It's estimated that 700 million watched yesterday's World Cup final.
It's also estimated that of the many marketers who associated themselves with the event that Nike came away with the most buzz and success.
Adidas was an "official" sponsor. And did well. Nike was not. But the latter enjoyed double the share of buzz associated with the world cup: 30% vs. 14%.
How did Nike do it?
HBR had some good thoughts.
Here's a quick excerpt:
"Write the Future" is, of course, an awesome idea.
First off, the launch TV was wonderfully produced.
Secondly, the web presence was engaging allowing for discovery, customization, and the potential for immediate consumer feedback.
But most notably, "Write the Future" championed something that is a grounding principle of Campaign Planning: it was a campaign idea that embraced both one-to-one media (in this case Facebook/Twitter) and mass media (in this case TV) at the same time. They worked together but they didn't need each other to convey the point and motivate people.
That's what Ford is doing.
It's also what Zappos is doing.
It's difficult to do, of course, but it seems to be working...