Nike: It's Not A Shoe, It's A Community

Few companies define 20th century marketing better than Nike (NKE ). The athletic shoemaker's famous swoosh emblem and a string of ad campaigns, starting with its iconic "Just Do It" series, set the gold standard for getting a clear message to a mass audience. But when Nike crafted its World Cup strategy, it decided to try something new: online communities. The centerpiece is Joga.com, a social networking site for soccer fans it quietly launched in February with Google. (GOOG )Members in 140 countries can blog, create fan communities around their favorite teams or players, such as Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, organize pickup games, download videos, and rant against the encroaching commercialism of the game. And though the program was launched during the World Cup, it continues beyond the tournament.

It's a huge U-turn for the mighty marketer -- and a recognition that it needs to get consumers' attention in entirely new ways beyond blasting top-down mass messages. Nike was forced to be innovative after rival Adidas Group (ADDDY ) got a World Cup exclusive deal to broadcast ads in the U.S. But by monitoring conversations on social networking sites and blogs, where people already are shaping Nike's brand, the sneaker giant knew this was an opportunity to try something different. Says Trevor Edwards, Nike's vice-president for global brand management: "Gone are the days of the one big ad, the one big shoe, and the hope that when we put it all together it makes a big impact."