耐克乔丹缘何推出视频游戏？

早在2012年7月，耐克就在其广告片《由此上阵》中，把现实世界变成了一个受到任天堂《超级玛丽》启发的视频游戏。如今，视频游戏已经成为世界领先的娱乐行业，耐克也随之加大了与视频游戏文化的结合。据研究公司Newzoo估计，全球游戏行业今年的规模将超过915亿美元。

据美国娱乐软件协会统计，超过1.55亿美国人经常玩游戏。游戏玩家的平均年龄为35岁，其中44%的玩家为女性。全球游戏玩家的规模则更加庞大，据DFC Intelligence估计，全球现有超过14亿游戏玩家。

耐克推出的凯里•欧文新战靴Kyrie 2，2015年底在2K公司的《NBA 2K16》视频游戏里首次亮相。此前不久，耐克乔丹品牌首次进军手机视频游戏领域，宣传克里斯•保罗的新战靴CP3.9。

为了宣传这款售价115美元的运动鞋，耐克还特意与数字营销机构AKQA合作，开发出一款复古游戏《Striking Control》。消费者可以在手机和电脑上玩这款触屏游戏。

玩家可以在Jordan.com/strikingControl上下载游戏，控制保罗的虚拟化身，穿越乔丹品牌幻想的城市景观。玩家可以左右移动，越过障碍物和躲避闪电，还可以做出保罗的招牌动作，包括胯下运球、背后运球，假动作，穿裆、侧步和转身等。游戏背景音乐是饶舌歌手Drake and Boi-1da演唱的《Energy》的混音版。

乔丹品牌发言人布莱恩•法基尼表示，公司将CP3.9游戏视为一种有趣的方式，借此将内容直接展示给消费者。他说，这款游戏是Striking Control营销活动的延伸，旨在体现保罗在赛场上的敏捷身手，并鼓励消费者展开竞赛。

AKQA在游戏体验中融入了社交媒体。用户可以发布带#StrikingControl标签的推文和闪电表情符号，在虚拟游戏世界创建属于自己的闪电，当另一位玩家被打败之后，你所创造的闪电会和你的用户名一起出现。

法基尼表示：“在考虑向消费者推出游戏时，手机是明确的选择。我们知道人们每天都很忙，大量时间都花在了移动设备上，因此我们希望迎合移动平台。”

瑞银投资银行分析师迈克尔•比内蒂表示，耐克及其乔丹品牌所面临的一个永恒的挑战就是，如何保年轻、新鲜和相关性。

比内蒂说道：“耐克经历过一代又一代的自我转变，并且非常成功，这对于一个历史悠久的品牌来说并不容易。”

比内蒂认为，耐克最近利用视频游戏的作法很有意义，因为这一代人消费媒体的方式也在发生转变。

比内蒂说道：“现在有太多千禧一代甚至更年轻一代，对视频游戏非常痴迷；他们与同龄人的互动，或者说今天的社交货币，都发生在游戏过程当中。”

此外，开发游戏资源也是出于财务考虑。比内蒂称，这样做归根结底是为了树立媒体印象，追随大众关注的焦点。

比内蒂说道：“在NBC电视台的黄金时段打广告，和花更少的钱通过游戏，抓住他们的目标客户，哪一种作法更有意义？”

事实上，多数NBA球员都是热心的游戏玩家，包括欧文和保罗，这也在耐克与游戏玩家之间搭起了桥梁。

比内蒂表示：“如果消费者知道凯里是游戏玩家，这将有助于讲述这个故事。”

最近的新鞋发布也与NBA有关。据报道，耐克最近以10亿美元的代价，获得了NBA为期8年的授权。比内蒂认为，NBA的授权可以帮助耐克在全球市场推广业务和游戏。

他表示：“选择诸如视频游戏和手机应用这类可以跨地域分享的媒介，是非常聪明的作法。”（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

审校：任文科

Back in July 2012, Nike turned the world into a Nintendo Mario Bros.-inspired video game with the“Game On, World” commercial. These days, Nike is further embracing a video game culture that has become the leading entertainment industry in the world. Research firm Newzoo estimates the global games industry will generate over $91.5 billion this year.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, over 155 million Americans play games regularly. The average age of a gamer is 35, and 44% of gamers are female. And the audience is even large on a global scale, with DFC Intelligence estimating there are over 1.4 billion gamers worldwide.

Nikerecently turned to 2K’s NBA 2K16 video game to debut Kyrie Irving’s new sneaker, Kyrie 2. That comes on the heels of Nike’s Jordan Brand entering the mobile video game fray for the first time to promote Chris Paul’s new shoe, the CP3.9.

The company worked with digital agency AKQA to develop the retro game Striking Control to promote the $115 sneaker. Consumers can play the touch-screen game on mobile devices as well as on PCs.

Available at Jordan.com/StrikingControl, players control Paul’s 8-bit avatar through a Jordan Brand-inspired cityscape. As they move right or left to navigate obstacles and dodge lightning, they’ll perform Paul’s signature moves, including the crossover, behind the back, juke, through the legs, side-step, and spin. The game features a chiptune remix of “Energy” by rapper Drake and Boi-1da.

Jordan Brand spokesman Brian Facchini says the company looked at the CP3.9 game as a fun way to bring content directly to its consumers. He says the game is an extension of the Striking Controlmarketing campaign, which celebrates Paul’s quickness on the court and challenges consumers to compete against each other.

AKQA integrated social media into the experience. Users can tweet #StrikingControl and the lightning emoji to create their own in-game lightning bolt, which will appear along with their Twitter handle when another player is struck down.

“When we looked at delivering the game to consumers, mobile was the clear choice,” Facchini says. “We know that people are busy today and spend most of their time on mobile devices so we wanted to cater to that platform.”

Michael Binetti, analyst at UBS Investment Bank, says the eternal challenge for Nike and its Jordan Brand is to stay young, fresh, and relevant.

“Nike has done as good a job of transitioning itself from generation to generation, which is hard for an old brand to do,” Binetti says.

Nike’s recent exploration of video games makes sense to Binetti, as there’s been a shift in how this generation consumes media.

“There are so many millennials’ — and younger — eyeballs on video game screens; and how they interact with peers, today’s social currency occurs in gaming,” Binetti says.

There’s also a financial reason for this recent exploration of gaming. Binetti says at the end of the day it’s a matter of media impressions and following where the eyeballs are.

“Does it make sense to advertise on NBC during prime time, or spend a smaller dollar amount for the exact customer they’re looking for through gaming?” Binetti says.

The fact that most NBA players are also avid gamers, including both Irving and Paul, helps Nike connect with gamers.

“If the customer knows that Kyrie is a gamer, it’s good for the storytelling,” Binetti says.

These recent shoe releases also connect to the NBA, for which Nike recently won the license at a reported cost of $1 billion for eight years. Binetti says the NBA license will help Nike globalize its business, as will games.

“Finding a media like video games and apps that you can share across geographies is brilliant,” Binetti says.