In a brilliant combination of marketing insight and Internet-savvy, Nike and Google have teamed up to create a social networking site for soccer enthusiasts around the world: Joga.com. According to an article in BusinessWeek, Joga.com is a free network where members will be able to create Web sites and send e-mail, photos and video clips, as well as access Nike content.
One of the
most intriguing aspects of the site is its “by invitation only” member
enrollment program. While it’s not clear
whether this is a strategic decision or merely a mechanism to gate traffic flow
during the early days of the site, it will be interesting to observe its impact
on the development of the community.
Based on
the statements in the BusinessWeek article, Nike clearly understands the
challenges and sensibilities of corporate-sponsored consumer generated
media. Trevor Edwards, Nike’s vice
president for global brand management explains:
"It has to be of the people and
authentic and credible," Edwards says. "It's a self-governing
community. Our job is to feed it, help it start, but then they'll fuel it. It's
a long-term way of connecting with consumers."
It’s
exciting to see big, mass market driven brands embrace the new world
order. Clearly Edwards and his
colleagues at Nike get it. It will be
interesting to see who’s next on the social networking hit parade. To quote Edwards:
"Our job is to reinvent the way
that we connect with consumers," Edwards says. "We have to make sure
we stay in their world, stay connected, stay relevant, and, more importantly,
we allow them to do what they want. It's their world, their lives. We give them
the tools."
Just do it, Nike!
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