The Nike Phenom House in Rio: How Competition Creates Emulation

Hi everyone,
One of the Brazil World Cup attractions will be the Nike Phenom’s House in Rio. Nike has shown despite not being a World Cup partner nor sponsor its ability to have a strong exposure at the world’s biggest sports competition. The Phenom House will bring the passion, cultural energy and distinct flair of Brasilian football directly to fans.

Nike’s Phenom House, a unique space opening June 7. As part of the opening events, the Phenom House will host the finals of the Batalha das Quadras, a Nike-sponsored grassroots indoor football tournament.

In a nod to the Seleção, a “yellow carpet” welcomes visitors through an artwork-filled tunnel that transports them into the world of
“Risk Everything” – Nike’s campaign in which the world’s best footballers put everything on the line when it matters most on pitch.  
The tunnel opens into a vast space where fans can experience the history of Nike football through a boot genealogy display, featuring the original Tiempo Premier (1994), and leading up to Nike Football’s revolutionary 2014 footwear collection.

Visitors can trial the latest innovations, including the Magista and Mercurial Superfly, in a unique boot testing area. Also showcased are the home and away kits for the 10 federations that will wear Nike on-pitch this summer in Brasil. 

Near the center of the Phenom House, the full Nike F.C. collection is on display. Nike F.C. celebrates the passion, talent and irreverence of sports, opening the door to Nike’s 20 year-history in football.

To further connect fans to the beautiful game, the Phenom House utilizes sound effects specially created to replicate football stadium crowd noise.

The House, which is located along the port of Rio de Janiero, will be open to guests from June 7 to July 12, Wednesdays and Saturdays only, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. [Source: Nike.com]

This World Cup will be outlining whether or not a non official event sponsor can get more exposure and more marketing benefits than an event sponsor. Nike has marketing talent and ingenuity to engage fans, position their products, latest technologies and communicate on an event they do not have the marketing rights for. Some call it ambush marketing…….I call it marketing.

The interesting knock on effect is that Nike’s arch rival adidas put tremendous effort and also marketing ingenuity to communicate more efficiently than ever on an event they sponsor. 

Adidas launched their all in or nothing official World Cup 2014 campaign. On a digital standpoint, unlock the game is already getting traction. In key markets, the UK for instance, the 3-stripes kicked off a superb bus painted ad on London buses.  

Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer would not disclose exactly how much, but he has said the company is spending a “double-digit million amount” on advertising.

Herbert Hainer also said: However, today’s outlook of 2 billion Euro sales in the football category in 2014 shows that we don’t intend to rest on our laurels. We will maintain our brand’s visibility and will continue to bring exciting innovations to the market. So stay tuned.”

My point is although Nike is not an official World Cup sponsor, their hunger to be #1 incites their competitors to want to be better. A competitive emulation….no doubts!

Karl Lusbec