“BLOG-BRANDING?” Or is it brand-blogging? Anyway, Nike has a blog now, set up by Nick Denton (of course). Jeff Jarvis thinks this is important.

For purposes of historical accuracy, though, I should note that it’s not the first attempt by a major brand to use blogs — though I hope it works out better than Dr. Pepper’s infamous “Raging Cow” blog campaign. Since it’s not phony and lame, like “Raging Cow,” it probably will.

UPDATE: A reader notes this IBM/Lotus blog by Ed Brill, too.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Some interesting background on IBM from Asparagirl.

MORE: Reader Chris Schmidt writes:

Wanted to give you a quick update on your IBM/Lotus blogs post. Late last year, IBM released a number of services to its employees. One of the better ones is the ability to start a blog within the internal network. There are 620 active blogs (2+ posts) from all around the world currently. It’s still in a pilot form, but it and other recent applications make me think that IBM is starting to ‘get it’. The company is working hard to get us to come together. Many of the projects I’ve seen recently have people distributed throughout the country as opposed to everyone in one place. Whether it’s for a good cause or not, it’s much easier to ping complete strangers for information.

Interesting. And cool.

MORE STILL: And, of course, I shouldn’t forget the many Microsoft blogs!