Kris Blake + Derek Love Adhouse, NYC Future Lions 2009
The brand The two pillars of Nike’s brand are competition and innovation. Throughout their history, much of Nike’s success has been a result of their commitment to innovative marketing practices. From sponsoring a little known NBA rookie named Michael Jordan, to partnering with Apple to develop the Nike+ technology featured at last year’s Human Race event, Nike is always looking for new ways to connect with athletes.
Kris Blake + Derek Love, Future Lions 2009
The target Runners. Bill Bowerman, former University of Oregon Track and Field Coach and co-founder of Nike, once said “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.” Bill was right. Runners run. Every day. Regardless of the conditions. For a runner, the race never ends. But even for the most determined athlete, running is a lonely activity. No matter how good of a runner you are, whether you’re a casual jogger or a fourminute miler – when we run, we always end up racing ourselves.
The need Find a new way to inspire runners. Nike has a long and storied history of race event marketing. With recent advances in technology, Nike has also been a pioneer in building an online community for runners across the globe. And while runners can now easily compare training activities with their own personal bests or other training partners across the world, something is missing.
Let’s race That missing something is the excitement you feel when you race someone one-on-one. The joy of competing in its purest form. The race. The more runners there are at an event, the more focused you become on racing against yourself. Ironically, many so called “race” events take on the same feel of a typical training run. Training is work. Racing is fun.
Kris Blake + Derek Love, Future Lions 2009
“The wall” shown here connecting runners in New York’s Central Park with runners in Paris’ Champs de Mars. Two runners in different cities racing side by side for the same 5k distance, at the same time, despite being time zones apart.
The challenge Use technology in an innovative way to help Nike create a personalized experience to inspire runners around the world.
The idea Provide runners with an interactive experience to compete against someone other than themselves.
The insight Competition makes us all better. Adding a healthy dose of competition could help runners across the globe perform better than they normally would alone.
The solution Connect runners from cities across the globe, in real-time so they can race one another. To make this happen, sections of popular running trails at 10 cities across the world will be fitted with two-way screens.
Kris Blake + Derek Love, Future Lions 2009
The technology 8-foot tall LED display screens (fitted with video cameras) would be installed along stretches of popular running trails. These two-way installations would record and display live video feeds between each city’s running trails. LED live video displays > Social networking > Samsung slow motion video cameras > Increased video storage capacity > Digital video display devices
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More than just a foot race The build up to the event weekend will feature several ways for runners to interact with one another and with Nike.
Generating buzz Leading up to the event, videos appearing to be sent from competing runners from other host cities will be distributed with newly sold pairs of shoes. These videos will feature taunts challenging new shoe owners to a race. Runners will be directed to a microsite where they can register, record their own personalized taunts and share them with friends.
Creating awareness In the months leading up to the event, twoway video installations would demonstrate the technology ahead of the race weekend in popular running spots in each host city. The ads would feature a challenging message and direct runners to the microsite to register to race.
Spreading the word User generated videos calling friends out to race will be shared through Facebook groups created for each host city. These online groups will be integrated with the microsite to allow registration to spread naturally through race cities.
Kris Blake + Derek Love, Future Lions 2009
Start area To receive their race number, each runner will register their name and email address at a Nike branded check-in area. The race numbers will be used to identify runners after the race so they can receive a record of their time and two customized takeaways. While waiting for their start, runners will also get their first taste of interacting with the wall while they stretch alongside the competition.
The race Competing runners start their race together at pre-set time intervals. For the first 100-meters they can see one another as they race. At 20-meters, state-of-the-art slow motion Samsung cameras, mounted for a stretch of 5-meters, record each runner’s stride against a branded backdrop. These videos will be used to create the two personalized takeaways.
Throughout the 5k race, the wall will appear for several 100-meter long stretches along the course allowing runners to keep an eye on the competition. The final section of the wall will be placed along the last 100-meters to allow for head-to-head sprinting down the final stretch.
Kris Blake + Derek Love, Future Lions 2009
Runners receive a slow motion video of themselves running and also have the option of using any frame of their stride to create their own personalized desktop wallpaper.
After the finish line Interactive displays in a gathering area after the finish line to allow runners to interact with one another after they complete their race.
Takeaways Kiosks in the finish area would allow runners to preview their slow motion videos. The videos would also be available online through the microsite where embedded links will make it easy to post the videos to Facebook, Myspace and Youtube to share with friends.
Personalization The microsite would also provide runners the option of selecting any frame from their video, choosing a customizable backdrop and saving it as a personalized Nike branded desktop poster.
Kris Blake + Derek Love, Future Lions 2009
Just do it Nike has always been a leader when it comes to innovative marketing. Just as they help athletes compete, they’ve always maintained a competitive edge through their use of innovative techniques. This event will create an interactive experience that runners have never seen before.
The time for this event is now Over the last five years advances in LED displays, social networking and video storage capacity have all made this event possible. World Meet will inspire runners by engaging them in their world. By bringing the competition to them, Nike will inspire runners around the world to be better and create an experience that will always be remembered.
Kris Blake + Derek Love, Future Lions 2009
Kris Blake + Derek Love Adhouse, NYC Future Lions 2009
The race never ends