Many athletes have saved Nike ads for motivation. I did. This campaign offers motivation to anyone who wants it. Forget ads, this establishes one-to-one communication between Nike and athletes who want Nike to talk to them. Athletes enter some basic information about themselves, what they need motivation for, and in what ways they can be contacted. In return, they get text messages, phone calls, ringtones, voicemail greetings, screensavers, instant messages, letters, posters, and perhaps even an actual visit from “the helper.” The Helper is a character that appears in the TV spot to promote this service. We will use the helper in digital, outdoor, and other media as the person who will motivate people to reach their athletic goals.
Examples:
Screensaver: Tennis player named Dan downloads a screensaver of Nike tennis players holding up signs saying “Go Dan, Go!”
IM: The Helper detects when you are online and occasionally chats with you. “What are you doing chatting…you’d better grab a ball and go shoot some free throws.”
Telephone: You can call The Helper. The person answering identifies themselves as “The Helper’s Helper”. If you opt-in, The Helper will leave you occasional voicemails relaying messages of encouragement from the future you or reminding you, for example, that your competition is training even though it is raining today. Also, the user can nominate other helpers (his or her friends and family) to help. They can record messages that will be sent to the user.
Ringtone: LeBron James telling you the competition is calling so you'd better get ready.
Text message: “Hey buddy it’s Dan Brown, your rival from the West Linn High School track team. Just wanted to let you know that I ran 10 miles this morning and now I’m at the track where I’m about to do some interval training. See you at districts.”
Outdoor: The Helper will appear in unexpected places, reminding people that he’s ‘always watching.’ For example, a mannequin of The Helper will appear in department store windows.
In-person/viral/outdoor: For a few randomly selected, urban-dwelling participants, posters will be put up near their apartments. For example, “New Yorkers: Please cheer when Eric Oishi runs by you” and big outdoor boards that say “Go Eric, go!”. We will film The Helper and crowds of people who line the last part of Eric’s training route to cheer him on, unexpectedly.
Also, Paula Radcliffe or Lance Armstrong can show up randomly to go join someone for a training run. The moment is captured on video and put on the web.
TV: We create tv spots for one person to run in local markets. The ad will motivate someone to continue training and publicly state their stated training goal. Instead of the usual celebrity athletes in Nike ads, we make an average athlete famous in the same way.