King Ribery

Nike wanted to challenge Adidas' no 1 position in the German market. They used Bayern Munich player Frank Ribery to promote and wear Nike boots on Adidas home turf.

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Innovative media strategy

Nike's goal was to establish its expertise and attitude and to create a provocative campaign to challenge adidas' historic number 1 position in the German market.

The "freedom of choice" agreement meant that players in Germany's Bundesliga could wear shoes of their own choosing. In Bayern Munich's newly signed player, Frank Ribéry, Nike had one of the world's greatest players in Nike boots on adidas' home-turf.

A provocative visual at the opening of the new season, Ribery's first for Bayern Munich, was positioned to capture the imagination of young German males and generate huge reaction across German football as a whole.

Creative execution

A famous image of King Ludwig II, Bavaria's favourite son, was transformed to show Ribéry as the new King bedecked in the regalia of modern offensive football.

Draped against Munich's Theatinerchurch, it gave bold contrast to monarch and authority; a metaphor for adidas' heritage.

Phenomenal levels of PR were generated in national/regional newspapers, television, radio and online. It formed a discussion point on a number of lifestyle and football TV programmes.

Target audience

The combination of this 280m outdoor site, positioned in adidas' Munich heartland, with its evocative imagery and the resultant PR, ensured that this bold statement reverberated and connected with Germany's footballing youth.

The usurping of former adidas brand property appealed to sports fanatics and the target audience of Men 15-34 alike. Further connections were made via 10,000 Ribery motif wildcard postings and a partnership with kicker online and flickr.com links.

 Effectiveness

 A minimal five figure investment generated a wave of publicity across TV, print, radio and online delivering a media value of approx. €1.55 million, according to MDS AWA 2007 and S&P Data. It was the front cover image for Sport Bild magazine and, in turn, appeared in their TV promotion.

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