Nike: Nothing beats a Londoner

Source: Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions,

2022
Downloaded from WARC

Nike, a sports clothing manufacturer, launched a campaign in the UK to build salience amongst
London's youth, lead more kids to play more sport, and give London something to be proud of.

Kids in London were faced with impossibly high pressures and expectations from everywhere to
succeed, and brands were feeding into their insecurities, promoting style, swag and big celebrities
as a way to achieve.
London had gone through a hard time with terrorist attacks, increasing numbers of acid attacks
and tragic gang-related deaths.
Nike created a film which was launched on social channels, produced bespoke GIFs, Snapchat
stickers and 'swipe-up' Instagram stories, and directed kids to sign up for free sporting events.
The campaign resulted in 29 million views, over 150 pieces of media coverage, and created and
filled over 10k new opportunities for kids to play sports.

Campaign details
Brand: Nike
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
Country: United Kingdom

Objectives
Getting to the top is hard, staying there is even harder. Nike was firmly the number one brand in London but
London is constantly reinventing itself. To stay there, Nike needed to reaffirm its place with the next generation
of Londoners creating a deeper connection by talking to them authentically, meaningfully and on their level,
through the power of sport.

To achieve this our campaign needed to:

 Build salience for Nike amongst London's youth through the power of sport.
Lead more kids to play more sport in London.
Give London something to be proud of (at a time when the city was hurting from terrorist attacks, political
divisions and multiple tragedies associated with youth violence in the city).

Summary of the work

Kids in London are faced with impossibly high pressures and expectations from everywhere to succeed – to be
seen as popular, stylish, "cool" (whatever that is). At a time when many brands were feeding into their
insecurities – promoting style, swag and big celebrities as a way to achieve – Nike wanted to lift them up. It was
a harder challenge, but a more rewarding one – to inspire the inner athlete within every youth through the
entertaining, empowering, confidence-building ability of sport.

Instead of doing a big any-market campaign, focusing on star international athletes, we flipped the traditional
sports ad model and made London kids the heroes. And in turn, our grand ambition turned from making elite
athletes look like Gods, to making everyday London kids feel untouchable.

We went deep into London to understand what it's really like to be an athlete in this city. We found some
incredible kids who don't boast about how good they have it, they boast about how hard they have it, because
that's what makes them tougher. From the bad weather, to controlling parents, to a sexist society, every kid in
London has struggles. But rather than complaining about them, young Londoners use their hardships as fuel.

An epic, cross platform, tale of one-downmanship, where kids out-boast one another about how tough they have
it, 'Nothing Beats A Londoner' aimed to capture young London authentically; real kids, real language, true
stories, cult locations and a supporting cast made up of London's most influential sporting and cultural figures.

A world first blend between social media and film then saw our stars launch the three minute London epic
through the youth, to the youth, on their own Instagram channels. On the day schools broke up for half term,
grime legend Skepta posted the opening scene of the film on his Instagram. This kickstarted a battle of one-
downmanship across London as one kid at a time commented on the previous one's post with a film of their
sporting hardship.

Once this social media battle had rolled out and kids were engaged on Instagram, the sum of the parts came
together and the full film was launched to the world. This was followed by bespoke GIFs, Snapchat stickers and
'swipe up' Instagram Stories, all designed to engage the kids and direct them to sign up for free sporting events
across the city so that they could spend their school holidays being active.

Engagement & Awareness

Within hours of launch the campaign blazed through the internet- Trending #1 on YouTube, sparking an organic
twitter moment with multiple celebrities tweeting about it organically – even Drake and the Mayor of London got
involved.

In the days that followed it got over 150 pieces of media coverage including Fast Company, The Guardian, BBC,
Grime Daily, ITV and The Independent. The Sun even crowned it 'the best ever made'.
In total the 3 minute film was viewed, in full, over 29 million times. That's 51 years worth of watching. The film
generated over 18k comments, well above the advertising average, with countless kids also reviewing it on their
own YouTube channels and spawning a slew of imitations – Nothing Beats a Birminghamer, A Manc, A Sailor,
etc.

And perhaps the ultimate testament to impact: real kids on the street started to use the language from the film as
well as use gifs and stickers we created, generating over 32 million views on Giphy.

But this was always about being more than just a moment in culture, we got kids across London moving by
creating (and filling) over 10,000 new opportunities for them to play sports they love and ones they'd never tried
before. Many Inspiring success stories came from these events – including a 15 year old from Grenfell Tower
who was identified with an unbelievable natural talent for rowing and is now on a scholarship training program.

Social Behaviour & Insight

During the development of the campaign, London was going through a hard time – terrorist attacks, increasing
numbers of acid attacks and tragic, gang related deaths seemed to pop up in the news every few weeks.
London needed a burst of optimism, but nothing manufactured. It had to be authentic and show a side of London
– both visually and emotionally – that doesn't always get seen.

Making this film was a collaborative process with London's youth. They influenced locations such as legendary
chicken shop Morley's, inspired the stories in the film and added to the script by 'translating' certain lines into
their slang – swapping out 'You're talking rubbish mate!' to 'You're begging it, fam!'.

The supporting cast of famous Londoners includes: Giggs, J Hus, Dave, AJ Tracey, Little Simz, Skepta, Jorja
Smith, Michael Dapaah, Kurupt FM, Dina Asher Smith, "The Beast" Akinfenwa and Sir Mo Farah.

From a comms perspective, we launched through the Instagram's of the stars of the film: London's youth - this
wasn't about Nike inspiring them but them inspiring us and each other. To maximize this initial momentum, the
film then rolled out in theaters before "Black Panther" during half term in order to inspire kids to get out there and
move.

Brand Affinity & Sentiment

Image metrics are often slow to shift, and Nike's resting rate is already high across the board. But in the months
following the campaign all key metrics showed a significant uptick including: top of mind awareness, brand and
product preference, 'Understands the Community I live in' and 'understand people like me'. (for more detail see
the confidential section)

Sales Success
The campaign drove real impact at retail, on Nike.com and sign up for Nike membership (more detail in the
confidential section.)
The week the campaign launched visits were significantly up week on week to both Nike Town London and
Nike.com (both in London and across the UK.)

According to fashion search platform Lyst, London searches for Nike products were up 93% following the ad's
launch. Nike searches were also up 72% in Manchester and 54% across the UK overall.

And it drove real, long-term impact and engagement in the brand and sport by driving significant new member
sign ups and downloads of the Nike app.

Conclusion
A campaign built on and driven by the authentic stories of real kids in London, 'Nothing Beats a Londoner'
cemented Nike's place with a whole new generation of young Londoners. The campaign became a cultural
moment talked about in the news, and by global celebrities including Drake and the Mayor of London himself.
Most importantly, it was talked about on the pitches and streets all over London by the kids themselves who
even created their own odes to the work.

The campaign achieved all our goals and then surpassed all expectations. It made Nike the talk of London,
increased foot traffic and sales and most importantly, it got young Londoners playing sport.

It proves the power of authenticity, getting under the skin of your audience and working with them to create work
they want to engage with and share organically.

Discounting Factors
For the duration of the campaign Nike continued its ongoing online communications directing consumers to
Nike.com, and specific category CRM (e.g. running, football), alongside its usual in-store communications.
There were no other campaigns running nor any upweight on year round activity.

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