I read this feature article in The Wall Street Journal last week (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119317864699068959-email.html) regarding Nike cultivating its relationship with lesser known influencers like tattoo artist Mister Cartoon and Brazilian graffiti artists Os Gemeos. As usual, brilliant…

For a brand that utilizes celebrity endorsers better than almost any other leveraging such talents as Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tiger Woods to devote an entire article to a brand’s association with lesser known influencers might seem strange. However, Nike wins and continues to win because of their ability to reach the mass market but also stay a step ahead of their competition by minding the niches and keeping the brand ahead of the curve.

The Nike brand ties into two previous blogs that I posted several months back—The first one is regarding the “faceless influencers”, individuals who might not be known to mainstream American society but help drive today (and tomorrow’s) pop culture trends (http://ronntorossian.blogspot.com/2007/03/faceless-influencers.html). Nike understands not only the value of celebrity association but reaching those individuals who celebrities watch. Nike has constantly managed to turn a mass market brand into something trendy and hip that individuals “in the know” want to be a part of. Their limited edition runs and collector’s editions allow the influencers to buy into the brand but do it with their own sense of style. I remember a few years back before Nike had broadly introduced their ID line to the mass marketplace. Around the city of New York, the brand reached key influencers: everyone from fashion editors at major lifestyle publications to fashionistas and hipsters. Giving them special invite only passes to have their custom sneakers designed gave Nike a relevancy to these faceless influencers that the brand otherwise would struggle to find.

The second post which I found relevant to this article http://ronntorossian.blogspot.com/2007/07/know-thy-market.html was a piece I had written regarding reaching and understanding the value of niche marketing. For a brand like Nike, tattoo artists and graffiti artists would appear to have little to no value to a brand’s bottom line. But Nike sees the broader appeal to these markets and how reaching today’s niche could turn out to be the next mass market hit. Take the skateboarding culture—twenty years ago this was a segment that was seen as slackers and certainly not a desirable demographic for marketers. While they weren’t the first to see the tide turning, ESPN and Activision saw the sport growing from niche to having serious mass market implications and have been amongst the best at monetizing what was once a niche market. ESPN created the X-Games as a way of giving major brands a central engine to reach this demographic and many brands are opting to throw sponsorship dollars behind reaching the “extreme” audience via the X-Games as opposed to the Olympics (and note how many of the “extreme” sports are quickly becoming events in the Olympics). Activision on the other hand saw skating personalities becoming mainstream sports figures and created the Tony Hawk video game franchise, one of the most successful video game series’ of the past decade. Mixed Martial Arts fighting (MMA) is becoming today’s skateboarding and thus another sporting niche is permeating the mass market.

Nike’s ability to constant assess and reassess not only where the brand stands today but where it can continue to grow is why it continues to win. While tastes change, brands that constantly reassess their value and relevancy to all consumer audiences is how today’s most successful brands remain tomorrow’s. The fact that Nike puts “influencer relations” as such a key brand initiative shows me their genius and why I have always admired standing as a mass market brand that speaks to consumers of such diverse tastes and styles.

Ronn Torossian

5W PR

When someone calls you – Call them right back. When something is needed, DO IT NOW. Often times, my speed responding amazes people – and we push our staff to do things quickly. Timing matters… Don’t waste time…. You’d be amazed how much more efficient and successful you will become.

Ronn Torossian

5W PR

After much planning, travel and seemingly endless internal strategy sessions, we finally launched Capazoo this morning. As most of you know, I’m not a fan of buzzwords and catch phrases, but I believe that Capazoo really is the next generation in social networking. So many of us maintain Facebook and MySpace accounts, providing free content for Mark Zuckerberg and Rupert Murdoch while never realizing a return on our investment in time and effort.

Its amazing to me this Myspace and Facebook phenomenon…. And this is a way people can actually make money online… Capazoo enables members to achieve personal recognition and generate real revenue based on their content, relationships and participation in site features and services. It’s an amazing model and from Day One, the 5W team knew that they wanted to be a part of it. Just about everyone at 5W are members.

My Capazoo site is still a work in progress and can be found here. I’ll be migrating my MySpace friends over to Capazoo in the coming weeks. I invite you to visit my site and click the “Join Me” link in the upper right corner.

Ronn Torossian

5W PR

Recent reading uncovered that GAP was celebrating the one year anniversary of their participation in the Product RED campaign by expanding the campaign that contributes to the Global Fund to help fund AIDS programs in Africa. The campaign’s most visible element was the (RED) shirts (if you walk around New York on a weekend it’s probably the most worn branded item currently on the market). While the campaign has generated millions of dollars in donations it also has caused a sales spike for the brand and earned it millions in public relations impressions while helping to change American perceptions of the GAP Brand (a company that I have criticized for losing relevancy – its really irrelevant these days).

The campaign is an example of the changing way in which brands today use cause marketing. In the same way that Venture Philanthropy caused charities to be more accountable to how individual donations are allocated, for brands cause marketing has gone from a line item saying “we care about our consumers and causes they care about” to a revenue driver and when used correctly a great PR tool as well (Not dissimilar from the need for executives to sit on non-profit boards… it’s good for the soul… and good for business).

Why does the (RED) campaign work?

1. Aspirational: The campaign tied into individuals wanting to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Instead of a corporation (GAP) simply writing a check, the campaign empowered individuals to espouse a cause & support it. The shirts themselves served as a badge showing that individuals cared about the cause and in the process has made the GAP more profitable (Doing the right thing can also be profitable).

2. Relevant Celebrity Associations: GAP used celebrities that were believable and have been involved in community service and public advocacy type causes. Mary J. Blige and Don Cheadle are believable —there’s an organic feel to their involvement. I tell our clients when they are looking at celebrity endorsers to find one that has synergies with the brand otherwise it never feels right and ultimately clouds a brand’s image.

3. Change the conversation about the brand: The GAP’s philanthropic efforts first began as a reaction to negative press that the company received regarding child labor. The logical step would be for them to contribute and become involved in causes that prevented these injustices. By focusing on a different area of charity, consumers aren’t saying “GAP is supporting this because they were one of the worst offenders”, they are saying how great it is that they are supporting this (AIDS) cause.

By strategic cause marketing GAP didn’t run from its past, they charted a new direction for its future. I hope the success of the RED campaign encourages more brands to re-evaluate how they consider cause marketing. It’s not just an opportunity for the brand to pat themselves on the back on a job done— it builds brands.

We’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to work on some high profile non-profit work for both the Martin Luther Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, and Fannie Mae, as well as many corporations who do the right thing… and I look forward to doing more in the space and helping brands successfully build market share through good deeds.