Nike leveraged micro-blog Sina Weibo to capture the spirit of the Games

Besides the massive success in building the local running culture (Nike Running Club) mainly through WeChat in China.  During the Rio Olympics, Nike leveraged micro-blog Sina Weibo to capture the spirit of the Games.

Nike recently launched a full-screen interactive advertisement on Weibo’s login page, attracting Weibo users to watch their latest commercial and visit their Weibo account. Through this format on Weibo, the digital engagement proved natural and interactive.

GIF poster to spike curiosity

Nike uses Weibo login page as the main entrance. It starts with a Nike visual GIF poster, which is exposed to millions of Weibo users when they log in the app on their phones. Compared with the previous static boot screen, the GIF poster substantially caught the eye with the moving sports figures in Nike gears. The colored Nike logo and a hypothesis going like ‘if you become one of them since today’ on the poster made the audiences even more curious about it.

Auto-play video to communicate Nike’s brand aspiration

Clicking the interactive button ‘find out more’ on the GIF poster, viewers go to Nike’s latest commercial. It is an auto-played video, telling a story of normal people to go beyond their limits. In the video, a male voice tells to every person he ‘meets’ that they are going to be a future champions and the winners in every game.

Like a fairy tale, it is intended to end up with hollow words – ‘When they push their limits, they reach their maximum potential, and everyone lives happily ever after.’ That’s when things are getting out of control. Everyone challenges themselves to do outrageous things, such as diving from a cliff, jumping out from a speeding car to dunk, and fencing with Japanese ninja. The spirit conveyed is what Nike wants to advocate – just do it. .

In one day, this post had received 3,124 retweets and 1,589 likes.

The truth and the consequences

• Nike used Weibo its login page as the gateway for high exposure. According to Sina’s Q2 financial report, there is an average of 282 million active Weibo users per month, with 89% active on the mobile app. It means this amount of people might have viewed the advertisement.
• Smooth and intuitive pathway to travel from Weibo login page to Nike Weibo account. Nike and Weibo created an intuitive digital experience through the interactive poster and auto-played video for audiences, with no interruption or distraction in between.
• It directed viewers to Nike Weibo account in the end to increase the engagement with the brand.
• GIF posters and the inspiring video reinforced the brand aspiration and create engagement with Nike legacy in sports