408 CHAPTER 12 BRAND ACTIVATIONA special and very involving case of brand activation campaign that relies on the act
dimension (and also largely on the think dimension) is the co-creation campaign. Co-creation o r
soliciting input from customers for new products is being used increasingly by companies.^116
For example, of the high-tech fi rms listed in the S&P 500 index, more than 80% indicate that
they have established virtual user communities to generate users’ input.^117 Th is is not surprising
as it is generally acknowledged that a company’s competence in identifying and integrating
knowledgeable users in the new product development process represents a major competitive
advantage.^118 But how to get the most out of co-creation? Who should be attracted and what
should be the incentive? Firstly, the right consumers should be involved. Whereas for tech-
nological products, lead users are oft en considered most eff ective, this does not need to be
the case for non-technological products. In the latter case, crowd sourcing (i.e. making use of
a group of consumers on the Internet) is being used increasingly.^119 In order to know which
incentive should be provided, it is important to realise that consumers participate in co-
creation for a variety of reasons.^120 Some are motivated by an intrinsic interest in innovation,
others by general curiosity, dissatisfaction with current alternatives, to gain knowledge, to
show ideas, or to receive monetary rewards. Generally, four consumer types can be distin-
guished based on their pattern of motivation: reward-oriented, need-driven, curiosity-driven
and intrinsically interested consumers. Reward-oriented people are in co-creation for the
money and need-driven consumers to fi nd a solution for their current problems. Curiosity-
driven and intrinsically interested consumers, on the other hand, are seeking a compelling
experience. Th ey are interested in getting feedback, being part of a community with a lot of
interaction and discussion of ideas, the possibility to collaborate and vote for their favourite
idea. Being offi cially recognised as a co-developer is also attractive to these latter types of co-
creation consumers.^121 So, to encourage participation in co-creation, marketers best follow a
balanced strategy: (1) using a platform that allows consumer interaction and community-
building, and (2) providing an attractive but not too attractive incentive. Firstly, providing theAdidas faced the challenge of promoting its new line of Climacool running shoes in France to 14–19 year olds, while
statistics showed that French teens hate running. How did Adidas succeed in its mission? By giving youngsters a
good reason. Adidas launched the operation ‘ready to run’. Each time a teen tried on a pair of Climacools, whether
in Marseilles, Paris, Lyons or elsewhere in France, they ran the risk of being kidnapped in-store by an Adidas team.
Once kidnapped, the teens had to carry out a mission and take part in a sensational one-hour race to the other end of
the city to find a couple who were placed there as part of the game. The youngsters were given earphones and had to
follow Teddy Riner’s (the world judo champion) instructions remotely. Two cameras and a drone followed the youngsters.
Some of the instructions ran as follows: put on a costume, look for the envelope in the roofing, GO GO GO, pick up
a bag of meat at the butcher, enter the hotel, take the keys in the cheerleaders’ locker room, find the address of the
apartment, FASTER, FASTER, grab the voice recorder, divert the security’s guard’s attention, FOCUS ON YOUR
MISSION, etc. The reward was to interact with several French Adidas celebrities. So, the campaign gave the youngsters
the opportunity to test the brand promise of the new line of running shoes in a challenging setting. Also, besides
the crazy experience of being kidnapped and being involved in a wild adventure, they got a nice running experience.
But most importantly, they could meet their heroes, whom Adidas hopes are influential enough to motivate the
youngsters to take on a more active lifestyle. Needless to say, the youngsters were really wild about the operation.
During the campaign, the number of youngsters trying on Climacool running shoes increased by more than 500%.
The campaign also got a lot of media coverage and was widely adopted by the most influential French blogs.^115BUSINESS INSIGHT
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