Nike’s #DareToZlatan Campaign: Crazy Or Genius?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Nike have teamed up to create a remarkable new campaign called #DareToZlatan.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is known for his amazing football skills,  but definitely also for having a high opinion of himself.

We showed you before that Zlatan can be the key for viral success and besides being a professional football player, he’s also a passionate gamer.

This week Nike launched an interesting campaign which is entirely focused on the Paris Saint-Germain striker.

The campaign started with 2 teasers from Zlatan on Twitter:

Hi @Twitter. For tomorrow Zlatan needs more than 140 characters. Please change rules for Zlatan #DareToZlatan

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 9, 2014

 

Your days of playing it safe are nearly over. Tomorrow you will know how to Zlatan like Zlatan #DareToZlatan pic.twitter.com/GhRYzxIYbv

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 9, 2014

 

The day after Nike released 3 online videos, one of which involves Zlatan performing keepy-ups in Hell:

In the second he takes a free-kick against a white tiger:

And in the third one we see Zlatan’s amazing dribble, dodging nitro’s from the sky:

Short after the release of the video’s, Zlatan started answering questions from Twitter users about how to play the Zlatan way.

Need help to ZLATAN? Learn to take the risks that make legends. Ask questions. Learn the ways. #DareToZlatan pic.twitter.com/4CLjuUoqe2

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 10, 2014

It led to comical results with the footballer asking the social network to allow him to break the 140-character limit: @Khaledsaifi asked Zlatan:

@Ibra_official #DareToZlatan how did you quickly react and score that goal vs England ? Did you actually think it’ll go in ?

— Khaled Saifi (@Khaledsaifi) March 10, 2014

 

Zlatan answered:

Dear @Khaledsaifi. Zlatan used this simple thought process. #DareToZlatan pic.twitter.com/zshiqHl9eY

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 10, 2014

Nice on right? Keep on reading, it gets better:

Hi @Greg_douglass, failure is the first step to success. The second step is growing a ponytail. #DaretoZlatan

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 10, 2014

 

And don’t think Zlatan has a lack of convidence:

Dear @ArmouredGuy, a wise man once said, surprising your opponent is the key to surprising them. That wise man was Zlatan. #DareToZlatan

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 10, 2014

And to absolutely sure:

@AlotibeH Zlatan admires your daring. The only goalkeeper in the world who hopes to play against Zlatan. #DareToZlatan

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 10, 2014

 

These tweets kept on coming the whole day. Finally Zlatan made a final tweet that day:

Today’s been good. Continue as Zlatan has taught you. If ever in doubt. Use this. #DareToZlatan pic.twitter.com/0Y3jpBnLPE

— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) March 10, 2014

 

My Opinion

We’ve seen a lot of great Nike campaigns before.

The fact that this one started with some viral teasers on YouTube and continued, unexpectedly, on Twitter instead of an expensive flashy campaign website.

The campaign shows some great examples on how social marketing is becoming more about storytelling instead of just pushing brand messages.

Sure this campaign is backed up by copywriters and smart community managers, I doubt if Zlatan has made any tweets himself.

But I don’t care!

The content is great. It communicates football as it should be, with passion, self-confidence and a bit of madness.

Just the way Zlatan is!

What About You?
How do you rate this campaign? Let us know!

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About the Author
Laurens Bianchi is an independent online (sport) marketing professional from the Netherlands and has been blogging on ViralBlog since 2008. Currently Laurens is also the Social Media Consultant for the Royal Dutch Football Association. Follow him on Twitter or contact him on LinkedIn.