Friday, October 8, 2010

A message on a road goes a long way


Chalking the roads (writing messages with chalk on the road) is a Tour de France tradition. Spectators usually write messages of encouragement to their favorite riders. Last year Nike carried out the Chalkbot campaign in association with the Livestorng foundation where users could submit messages of hope in the fight against cancer and it was painted on the roads as seen in this video. This campaign brought the roads of France to everyone. By sending a message to the Chalkbot through SMS, web banners, Twitter or WearYellow.com, people around the world were able to make their mark in yellow. If ones' message was written on the roads, Nike sent them a picture of their messages printed on the Tour de France route with its GPS coordinates.

[More: Nike's Recycled ad campaign]


Over the course of a month, the Chalkbot gained over 4,000 followers on Twitter, received over 36,000 messages and printed thousands of them over 13 stages of the Tour de France while driving several thousand miles during the 25-day event. Wieden+Kennedy partnered up with Pittsburgh companies Deeplocal and Standard Robot to bring this amazing concept to life.

But did it all backfire on them when Armstrong faced strong criticism on drug abuse and leadership from his teammates after the race? Or did the genuineness of the cause overcome the weakness of its cause ambassador?

[More: Nike founds a country]





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