NIKEiD “Show Your Colors”

NIKEiD “Show Your Colors”

Nike, Gannett Company, Inc.

Discovery

To attract tomorrow’s athlete, Nike expanded their core target younger to include 12-17 year olds. To reach this elusive teen online, Nike wanted to promote the “build your own shoe” functionality of NIKEiD.com on HighSchoolSports.net.

To engage with them, Billups Design focused on key audience insights. Today teens:

  • share a need for self-expression
  • look to their peers for recognition and approval
  • socially interact online with expertise and high UI standards

And especially important for HighSchoolSports.net, teen athletes are members of “school team tribes” with mascot and school color “badges.”

Design

To tap into these motivations, Billups Design leveraged the site’s powerful database of 18,000 high schools to create The NIKEiD "Show Your Colors" Contest. The contest set up a "School vs. School" and "Shoe vs. Shoe" online rivalry and let teens:

  • use the NIKEiD Shoe Builder to pick a Nike SKU and create their own personal design
  • upload it to their school’s “SYC” page for peer review
  • recognize great designs by casting votes for their favorite

The four most popular designs would win NIKEiD gear for each designer and their chosen school team.

To drive awareness and clicks, Billups Design created dynamic "DESIGN. VOTE. WIN" ads and "Show Your Pride" school pages that pulled unique mascot names and colors. And collaborating with Nike's digital agency R/GA, Billups Design built an exciting online experience that integrated the NIKEiD shoe builder (HighSchoolSports.net was the first 3rd party site with secure access to Nike servers) with school "tribes" across the country.

Delivery

How did this colorful battle of teen “tribes” turn out?

The NIKEiD "Show Your Colors" Contest created a splash on HighSchoolSports.net for 45 days.

It generated:

  • over 2000 shoe designs and contest entries
  • over 65% of entries from teens
  • over 200,000 votes for favorite designs
  • And Billups Design's code enabled Nike to view popularity of each shoe.

Recognition

  • The Communicator Awards 2010 - Silver Medal of Distinction in Interactive Media.

  • Interactive Media Award Outstanding Achievement in Web Site Development 2009

  • Creativity International Awards 2010 - Silver Award for overall Web Site Design and Devleopment