Crying Wolf Doesn't Require Twitter

I wrote the following response to Curt Hopkins' timely post over at Read Write Web: Twitter Hands Sports Columnist His Ass.

The post describes Washington Post columnist Mike Wise's bonehead move to deliberately tweet disinformation about Ben Roethlisberger's 6 game suspension.

"As Clay Shirky puts it, it's not information overload we're suffering from; it's filter failure.

Or to use a a slightly older adage, Mike Wise seems to be aspiring to be the boy who cried wolf - then making an example out of the medium, rather than himself as the source that lacks credibility.

Deciphering the BS from the bona fide isn't a new challenge for us as humans. If I am accosted by that dude who struts around Pioneer Courthouse Square in the blue facepaint, and he tells me the world is going to end on Monday - I will most likely disregard the statement as nonsense. But if I read from Sam Adams that traffic is backed up on Burnside because of a fender bender, I will most likely believe it. The Mayor of Portland has a lot more to lose than the Na'avi wannabe.

What did Warren Buffett say? "It takes you twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you'll do things differently." A journo that walks around spreading lies is always going to discredit themselves, with or without Twitter.

The medium is simply the medium."

Social Media Marketing Success... Wait For It

The following article first appeared yesterday on AdPulp. Thanks to David Burn for the invitation to contribute.

No marketing conversation today is ever complete without a discussion about social media. These conversations usually feature a rich repertoire of the phrases du jour, and normally conclude with all parties agreeing that there is room for both social and traditional marketing; that great brands are platform agnostic; and that the key to modern brand alchemy is a balancing act of various levers that should take into account the ebb and flow of business realities. Or something like that.

Perhaps it’s this double talk that leaves many feeling lukewarm about the real benefits of social versus traditional marketing. It doesn’t help that many of the self-appointed social media “gurus” are online shakedown artists often with very little brand marketing experience.

Let’s take a step back and acknowledge we’re in the formative stages of a nascent industry. For every crowd-pleasing Old Spice campaign, there’s an enraged group of Motrin “mommybloggers.” These triumphs and missteps are to be expected as brands grapple with new media that is at once more engaging, accessible, interactive, irreverent and heaven forbid, transparent than the traditional channels of marketing.

Shareability -- a Reflection of Consumer Behavior
Who first saw Nike’s “Write The Future” campaign while watching TV? Or saw Tennessee gubernatorial hopeful Basil Marceaux’s stump speech on the news? If you answered yes to either of those questions I’d venture to say you’re in the minority. Chances are, both popped up in your Facebook or Twitter feeds. We often hear that if Facebook were a country, it would have the third biggest population in the world. Twitter is estimated to have 100 million users worldwide. If that’s where the customers are, brands had better be there too.

Content is now being shared and spread at the consumers’ discretion. Social media is simply the conduit, not the message. Brands have long sought to trigger emotion through humor and storytelling, but now that the ability to share is a click away, never has either skill been more important.

ROI -- The Elephant in the Room:
So we know people are using it, that’s great, but how do brands calculate what to spend on it?
Once upon a time, calculating the return on investment (ROI) of a brand’s marketing was a simpler proposition. An ad campaign ran for a specified period and was deemed a success or failure based on whether it met predetermined sales targets. If sales were up, great. If not, perhaps try a new agency. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Measuring social media’s effect is a much trickier proposition. While few marketers would argue that heightened consumer engagement and participation is a bad thing, being able to quantify, and therefore justify, its existence is a different proposition altogether.

A recent report from research firm Forrester suggests we should stop looking at social media as a zero-sum, dollars in/dollars out proposition. Analyst and report author Augie Ray writes:

“Many marketers can draw a straight line between investments in social media marketing and financial results, but many more cannot. This doesn't mean social media marketing is ineffective; it just means that marketers have to recognize benefits beyond dollars and cents. Facebook fans, retweets, site visits, video views, positive ratings and vibrant communities are not financial assets--they aren't reflected on the balance sheet and can't be counted on an income statement--but that doesn't mean they are valueless. Instead, these are leading indicators that the brand is doing something to create value that can lead to financial results in the future.”

Or as the economist Robert Chambers put it, “Count the numbers, and only numbers count.” For this reason, any social media initiative should be approached patiently and considered an exercise in delayed gratification.

The Forrester report also highlights social media’s ongoing effectiveness as a safeguard mechanism against unforeseen brand challenges. All things considered, having a steady social media presence can be more convenient and cost effective than outsourcing communications projects on an as need basis. Furthermore, this can evolve into more than just a promotional tool and become a competitive advantage for the brand. A well-known example of this is the now famous “Comcast Cares” Twitter account that responds to complaints much faster than waiting on the phone for the customer service recording.

Summary
Social media is not the panacea that its boosters claim, nor the waste of time and resources its critics believe.

No one has it all figured out yet. But brands that hope to channel Woody Allen and succeed by virtue of merely “showing up” are bound to fail.

Engage. Delight. Stand for something. The best social media strategies tend to also be the best brand strategies.

Peyton Manning and Reebok

Peyton Manning, The NFL's most marketable player, is the latest to feature in Reebok's Zigtech campaign.

Manning joins a host of other big names in plugging the Zigtech, a shoe so spectacularly ugly that I'm tempted to buy a pair.

Reebok is a curious brand to say the least. I wrote a post earlier in the year discussing how its ad hoc strategies only help beget brand confusion.

One minute it's telling women it can make their backside's firmer, with the Easy Tone line (Skecher's Shape Ups anyone?); the next it pulls a move straight out of the Nike playbook by signing NBA young gun John Wall to its stable of stars

A wholly owned subsidiary of Adidas, it seems the brand is trying a lot of things and seeing what sticks. Time will tell if it can stand alone on its own merits and and not be killed off by the Three Stripes.

He's Back!

As much as he's a drama queen, I love Brett Favre.

There's something so pure about his childlike love of the game. He plays with the unbridled joy of a kid in the backyard. In that way he is much like another of my all time favorite sportsmen -- the legendary Shane Warne.

After Favre signed with the New York Jets nearly two years ago, I wrote a post trying to get to the heart of what makes "Brand Favre" so appealing:

"NFL headline makers can be broadly split into two groups. Square jawed, All-American heartthrobs (Think Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Brady Quinn); or controversy-courting bad-boys (Terrell Owens, Randy Moss or Pacman Jones). While landing firmly in the heartthrob category, throughout his career Brett has not always been the perfect boyscout. As mentioned in a recent post, Favre’s bouts of alcoholism, pain-killer addiction and infidelity have helped to sully any chance of maintaining a cookie-cutter image.

However, perhaps these mistakes are really what help drive the appeal of “Brand Favre”. Not a homecoming king like Brady, or from football royalty like Manning, Favre’s many foibles and mistakes remind us of his inescapable humanity. Yet over the course of his career, he's managed to bounce back from several personal tragedies and perform when it matters. In an era when sporting figures are expected to be emotionless, bulletproof, superhuman deities, Favre's enthusiasm for the game remains his greatest appeal. While the Bradys of the world treat a football game like a high-stakes poker match, Favre has always retained the unbridled enthusiasm of a 6-year old running out for his first throw of the pigskin. To use a Top Gun analogy, Favre is Maverick to Brady's Iceman - a talented, passionate thrill seeker facing off against the cool, level-headed and cunning alpha male.

Perhaps it's this underdog "everyman" appeal that makes "Brand Favre" so likeable. Perhaps it's the reason for the unprecedented jersey sales. Perhaps it's the reason that while they are sorry to see him go, even dyed in the wool Packers fans will wish the man well come September."

"Brand Favre" aside, the man can seriously still play. 33 touchdowns, and only 7 interceptions in season 2009 suggest the aging gunslinger had statistically his best season ever, at 40 years of age no less.

Welcome back Brett. Now go bring us a Super Bowl ring.

Soccernomics: Book Review

Love or hate soccer, it’s the closest we have to a world game, and it isn’t becoming less popular so you’d better get used to it. Whether you’re an ardent fan or still on the World Cup bandwagon, Soccernomics from Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski is a must read.

The book has been touted as the “Moneyball of Soccer,” -- a tip of the hat to the groundbreaking Michael Lewis classic. Moneyball became a best seller by showcasing how effective a more objective, analytical study can be in challenging many of the time honored beliefs of baseball.

Where Moneyball focused on one baseball team (The Oakland A’s), Kuper and Szymanski cast the net much wider in attempting to answer many of soccer’s controversial debates. Does England underachieve in major tournaments? Does racism exist? Do penalties make the game inherently unfair? Can soccer increase the incidence of suicide?

Writing on such a broad series of issues makes Soccernomics not so much a book as a series of whitepapers that get as close as possible to watertight arguments for the cases they present. There are countless issues the authors attempt to tackle in the book, I’ve addressed three of my favorites follow:

Soccer Fans as Polygamists:
While the stereotypical “diehard” fans do still exist today, most current soccer enthusiasts prefer to spread their loyalty across different teams. Just as normal consumers engage in “repertoire buying,” most soccer fans distribute their dollars across several brands steadily. In an era where new ownership with deep pockets can quickly turn “also ran” clubs into powerhouses, this is a vitally important trend. This liquidity of loyalty is perhaps best demonstrated in the case of Chelsea whose fan base has grown by 523% since Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

Why England Don’t Win
A subject close the heart of any an Englishman, it baffles many as to why the founders of the sport haven't added to the trophy cabinet since the 1966 World Cup win. The authors explain that there are some completely reasonable explanations for this. England is a modern wealthy nation, with a strong soccer history. The problem is, many of its European rivals can boast the same thing.

While the conventional wisdom holds that the England team is weakened by the prevalence of foreign players in the English Premier League (EPL), robbing English players a chance to develop, the authors posit that the fervent desire of English players to play in the EPL is actually a weakness of English football. England’s top players generally play for one of the “Big Four” of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal -- clubs that are in the running for silverware every year. The authors believe that toiling all year on end in the soccer's toughest league against the world’s best is likely to take its toll on the players who are simply too tired and banged up to perform when the major tournaments roll around. If England was hell-bent on winning World and European Cups, perhaps it would fare better by sending its top players off to compete in weaker leagues like those in France, Croatia or Turkey – unlikely to ever happen but interesting to consider.

Another common sociological argument made for England’s perceived underachievement is that the majority of its players come from a working class background. This culture is so prevalent within English ranks that it ostracizes many would-be champions who are drawn to more inclusive sports like rugby and cricket. This is a perilous situation given the working class of England is shrinking, meaning English soccer is facing a smaller talent pool to draw from.

The Genius of Olympique Lyonnais
The tale of how this bourgeois town produced a burgeoning powerhouse of European soccer is worth the price of the book alone. Particularly for the management acumen of OL’s bookish chairman Jean-Michel Aulas who micromanaged the club to 7 straight Ligue 1 titles between 2001-2008.

While conventional wisdom dictates that more wins lead to bigger profits, Aulas has turned that concept around by proving that profits beget wins, building OL into a branded empire of cafes, travel agents, taxicabs and wines.

Aulas explains his philosophy on managing the club’s most valuable assets – the players, “Buying and selling soccer players is not an activity for improving the soccer performance. It’s a trading activity, in which we produce gross margin. If an offer for a player is greatly superior to his market value, you must not keep him.”

While this view seems like it reduces the players into tradable athletic commodities, Aulas is also savvy enough to treat his assets as human beings. OL employs a “relocation staff” that helps recruits settle in smoothly and feel at home in the cosmopolitan French city. This sounds like an obvious thing to do, but it's incredibly rare for any major club to go to such lengths.

Summary:
Soccernomics is not just for soccer nuts, although fans of the game are likely to love this book. No, its real genius is highlighting how rigorous analysis and measurement, sometimes in unconventional places, can elevate truth – something all businesses can benefit from.

Guy Kawasaki is Right (Apologies to Tim Brunelle)

Guy Kawasaki upset the apple cart earlier this week when it was revealed he is using crowdsourcing platform Crowdspring to design the cover for his forthcoming book Enchantment.

For the uninitiated, Crowdspring is a website where one can place a design project (complete with creative brief and budget), and choose from the raft of design options submitted by a community of designers eager to win the prize.

When Kawasaki's "evil" scheme was made public, the Twittersphere was up in arms about the move; the sentiment being that such behavior was beneath his standing in the web/tech/marketing community. I think that sentiment is ridiculous.

Guy Kawasaki is a disruptor. From being an "Apple Evangelist," to starting web magazine rack Alltop, to paying staff to tweet for him; being unconventional is part of his shtick. Frankly, I'd have been more surprised if he didn't crowdsource his book's design.

This brings us to the issue of crowdsourcing itself. Why is it such a dirty word in the design community? I wrote a post in its defense earlier in the year comparing its inexorability a rising tide -- it will happen regardless of our opinion of it. Tim Brunelle put it nicely:

"We appreciate and demand faster computers at increasingly lower costs. We embrace technologies which allow us to work remotely without affecting the quality or frequency of our output. We sustain communities and tools which cost us nothing yet make us smarter, faster.

And then we recoil when our clients leverage these same conditions we benefit from to secure relevant, compelling ideas at prices we could never sustain.

Our clients are not wrong for turning towards crowdsourcing."

While its critics would have you believe it damages the quality of the work, I'm a staunch believer in the Linus Pauling quote often revered as the crucible of the creative process, “The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.” I'd take a hundred options from the crowd over one from a self absorbed, self appointed "guru" like Peter Arnell.

Finally, I think my biggest peeve is when the critics, usually those most likely to be affected, try to tar crowdsourcing with the "unethical" brush.

Child molestation is unethical. Bernie Madoff is unethical. Harnessing the power of the web to come up with the most cost effective design solution is not. It simply makes sense.

What do you think?

Pepsi Max Diner 2.0

I love this latest Pepsi Max spot.

A remake of the "Pepsi Diner" commercial from 1995, it hearkens back to the original Pepsi Challenge from 1975. The results of the experiment is often used as proof that branding works -- if consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi to Coke in a blind taste test, why would Coke have greater market share? The answer of course was that Coke had the stronger brand. The experiment has been repeated many times since with similar results.

I love the notion of the level playing field. These two gents have the same job, eat at the same place, and dress the same. They are telling us unequivocally that all things being equal, Pepsi Max tastes better than Coke Zero.

Throw in a Youtube reference to make it current, and the timeless "throw the guy through the window trick" and you have a crackerjack spot.

A New Look For the Pac 10

Amidst new plans to expand, the Pacific 10 Conference has released a new logo.

With the coming addition new schools Colorado and Utah, the Pac 10 needed an update from the kitsch looking old mark.

Despite being the premier conference west of the Rockies, the PAC 10 has long been seen as a "softer" conference than the Big 10 and SEC. This, coupled with the notorious "East Coast Bias" has seen the PAC 10 suffer an undeserved credibility problem.

Mutt Industries from Portland came up with the stellar new mark which encompasses the waves and mountains of America's west into an iconic and timeless look. Visionary New York sports marketing firm SME Branding was brought in to highlight several glaring deficiencies in the way the conference has been run. SME's CEO Ed O'Hara has reframed the East Coast Bias, a perennial thorn in the Pac 10's side, into the "West Coast Advantage." The geography, showbiz, and innovation of the west becoming a competitive advantage from the staid, unchanging hubris of the South and the Midwest. Furthermore, while being in an unfavorable time zone for viewers on the Eastern seaboard, the PAC 10 is on the cusp of a potential huge viewing audience of the Pacific Rim.

Finally, it sounds glaringly obvious, but I'd always found it curious why the PAC 10 has never insisted that its teams showcase the conference logo on uniforms and fields -- a tactic mandatory in most conferences nationwide. This will change with the new mark, which will help viewers identify member schools.

Football season can't come quick enough - Go Ducks!

Good Guys Finish First: The Marketability of Joe Mauer

I was thrilled to see Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer listed as baseball's third most marketable player in a Sports Business Daily survey earlier this week.

The squeaky clean Derek Jeter was no surprise at #1. The prolific Albert Pujols is an understandable choice at #2.

I'm biased being a Twins fan, but Joe Mauer is a breath of fresh air in sport known for its money hungry egomaniacs like A-Rod and overgrown children like Manny Ramirez.

Mauer made headlines earlier this year when he spurned more lucrative offers from the Yankees and Red Sox to sign an 8-year $184 million contract extension with his hometown Twins. Had he joined either of those teams, his personal brand wouldn't have taken a hit like LeBron James's, but he certainly would have lost some of his "hometown-boy-made-good" shine.

It's refreshing to see in that in an era of sports where both the money and championships are idolized, loyalty and love of the game are two attributes still prized by marketers in search brand ambassadors.

Vuvuzelas & Simon Cowell

Unless you were sleeping under a rock, the obnoxiousness of the Vuvuzela could not be missed throughout the World Cup.

The "horns from hell" infuriated players, and partnered with the much maligned Adidas ball "Jabulani" to make the African tourney the lowest scoring World Cup in history. This fallout has sparked countless requests to ban the African inspired/Chinese manufactured menace from all North American sporting events. Sounds reasonable to me.

But if we are going to eliminate objectionable imports from public places, why stop at Vuvuzela? Forget Crocs or Nickelback, I think next in line should be Simon Cowell, the unctuous American idol judge who just so happens to share a thing or two with this, the more annoying of the two Horns of Africa.

I cannot adequately put into words my distaste for this poorly coiffed buffoon. His fellow Englishman Andrew Sullivan does it superbly in his recent Times article "Rude Britannia: the limeys breaking US taboos,"
"Last week saw the final American Idol featuring Simon Cowell as a judge. Cowell is better known in America than, say, the Supreme Court’s chief justice or three-quarters of Barack Obama’s cabinet. At some point in a distant Wildean past, a British musical judge might be expected to be wittier than his peers. Cowell is witless, inexpert, inarticulate and touchy. He just possesses a series of ugly prejudices and crude hunches and the ability to tell someone to their face that they’re rubbish. In Britain, who really cares? In America he’s a legend."

In many ways both Cowell and the Vuvuzela are from Nero's "bread and circuses" school of entertainment. Unsophisticated, crass and unsubtle -- both pander to our inner 8-year-old -- the kind that seeks to annoy and cause a stir just for the hell of it.

On the bright side, it's a good thing Cowell can't be mass produced!

The Illustrated Wisdom of Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink's wisdom is well documented in marketing/business circles. His groundbreaking books Free Agent Nation, A Whole New Mind and Johnny Bunko have changed the way people view work.

I was thrilled to stumble across this clip that gives a top line introduction to Pink's latest book, Drive: the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. At ten minutes long, it's shorter than a TED talk, and makes a compelling case for why we must all seek autonomy, mastery and purpose in our careers.

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

It Takes a Village, Even For A King

The public backlash to LeBron James's decision to move to Miami is appalling.

Critics seem to delight in calling LeBron a disloyal narcissist. This is despite the fact that he toiled away in Cleveland for 7 years with a franchise incapable of bringing any manpower of repute to help him. Why should LeBron have felt that anything would have changed had he signed a long term deal with the Cavs?

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has written a disgraceful article entitled "Miami's Hoops Cartel" -- a title that seems to imply nefarious forces are at work here. The one bit of sense to come from the article was in the comments section from a gentleman named Tony Glover. I have included his post in it's entirety below. In my opinion, Mr. Glover's piece should be the final word on LeBron's move to South Beach.

"I think Ms. Dowd should be careful about choosing imagery that portrays three young black men -- James, Wade and Bosh -- to cartel-like gangs and to pack animals like dogs, especially in a country which treated Blacks like chattel and used packed animals to hunt them down in peaceful protests. It's clueless inanity combined with stereotypical foolishness.

I say good for James and his decision. James is taking far less money to play in Miami than he could have earned in Cleveland. He's checked his ego enough to play on a team where Wade is the superstar.

A media that once triumphed his individual greatness is now critiquing him for not succumbing to the hype they fed him about himself. After all, James did not bestow upon himself, the "Chosen 1" moniker. It was given to him by the media (Sports Illustrated to be specific) while he was still in high school no less.

He is someone who is stepping back from the vision others had for him as the Chosen 1. This is not the thinking of some kind of pack animal.

The easy choice for LeBron James would have been to stay in Cleveland, comfortable with the status quo, a team that even he knew his greatness could not rescue.

LeBron is a person taking control over his own life after spending seven years on a team for which he did not elect to play. He was drafted at 18, a kid out of high school. He is now 25, a young Black man who has built for himself an empire.

Ms. Dowd speaks of the ego it takes to believe in oneself as if this is a foregone conclusion for a young Black man in this society. Most black men, including myself, know that it is not, even for one as talented as Lebron James.

The NBA is littered with the stories of great talents who today are penniless. The Times "sister" paper in Boston, the Boston Globe, recently featured a storied on one such player, Ray Williams, former superstar of the New York Knicks, who is now homeless and living out of his car.

While in touch with his ego, James also seems to be in touch with the notion that any one person's greatness does not ensure a home, let alone an NBA championship.

There are many greats who have never won a championship. New York's own Patrick Ewing comes to mind. Ewing gave New York his heart and yet many fans blame him for the team never winning a championship during his career.

James wants more than to be great on his own. He has the foresight to know greatness sometimes depends upon others. And he has the wisdom to know that he could wind up like Ewing. A player's dedication to a city, does not ensure that a city will be loyal to you throughout your career.

James, demeaned now as a dog by some, also wears another tattoo: "No one can see through what I am except for the one that made me." LeBron has always known he was not the god everyone made him out to be.

Few would admit that LeBron could not alone take a team to a championship. LeBron, himself, admitted it -- so much so that he chose to join Miami where he and two of his friends have conspired to create, for themselves, an opportunity. And that's all they have created, so far. In a society where Black folk, time and time again have to fight to even create that equal opportunity, I say well done!

The child they dubbed "Chosen One" has grown up. He has chosen a career path, a life path, that tells those kids for whom he is a role model (so many young Black kids are told that their basketball prowess alone will lead to greatness), that this world promises you nothing especially if you believe you alone will achieve it.

It takes a village, even for a King."

LeBron James joins Miami Heat

After a much hyped media circus, LeBron James has announced he will be joining the Miami Heat for season 2010-11 and beyond.

James will join the incoming Chris Bosh and perennial all-star Dwyane Wade to form an imposing troika that's sure to put the Heat in the mix for several championships.

Amidst the immediate hoopla following James' decision -- joy in Miami; despair in Cleveland, I found the below interview with ESPN's Michael Wilbon particularly enlightening. The part where LeBron starts reeling off the make up of championship NBA teams from the last 30 years was seriously impressive. James is a well-known hoops historian -- a factor one feels played no small part in his decision to play with proven stars, rather than toil away with foot soldiers in Cleveland.

The significance of LeBron's departure was not lost on Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert. In a spiteful and juvenile display, Gilbert lambasted James for his disloyalty in an open letter to fans on the club's website. The furious owner even made the preposterous claim that "The King" will be taking the city of Cleveland's championship "curse" with him to South Beach.

Gilbert's fury is likely to have been exacerbated by James' role of proactive Kingmaker. ESPN writer Henry Abbott describes the situation splendidly in his piece, Name The Crimes of LeBron James:
"It's not a role we're used to seeing athletes in, and it startled many. But I'm certain it's a role athletes belong in. People have analyzed how much a superstar like James is worth to a team. It's many times what he is paid every year, and has been throughout his career. It rivals what the whole team is worth. He has been paying the bills, in no small way, for the Cavaliers for years. That might not be appealing to think about, but it's true. James knows that, and -- even though it's not in the playbook of how athletes typically speak to the public -- he acted like it."

Good luck LeBron. Now go win some rings!

The Inspiration of Duke Stump

Duke Stump is a seriously sharp cat.

We talked a couple of times on the phone about a year ago. In our few short conversations, you got the impression you were in the presence of a true visionary -- an idealist who sees the world as it should be, not merely as it is. To listen to Duke is to realize that many of the world's problems are not insurmountable, they just require a good dose of human ingenuity and elbow grease.

His 5 principles of "Bonfire Brands:"
1. It Begins Inside: Great brands have great cultures; human capital is the best capital.
2. Inspiration vs. Desperation: Brands must play to win, not just to avoid losing. They must ask themselves, "How can we take a global need and bring it into our conversation?"
3. See. Feel. Change: Brands must become master storytellers -- if people can see something, they will feel it and change.
4. Nature as a Mentor: Use biomimicry and the natural world as design inspiration.
5. Trust = Authenticity: people don't want perfection, they want honesty. Give it to them.

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Robinho's turn to "Write The Future."

Many were surprised when the buck-toothed maestro Ronaldinho was left out of Brazil's squad before the start of the World Cup.

Perhaps none more so than Nike, who had made him a central figure in the acclaimed "Write The Future" campaign.

With Brazil likely to make a run deep into the tournament, Nike has released a new version featuring Robinho, the electrifying Manchester City striker.

Another win for Nike at this tournament. While Adidas is the official tournament sponsor, the controversy surrounding their official tournament ball "Jabulani," as well as the confusing "Quest" campaign has Nike leading the brand championship as we enter the tourney's round of sixteen.