How I Just Did It

It all began with Tiger Woods' improbable chip on the 16th green at the Masters. I watched as the ball came to a complete stop on the edge of the hole—Nike branding clearly evident—and then, as if swayed by some invisible force (by the swoosh itself?), fell, Caddyshack-style, into the cup. Many people thought the same thing at the same time: That would make a great ad. But I did something about it. With some minor editing, I created and uploaded two versions of an "ad" to my blog (www.jaffejuice.com, where you can still view it). More than 125,000 people watched it—and that's just the number immediately measurable. In my upcoming book, Life After the 30-Second Spot, I devote chapters to the phenomena of "communal marketing" and "consumer-generated content." I cite many intriguing examples, but I never thought I'd add one more to the mix—my own.Putting on my consumer hat: I did this because I could. I had the tools. I had the technology. I had the creative means and media ends. The production cost was zero. The media cost was zero. The time to produce and distribute was less than an hour.Fortunately for Nike and Wieden + Kennedy, this particular amateur knew a thing or two about branding and advertising. Might they have been as lucky with another consumer? I believe so. I believe consumers understand the brands they live, experience, internalize and consume, perhaps better than we give them credit for. This is a new marketing reality, and whether you realize it or not, it's exactly the "shot" in the arm that's needed to inject some life, credibility and authenticity into the ailing advertising industry. Rights issues aside (to date, I have received no cease-and-desists from Nike, CBS or Augusta National), my homage to Nike raised what I believe to be some critical questions for every marketing and advertising professional: 1. How should brands respond to consumer expression? Neither Nike nor Wieden publicly acknowledged my work or contacted me. Their silence is an implied endorsement, but should they have done more? Many have said Nike should put my ad on the air. Think about the unbelievable publicity and goodwill that would be generated by a caption along the lines of, "This was created by one of our own consumers." But would it open up Pandora's box of consumer-generated creativity and content? 2. What does consumer- generated content herald for ad agencies? An agency recently asked me how they should wrap their hands around consumer-generated content. I told them, "In one word, don't." Actually, I take that back with a slight revision. Wrap your hands around consumers: Embrace them, hire them, stick them in a lab and dissect their brains if you have to. George Masters (the other Masters) is a schoolteacher who created a pretty sublime iPod ad. His ad should be on the air; he should be freelancing for Apple or TBWA\Chiat\Day; instead, he is struggling to pay server charges due to the excessive interest and downloads. Whatever you do, don't diss or dismiss consumer expression. Sweep it under the rug and you will eventually trip on it and break your neck. With consumers as willing participants in the creation process, everybody wins. It's an open invitation to conduct the world's first focus group without bias. 3. Timing is everything. Brands need to be both opportunistic and nimble to keep pace with today's consumer. In this day and age, in this infested, fermented, cluttered environment, marketers simply cannot miss out on these moments of truth. The stakes are too high. Did Nike and its ad agency move too slowly? The official response took roughly two weeks to launch and came in the form of a predictable and rather esoteric 30-second spot: "We gave you a wedge with more feel. You showed us what it could do. We gave you a ball with more control. And you didn't center the logo?" It was doomed to cable and niche golf programming. A rare opportunity to play to the masses passed like a ship in the night. The "real" Nike ad used essentially the same treatment as my effort, so why did it take three weeks when mine took 30 minutes?4. One viral does not deserve another. Almost two weeks after my ad "aired," a Web site popped up—www.howdiditgoin.com—with corporate viral play tattooed to its cyber-forehead. The site featured a slew of videos that offered outlandish theories on how the ball dropped into the cup. No one knows for sure if Nike was behind this, but it was telegraphed a mile away, and worse, it was off brand! Associating Nike with a natural, unedited and unscripted moment? Priceless. Associating it with farts, excrement and obese women on treadmills? Confusing at best. Detrimental at worst. 5. Brands as enablers. Although my ad was intentionally created as a :30, I would strongly contend that any similarities with the ailing 30-second spot ended there. Instead of going back to the tried and tested, Nike could have played a profoundly enabling role—using games, mobile phones, interactive re-enactments, VOD, TiVo showcases, etc.—to immortalize the moment and bring it to the masses. After all, many people saw the shot for the first time on my blog. 6. Luck is anything but. The 30-second safety blanket and the backfiring viral aside, this remains a moment to celebrate. Nike put itself in a position to win. Its sponsorship of Tiger Woods paid off big time. (Initial calculations from all the replays that night alone were already in excess of $1 million.) As my fellow countryman Gary Player once said, "The more I practice, the luckier I get." To marketers fidgeting in line to get their Martha Stewart moment in the Apprentice sun, pay careful attention: The Nike brand practices hard, and its so-called luck was a predictable and guaranteed byproduct.

Brand Marketing

How I Just Did It

Adweek Staff

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