Big Web Piece for Nike's Air Force 1 Anniv Bash

Nike's Air Force 1 shoe turns 25 this year, and to celebrate the moment the company has produced a statement shoe, Air Force 25, that it will promote via an extensive on-air and online campaign.

The centerpiece of the push is a hip-hop music video that debuted with MTV on-air and online, but Nike also set up a mash-up site to let users remix a new TV ad using a drag and drop online video editing tool. The approach reminds me in some ways of the widely lambasted roll-your-own :30 spot initiative Chevy set up to promote the Tahoe. Though it's unquestionably better executed than that "UGC" effort (quotes deliberate), Nike is still exerting a fairly controlling hand here.

Users who create spots can forward them on to e-mail addresses or to mobile phones. Nike's campaign also includes an MTV special about the Air Force.