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Creative Agency: Zugara
Entering his tenth season in the NBA, Allen Iverson has consistently proven himself as one of the league's superstars. Heart, strength and determination are the adjectives typically used to describe him, and his game. For the launch of his newest signature shoe (and his first to utilize Reebok's custom fit Pump technology), the "The Answer IX", Reebok looked to Zugara to help launch an integrated campaign that was built upon the theme "Only the Strong Survive".
An interactive scrapbook highlighting key moments in the past decade of Iverson's career was created from scratch, so as to engage the Iverson fan with an emotional retrospective. Zugara researched the key events and created "fake" news articles, sportscasts and in-game play-by-play calls to bring the scrapbook (which was the concept behind the print campaign) to life. To integrate with the television spot (viewable on the site), Zugara utilized assets they captured during filming, as well as the offline agencies dailies from the shoot. These assets allowed for a consistency across the various campaign mediums in not only the messaging, but the overall look and feel as well.
The biggest technical challenge posed by this campaign was the adaptation of Flash 8. Flash 8 only recently shipped, and subsequently has a relatively low consumer adoption rate. Reebok and Zugara decided to move ahead and use the software anyway due to how quick and easy the download is for the consumer, and how receptive the target audience has been to this technology in the past. Many of the benefits of Flash 8 can be experienced with the Answer IX site, including faster load times and improved visual effects.
-- Jack Benoff, account manager, Zugara
The Answer IX campaign is a great example of a truly integrated marketing program. The strategy of the campaign was to announce the release of Allen Iverson's latest signature RBK shoe while celebrating Reebok's long association with Allen, and everything he has come to represent throughout his first 10 years in the NBA: legendary toughness, passion for the game of basketball, unique individual style and an unbreakable heart. The theme of "Only the Strong Survive" emerged as a mantra that really spoke to Iverson's career and legacy to this point.
Zugara did a tremendous job of integrating our print and TV work into an entertaining, visually arresting and informative interactive brand experience. The site gives some depth to the Iverson "career montage" presented in print, by adding announcer voice-overs and additional details on watershed moments in Allen's career. The site also provides a detailed look at the Answer IX shoe itself, in particular the innovative Pump technology behind the product. The career montage theme continues with a look at the evolution of the Answer line over the past 10 years. The site also allows the consumer a rare peek at AI's personal side by presenting a list of his all-time favorite songs, downloadable through Sony Connect. Zugara's innovative use of new Flash 8 technology gave the project a sharp visual edge, most notable in the sites' video transitions and in the technology section.
Overall, the Answer IX site has been extremely well received and has helped us celebrate the legacy of one of the NBA's all-time great competitors and educate consumers about his new basketball sneaker.
--Tim Cohane, manager, interactive marketing, Reebok International
This microsite for the infamous "AI" has tons of great content hidden within it. Excellent repurposing of video content for use as transitions as well as a nice short behind-the-scenes piece from the TV shoot really gives this project a robust feel. I particularly enjoyed the experiential treatment of the scrapbook area with its organic interface and incorporation of relevant sound bytes with the photos. It seems apparent that the developers had a nice arsenal of assets to work with to give the site its very rich feel.
My only disappointment with the work is that I feel it really missed a big opportunity to use the wide variety of excellent material to create a more immersive experience. The 360-degree camera moves and other material would have been fantastic if they were interactive. When the site loads and is initially presented to the user, it just sits there. Having seen the similar material on air I was at first excited thinking that I would have the ability to control the camera or move around in the space where Iverson is sitting. By only using the bottom navigation area to activate the wide variety of content, this site falls somewhere in between what is now possible on the web and how things used to be executed.
-- Adam Boozer, VP of creative, IQ Interactive
Wow, what an impressive site! (To call it a “mini-site” does it no justice.) Rbk has succeeded in truly integrating their various media efforts into one beautifully designed, highly accessible site. The use of Flash 8 makes for very rich imagery, from the eye-catching video thumbnail navigation to the cool animations and videos within each section. Load times are short, navigation is easy, and I experienced no glitches by viewing it with Firefox.
The Scrapbook section is particularly appealing to me. It takes the print campaign to a higher level with the addition of voice-over and the collage effect in the main Scrapbook area. I also like how Rbk seamlessly integrated commerce into a primarily entertainment experience with the “Buy Now” and SonyConnect links from the Gallery and Music sections, respectively.
The only thing I feel Rbk missed is the opportunity to gather consumer feedback. There is no forum for discussion provided; perhaps it would require too much moderation? There is not even a way for users to tell Rbk directly what they think of the site. At the very least, they could have included a “send to a friend” link with a customizable text area, which would allow consumer-to-consumer communication, as well as generate new visits.
All in all, this is an excellent example of using the web as the central hub of various forms of communication.
-- Jon Verna, media supervisor, Black Bag Advertising