Nike and the "Car Jumper" Just Do It Together

[Publicity Campaign, Publicy Values]

There are some companies and corporations that get promotions without actually paying for advertising.

Last October, Ellen DeGeneres received a letter from a fan, Chris. The letter expressing his current situation and a dream he had of working with Nike. Along with the letter he sent a video of him jumping over cars, showing a unique talent he had. Ellen, inspired by his siutation and talent, invited him on the show to publicize his abilities and set up a meeting with Nike. (Ellen show clip) After Ellen connected with Nike, they too were inspired by Chris’s story and decided to shoot a commercial strictly to be shown on the internet to tell his story. Along with the commercial, Ellen got NIKE to let Chris design his own shoe by Nike and gave him a $5000 shopping spree to Nike. Than for even more publicity of Nike and Chris, Ellen invited him back on the show for a world premiere of the commercial and shoe. (Ellen show part 2 clip)

(Online commercial)

The value of publicity and coverage that Ellen gave to this young man was announcing his talent and story. Nike also was able to announce a new product (the shoes) through the publicity of this young man and constantly reengerize the brand name through the Ellen DeGeneres show. Thus, the concepts of publicity to reenergize a product (in the case brand name) and to publicize Chris’s talent were employed well through Ellen DeGeneres’s Show.