DIARY: Stories we could tell ... Nike poster just too tempting to resist

Apparently Nike's been fighting a bug of a different sort. And it seems to have more than amply risen to a challenge that presented itself in southern China.

It all started with a theft. A bus shelter in Guangzhou owned by the White Horse network had its glass panels smashed by a - shall we say - enthusiastic Nike fan who made off with a large poster that had been created to promote the US brand's latest Ultraflight and Flightlite shoes.

With plenty of random scribblings and graphics, the J. Walter Thompson-created poster oozed subversive charm. It was as good as catnip for China's sneaker-shod youths, wanting a poster for the bedroom.

Unwilling to let the vandalism slide, Nike sanctioned a follow-up execution - Diary is speaking strictly in advertising terms here - as a challenge to the poster pilferer.

JWT China's creative chief Lo Sheung Yan explains the follow-up campaign's objective: "The print ad that we developed was to challenge the one who stole the poster.

"It had a headline that translated as 'If you have guts, you should do the stealing on the basketball court'."

The stealing in the challenge ad naturally refers to stealing a basketball in a match.

To date, the poster thief has steadfastly refused to rise to the bait.

Though with the, euphemistically-speaking, paternalistic police force in China, Diary can't really blame the poster thief for lying low.

All the better to enjoy the loot and the thrill of knowing that there's a well-known sports brand which has created what is probably the most personalised ad possible for the pilferer.