Nike Ground
Always a pioneer in PR, Nike has uncovered a yet untapped frontier for name placement: the historic squares of urban Europe. The first location for Nike’s new campaign is Vienna’s Karlsplatz, now known as ‘Nikeplatz.’ In order to promote the Nike lifestyle to the Viennese public, a seductive ‘Info Box’ has been installed in the square. There, visitors can learn about the 18 m high monumental swoosh to be built on the square (soon) and the commemorative Turbulence III sneaker (both in celebration of Nikeplatz). Part of a campaign named Nikeground
, Nikeplatz is just the first of many international cities that will be upgraded to a Nike City. Nikeground is a project by the always provocative European art group 0100101110101101.ORG
in cooperation with Vienna’s Public Netbase. via Ryan Griffis at Rhizome
10/26 UPDATE It’s a fake. NIKE SUES ARTISTS OVER SATIRE Wish I Thought of it Department: the European art group 0100101110101101.ORG has created a fake Nike website, Nike Ground (http://www.nikeground.com), portraying the company as real-estate vultures who buy streets and squares in cities around the world in order to rename them and install giant monuments of the swoosh. The site looks and feels so much like a Nike site that even the savviest web surfers should be forgiven for missing the point. But if ambiguity makes for a muddy message, it also insures that Nike will take note, and indeed — Phil Knight et al. have issued a 30-page injunction demanding the immediate removal of material related to copyrighted material. Here’s hoping that Nike Ground gets a ton of publicity for this and spurs much-needed discussions about the corporate takeover of public space. via Josh
and Stayfree Magazine
