Combined television media and the web is at its best when consumers become involved with brand and are motivated to become active participants with it.

The best offline example of brand participation is the sheer volume of Harley Davidson owners and non-owners that purchase HD logo gear, travel hundreds and thousands of miles to belong to the HD community and evangelize the brand as a lifestyle.

Likewise, Nike seized on the global opportunity of the 2006 World Cup to launch a brand participation campaign that involved a fantastic blend of TV advertising, the use of the internet and involvement of soccer fans in an elegantly simple execution of rich media that creates an online community of soccer fans at nikesoccer.com.

Through a series of easy to follow vignettes, the consumer sees a ball bouncing in from the left side of the frame and out of the right side of the frame, on to the next player in another place around the world.

Viewers around the world are encouraged to “Join the Chain” at Nikesoccer.com, and once there they can see up to 40 minutes of quick global clips or easily upload their own.

Customer acquisition is in place as users sign up at Nikesoccer to participate. The viewer then gets exclusive content and access to soccer competitions. Again, the consumer is further engaged in the brand, they take more ownership through user generated content and at the end of the day, join an online community of Nike soccer fans.