"In the two years since it launched Nike+, a technology that tracks data
of every run and connects runners around the world at a Web site,
nikeplus.com, Nike has built a legion of fans. In August, for instance,
800,000 runners logged on and signed up to run a 10K race sponsored by
Nike simultaneously in 25 cities, from Chicago to São Paulo. Now the
company is testing a social network to promote its basketball shoes"
BusinessWeek
Hmm...yes, embrace social networking, but it can work both ways. I wonder if their site showed all the negative criticism over the O'Connell incident recently? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/20/BAUC13L3GQ.DTL
Posted by: Devan | November 13, 2008 at 04:20 PM
Devan, I am glad that incident ended fairly. But sports is full of personalities and fan passion and there are controversies all the time, all around the world. Nike's PR, I would suggest, is pretty savvy about what goes around events and athletes they sponsor. The payback from this customer network though has been pretty impressive while so many other companies are mortally afraid of social networks or still trying to figure out Facebook
Posted by: vinnie mirchandani | November 13, 2008 at 08:02 PM