This transparent billboard for Nike is about the last drop in my bucket of transparent billboards. I’ve had enough of these thingies. There’s been some cool concepts but the cow has been milked. Would somebody please change the meme? This execution isn’t special anymore. So, you’re looking at an empty frame that’s a little branded in the bottom right corner. Nice. Subtle. But what’s the message? Where’s the creativity compared to the transparent billboards of Amnesty International? Where’s the story? This might as well have been ad for Greenpeace or some local environmental movement. I might totally miss the message, though I can start to think about Nike connecting with nature, Nike opening a window to outdoor sports and so on. Maybe Nike says: this is a cool place to run. I agree. It looks nice. But if you keep in mind 3 out of 4 people are living in an urban environment, it just seems kind of pointless. Anyone?
via Billboardom
Arturo
June 14, 2006 at 1:05 am
Well, maybe as a non-english it’s more complex to explain for me. I understand that the real thing it’s a border line, but transparent billboard is trying to say that you’d like to have more path to run with your Nike’s
Eric Frenchman
June 14, 2006 at 1:42 am
I’m with you. I get the message, but so what? I’m not sure how this is going to help Nike sell more sneakers. The Amnesty ads are more compelling because they tell a story. An empty billboard is an empty message if there is no action in it.
jcl
June 14, 2006 at 2:14 am
As Arturo said, this is not another transparent billboard. This graphic isn’t just the branded corner… the trees, bushes and more important, the road is part of the message. Why? because if you take a closer look, it seams as if the road ends with the wall where the graphic is posted.
If so, maybe it would have been better if the tagline said “keep on running”?
Inviting runners to take thing further? I guess this is the message they want to send.
The funny part is… what happens with the graphic perspective when I don’t see this from the exact same point the photographer was when he shot this pic?
hmm, maybe it’s transparent..hahaha
Coolz0r
June 14, 2006 at 2:24 am
Agree, we could assume that it’s a wall with a billboard of a picture of the landscape that’s behind the wall. That’s nice and confusing. We could also think it’s just an empty frame, and there’s no billboard at all (but then what about the logo that ‘floats’ there?). Why would the road lead to the billboard? Is this just a photoshopped picture? I think not. Look at the color of the grass… I wonder how many people of age on a bike would have bumped into the billboard :)
But that’s not the point.
There’s been enough ‘transparent’ billboards already. I expected from Nike to do something different, not to jump on a meme-train. This has such a high degree of ‘me-too’.
I understand the message Nike wants to send. I just think that the way they’re sending it could’ve been a lot more creative.
jcl
June 14, 2006 at 3:01 am
My honest opinion? I think this is just some photoshop work done by someone who has a lot of time to spear. haha.
As you say… I don’t think nike would go for something basic like this.
Arturo
June 14, 2006 at 4:57 am
I’ve got a confussion here when you said “the cow has been milked”. JCL factchecked my post at Briefblog because I though you were talking about the Seth’s purple cow.
I mean, I’m with you, there’s a lot of ads using this creative way… it’s enough, it had started to be less interesting, it’s losing impact. I guess we have to think about the people near the ad, it’s boring to us because our blogs have posted a lot of this stuff. We don’t need to asume that all people know what we do. :)
Chris
June 14, 2006 at 8:43 am
There have been enough transparent billboards for you, because you post every single one of them on your blog. I have never seen one in real life!
I like the add.
Coolz0r
June 14, 2006 at 8:53 am
Nice try, but no. I skipped them all. Except for this one and the ones from Amnesty. :) * to clarify * I just think, from a marketeer’s point of view, that it’s been enough. It’s time for a new creative input.