Following last week’s blockbuster Nike HyperVenom campaign analysis, this week we turn our attention to the Portland’s brand’s other huge recent launch – running shoe Flyknit.
Specifically to its huge, outdoor woven Free Flyknit shoe spectacle in Shanghai.
To trail the launch of the new Nike Free Flyknit, Nike China raised a staggering outdoor installation on one of the busiest streets in Shanghai.
Initially the sportswear brand erected a simple, plain billboard of a bare foot. Then, to coincide with the global launch day three Nike-clad workers based themselves at Nike’s Nanjingdonglu flagship store and began a mammoth 3D knitting task.
The objective, developed in tandem with agency W+K Shanghai, was to emphasise the genuine construction of the shoe and showcase its innovative new fabric.
Using giant thread, created in the signature Volt colourway that is increasingly synonymous with cutting-edge Nike new releases, the three man team, attached to a set of safety harnesses. knitted together the behemoth shoe over the crowded Shanghai streets in real-time over the course of 10 days.
Comment
Huge skyscraper side billboards are, of course, not new. Even to Nike. But this real-time knitting process adds a fresh dimension to the approach.
Not only does it bring to life a key functional element of the product on a giant scale, but it also shows some innovative thinking on the PR front as such stunts, when executed well, typically generate realms of media coverage around the world.
Links
Campaign YouTube Film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMb7Wjv6peE
Nike Flyknit Website
http://www.nike.com/gb/en_gb/c/running/stories/2013/02/flyknit-lunar-one-plus
Nike China
W+K Shanghai
