The company famous for telling us to “Just Do It!”…Nike– just did it! Just before the World Cup they released the spot shown below in the video. It’s fine storytelling for World Cup lovers in a nicely packaged five-minute sports Youtube video.
A one-minute teaser clip was released, helping to drive traffic to the longer version. At the time of this writing, more than 76 million viewers have watched the “Nike Football Winner Stays” match that shows World Cup athletes willing to “Risk Everything” for the game.
The brand journalism video features Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerard Pique, Tim Howard, and more.
When you watch the video it’s obvious what makes this storytelling and match compelling. For sports brand journalism this is on spot. Evoking interest, anticipation of the World Cup, and setting it on a backdrop that excites and creates a call to action, all while showing the branded Nike gear.
In the “about” section of the Youtube page, the company cleverly hashtags #RiskEverything. A quick discovery search for #RiskEverything reveals tons of branded content, helping to pull consumers further into the Nike world and challenging consumers to, of course, “Just Do It!”.
The campaign works on many levels; how can other companies do this? Let’s talk about a few of the things that can translate to helping a business get started with sports brand journalism. Many might not have a budget equal to Nike. That shouldn’t prohibit the company from getting started.
If you’re a brand journalism or public relations agency, you can help guide them through the process and with today’s reduced barrier to entry (due to technology costing considerably less), creating brand content like this is much less expensive.
Whether it’s a fully scripted show (in this case, a match) or a more on-the-fly approach, storytelling is important. Brand journalism is about crafting a message that lets consumers receive information that helps them make choices about products, services, brands, and companies. Whether the content is entertaining, emotional, newsworthy, and/or based on influencing via testimonials and celebrities, it’s about sharing relevant messages about the brand.
Advertising has drastically changed. Brand journalism is the storytelling approach to delivering messages to consumers that were once only conveyed in short 30-second ads or jingles. Today, that’s not enough.
Studies show that companies who actually develop relationships with their consumers have a huge advantage. A 2009 telephone study of 1,000 Americans by GfK Custom Research found that custom publications (such as brand journalism magazines) strengthened the relationship with that company for 78 percent of the respondents.
Companies that infiltrated their way into the consumer’s life were able to create trust and, according to the study, the brand journalism content being produced by these companies enabled the majority of respondents (68 percent) to “make better purchase decisions.”
Here is a five-step strategy to build a sports brand journalism campaign.
1. Produce a story that showcases the sport and invites discussion. If it’s sports apparel such as in the promotional video (above) for a local San Diego company, include a few testimonials to draw attention to the benefits of the clothing. Make the viewers want to try the clothing themselves. If there is a physical store, play a loop of the video(s) in the retail outlet.
2. Pick a handful of loyal customers and provide them with apparel in exchange for their social media or word-of-mouth dissemination of information on the brand. Ask for reviews, photos, customer video blog posts. The members of this initial “A-Team” will help the company build its social media spark via these brand ambassadors.
3. Add a hashtag in all your marketing materials that is associated with this specific conversation. Invite more consumers to snap a photo wearing their favorite apparel by the company and hashtag or post to Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and other social platforms to become part of the company’s “A-Team” consumers. Ask them to share their experiences with the brand. Encourage creative and genuine stories.
4. Reward these “A-Team” contributors by hosting a promotional contest and picking winners from those “liking” the companies Facebook page and other social platforms.
5. Develop newsletters and highlight some of the “A-Team” consumer stories.
To see the return on investment with a campaign like this, create quality content, seek enthusiastic brand ambassadors, make your storytelling interesting, promote, and engage conversations. Relationships are built through communication. If you don’t talk, you don’t have a quality relationship. Finally, “Just Do It!” Start your brand journalism campaign now and be a thought leader in today’s consumer marketplace.
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You’ll learn:
–how to craft brand journalism content
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Phoebe Chongchua is a multimedia Brand Journalist who teaches: Think Like A Journalist, To Increase Your Bottom Line. She is also the Host of The Brand Journalism Advantage Podcast which features interviews with thought leaders from around the globe on marketing, brand journalism, and entrepreneurship. After 15 years in TV News as an Anchor/Reporter, Phoebe founded PCIN.TV. The Internet TV Station airs video stories from her online publications: Live Fit Magazine and The Plant-Based Diet as well as curates content from other sources. As a brand storyteller, Phoebe produces business videos, articles, and photos to engage consumers and create brand evangelists. Learn more:TheBrandJournalismAdvantage.com
Contact Phoebe to get started on your Brand Strategy.
