunch of strict rules and regulations that have to be followed by every single brand in such a way that they could in no way associate themselves with the Olympics and by the way, this also included a list of words which included the words

‘London Olympics’ ‘Summer Olympics’,

‘ Olympics’, ‘2012’ , ‘The rings of the Olympics’

and the list of words will go so on. So, theoretically, it was made impossible for any brand to get associated with the Olympics in any way that would steal the thunder of Adidas as a brand. So, with all of this put together everybody thought that Adidas is now going to go viral it’s going to remain at

the top of the chart because now it is the title sponsor of the Olympics.

But you know what?

The game plan of Nike

There was a slight twist in between and when the actual results came out as it turns out, while Adidas had about 9,000 tweets associating Adidas with the Olympics, there were about 16,000 tweets that associated Nike with the Olympics. Not just that, during the tenure of the Olympics that is, starting from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony Adidas added about 12,000 followers to its social media handle while Nike added 57,000 followers to its social media handle.

An American Olympic Survey

the cherry on the cake is there was a survey that was conducted in the US wherein people were asked ‘Who do you exactly think is the title sponsor of the Olympics?’

21% of those people thought that Adidas is the title sponsor of the Olympics BUT 37% of the people identified Nike to be the title sponsor of the Olympics. Which means what? Millions and millions of people were thinking that Nike was the title sponsor of the Olympics and not Adidas!

So, the question is without being the title sponsor of the Olympics; without spending $150 million; without even using the keywords to associate yourself with the Olympics; How is it even practically possible for a brand to acquire more publicity than the real title sponsor? And that’s where the legendary strategy of Nike comes into play.

Nike Marketing stratgy for london olympics

So, the first thing that they understood was regardless of how complex the system is, there will always be a loophole. And they found 3 loopholes.

1 Loophole : Yellow-Green Coloured Shoes

The first loophole that they found was regardless of whoever is the title sponsor of the Olympics the athletes were

free to choose whichever shoe they wanted. that is the reason why Nike hired 400 Olympians to be its brand ambassador and

just asked them to wear the Nike shoe that they were given

Nike came in front with a quirky line of shoes which was named Volt wherein they distributed

yellow-green coloured shoes to the athletes to be worn during their matches. the reason why they specifically chose the yellow-green lineup was that the colour was in

the perfect contrast to the tracks of the Olympics.

2nd Loophole: London Commercials

that they found was in this rule which prohibited Nike from showcasing the London of UK in their commercials. But you know what? The loophole here is that there are 28 other locations in this world which are named London except for the London of UK. So, Nike shot their commercials in all other Londons except for London in the UK. So, the commercials were shot in

London in Ohio,

Little London in Jamaica, the London Hotel, the London Gym, Small London in Nigeria, even the London Road. And very smartly Nike was able to place the word ‘London’ in all of its commercials, legally.

3rd Loophole: Brand Endorsement.

And third and most importantly and here’s where the sweet spot is. Usually, if you look at these Nike and Adidas commercials you will see all the celebrities endorsing the brand but when it comes to Nike, for the Olympics, they were not allowed to use Olympians for endorsement. So, while Adidas was flaunting all of its commercials by hiring all of these Olympians to be its brand ambassador Nike decided to hire average teenagers as ambassadors for its brand endorsement. I repeat while Adidas had Olympians Nike hired average teenagers who were not known to anybody as ambassadors to endorse its brand. And came out with a beautiful masterpiece that broke the Internet.

And this is what the commercial looked like.

Decoding Iconic Nike Marketing Commercial

Now, if you looked at that commercial closely, you must have realized that just like Coca-Cola leveraged the emotion of happiness to communicate its idea Nike leverages the emotion of inspiration to communicate its idea.

In both cases, both these brands are trying to give you an involuntary experience of their commercial.

if you look at Nike’s commercial even more closely, you will see that they don’t want to talk about Usain Bolt. They want to talk about the Usain Bolt spirit within every single individual like you and like me.

if you are somebody who is pushing your limits every single day to become a better version of yourself that Nike commercial is depicting your own story.

And because Nike managed to strike a chord with local champions it was able to go trending and Nike was trending number one on YouTube one week after the Olympics started with 4.5 million views. As compared to that, Adidas was at number three with only 2.9 million views. that’s how without being the title sponsor, without paying $150 million and without actually using the banned keywords Nike managed to steal the thunder from Adidas and emerged as a champion in this marketing war.

NIKE Marketing Campaign Lessons

From this iconic marketing campaign by Nike as we are students of business and marketers and future entrepreneurs we need to take a few lessons Now, we’ve got 3 very important lessons to learn from this entire case study. here it goes :

Nike :Extra efforts to be an extraordinary Brand

Number one,

do you realize that even if Nike had not tried so hard if the Olympics happened without Nike coming out with its ‘Find Your Greatness’ commercial people would still remember Nike, right?

Nike wouldn’t be forgotten and yet Nike put in these extra efforts to come out with a beautiful commercial to beat Adidas despite all odds. And that is because Nike, as a brand, realizes that the only difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. In this case, it’s Nike’s efforts to emerge as a legend despite all odds.

Nike : Being A Champion

Number two, people might forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel and

Nike’s commercial is a classic depiction of this quote.

if you pick up some work to do, just make sure that it’s remarkable. Because in this world 99% of the people are good but 1% is great and that is only because they choose to be great. Because every single champion today understands that good is imperative but greatness is always, always a choice.

Greatness is for everyone

last and most importantly, like the legend says ‘Somehow we have come to believe that greatness is meant only for a chosen few that greatness is only meant for the superstar but the truth is- greatness is for everyone.

It’s not about lowering the expectation but about raising it for each one of us because greatness is not in one special person or one special place greatness is wherever somebody is trying to find it.

So, my dear friend, my question to you is What are you doing to find your greatness?

Reference: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/10/nikes-ads-inspired-steve-jobs-for-apples-think-different-campaign.html

About The Author

Rahul Chakrapani

മാൽബറോ ബ്രാൻഡ് ഒരു നൂറ്റാണ്ടു കണ്ട മാർക്കറ്റിങ് വിപ്ലവം; മാർക്കറ്റിംഗ് കേസ് സ്റ്റഡി

Johnnie Walker 200 Year Old Spirit Brand! Keep walking Marketing Case Study

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how-facebook-become-big-company-case-study

How Facebook Become a Big Company Business Case Study

Nike Find Your Greatness Campaign

2018, Nike Find Your Greatness Campaign

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