The Nike Gone Running Guerilla/Viral campaign was successful by most accounts. Nike placed Gone Running Will Return at… signs in interesting settings and also handed out free Gone Running Signs. Nike played into the public inclination to look at signs and the unexpected wording of a frequently seen sign sticks in the memory. The signs display clever sayings when set to various times. Nike’s campaign was a guerilla approach that went viral as people received the signs and began displaying them at their places of work.
Part of the success of the campaign is that it tapped into women runners’ emotions. It recognized the challenge many women face; trying to be fit and exercise in the midst of the many demands on their time and energy. The signs reminded women to take time for themselves and “gave them permission” to do so. While aimed at women it was also a message and emotion that many men related to as well.
If the many blogs that displayed the signs and commented on the campaign are any indication, Nike got a lot of mileage out of a relatively inexpensive print campaign. This is likely no surprise to Nike, who seems to have mastered non-traditional campaigns and circumventing traditional media. In 1996 they placed materials, signs and banners strategically around Atlanta during the Olympics, making an end run around the Olympic “sponsorship” rules and left most attendees and viewers believing that they were sponsors. They successfully repeated this strategy for the 2002 World Cup. In an interview with MSNBC, Nike’s brand manager said, “Nike likes to come at things from a different angle.” Given their past success at guerilla and viral marketing, it’s likely that we will see more of this approach from Nike.
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