I was reading the Google Barometer last week and had a look at the “Planners Favourite” award, as judged by David Benson from ZenithOptimedia. Great insights into 3 campaigns – Nike Five, Wolverine film launch (from 20th century fox) and Sony Playstation’s Little Big Planet.
His insights start with Nike, and a note on how they leverage their stars into great events, taking new twists on old methods (possibly reference to the ladder system adopted in the tournament). He then goes onto the content – “Large amounts of average footage, shot in the mandatory “urban” grainy style, draw a few comments and the odd flame but little continuity. It feels strewn across the Internet existing in YouTube and on Nike.com without either seeming like its true home.”
I’d say the part about Youtube & Nike.com is probably true, which one is the true home? However, that could be said about any campaign which uses a brand site alongside a Youtube channel – the fact is, who needs a “True home” when Web 2.0 (or even 3.0) allows people to consume content in any way they choose? I think the need for a “True home” is obsolete, especially when it comes to content.
He also thinks there’s little continuity to the “average content”. A simple look at the content shows how it’s split out – Each region has one film in the local heats. Then each region has one film at their City Final. Wow. Maybe Nike should have numbered them, for Dave.
Onto Wolverine. He appreciates the difficulty of launching films, as you need to generate all the buzz and excitement in about 1 week, and he liked the way they avoided the use of “endless sneak peaks, Easter eggs and a Wolverine app”. So what did they do? “The biggest Youtube Homepage takeover ever”.
To me, I always wonder about the point of doing “clever” campaigns to launch films. You’re either excited about Wolverine being released (i.e. you watched 1 of 3 X-men films), or you’re not. There’s some floating voters in the middle, who might be holding back their £9 for the Star Trek release, but I’m not sure how, what is effectively a trailer, will persuade someone to go and watch the film (over something else they’ve chosen to see). Seems like simple reach to me. Good use of research though, as to whether these things actually work is another issue.
Onto Little Big Planet, the eventual winner. I’m puzzled as to what he likes about this campaign. It’s a “contest” in it’s truest form – enter the video of your custom level (a feature which is embedded into the game), and you win a trip to somewhere in the world. Genius. You see, it’s called Little Big Planet….
To me this campaign taps into what’s already there with people – a passion about gaming and a willingness to talk and share their gaming prowess / skills. People do this already, I’ve worked on enough gaming launches to know that. Offering a platform on which to do this is commendable, but not ground breaking.
Dave says LBP was a “quiet revolution in gaming”. Was it? The google barometer said LBP was backed by a “considerable marketing push”. It was everywhere – they must have spent millions, and good on them. Sackboy was pretty much made into a celebrity in his own right. The aim of the campaign was to prolong the sales curve, hence why they created the contest to run a few months after launch. However – does this prolong the sales curve? It seems to appeal to people who own the game already – so surely it must rely on creating amazing videos that will entice the non-LBP fan to go out and buy the game? Erm, it doesn’t. The entries are dull, as you would imagine! And the people who comment are owners of the game, appreciating the complexity of these levels from the people who created them. A great thing to have, but not fulfilling the sales curve objective in my eyes. More enhancing the community aspect of the game.
My very last point is Dave’s last point – and I quote – “15,000 subscribers vs. the mighty Nike’s 10,000 says it all”.
Nike increased their subscriber base from 6,000 (in Feb) to 10,000 (in May) by – again, in my opinion – creating engaging, short form content which followed a continuous story following an event. They created a Video Masher for users to cut their own highlights, and created an online appointment to view – true innovators of the online world, and something people sign up to (both literally and from a brand pov).
Little Big Planet took their subsciber base from Zero (in Feb) to 15,000 by around April, by – incentivising users to subscribe by offering a T-shirt and a Sackboy toy? Wow, that’s genius! A bribe.
What do I think will happen? I think Nikefootball will continue to grow as a channel, by providing a constant stream of content, not based on campaigns or competitions, but as a brand that always has something to say. Content always wins.
