Nike, who happens to be the sponsor for both teams, have decided to make use of the first derby game to garner some more fan involvement and self promotion.
Using the Nike ID application, where users have always been able to customise their own Nike shoes, Nike now lets fans have the opportunity to design boots for 3 players from each team.
The top 10 fan-generated designs as per popular vote gets put forward to the players themselves, who ultimately choose their favourite design and wears that particular pair on derby match day.
An interesting element for fans in their bids to to gather the most votes is through the integration of social networks into the marketing mix. Designers can embed a widget onto their Facebook profiles asking all of their friends to vote for them.
The site is slickly designed and will surely interest a number of football fans worldwide. To design your own boots or at least check out the amazingly detailed flash site, please click here. A wonderfully simple idea that's well executed, it's a little example of why Nike is such a powerful brand.
PS: Below is the one of a kind "George Chen" edition. Bidding starts at $200.
