A sub-campaign within Nike’s ongoing ‘Sport Changes Everything’ changing communities through sport initiative, Chicago-Style focuses on showing off the city’s unique sports personalities, values and sense of style
The city’s famous blue collar, hard-nosed attitude and its distinct culture feature in a multi-platform campaign which sets out to explore and showcase what makes Chicago unique – from a sporting perspective,.
But the creative doesn’t only focus on the familiar big name teams and stars so often associated with the city – Michael Jordan, the Bulls, Cubs, Sox, Blackhawks and Bears – but also shines the spotlight on the everyday grassroots and amateur athletes, as well as community ambassadors who are using sport to improve the city and inspire a new, young generation of athletes.
The campaign, developed in harness with long-time Nike creative agency Wieden+Kennedy and running through October and early November, is spearheaded by an anthemic hero film opens with the hardened Chicago manager of Frank’s Grill shouting into his restaurant’s microphone to order up a ‘Chicago style’. The scene shifts to an employee making a signature Chicago dog, before the man barks out features which make Chicago sports great.
The lead film is supported by a set of three films running on social channels which feature a trio of local athlete stories who all exemplify ‘what Chicago is famous for’, embody the city and inspire their community.
The three protagonists are McKinley Nelson (founder of Project Swish), Ixhelt Gonzalez (a star of the US women’s wheelchair basketball team) and Monyett Crump (founder of Reveal Dance).
As well as the films, a live activation strands brings the ‘Chicago Style: Sport Changes Everything’ campaign to the city’s streets with a physical, experiential manifestation of the campaign in the form of a diner called ‘Nike’s World Famous Chicago Style’ which offers a big helping of Chicago attitude.
The pop-up branded restaurant is hosting a series of events within the campaign’s experiential programme for the community to celebrate its sport and be inspired by local stars and community leaders (including those featured in the creative).
Invited visitors and local residents have an opportunity to participate in these events which range from dinners to basketball games, dance classes and meet-and-greets.
Comment:
Does this local initiative mean there is a new city – a 12th – in Nike’s current ‘global city’ strategy which launched back in June 2017 and which saw the sportswear giant identified London (see our case study on 201’s ‘Nothing Beats A Londoner’) and 11 other key cities (in 10 countries) that will be the focus of its effort to fuel its global growth.
Nike believes around 80% of its projected growth through 2020 will come from those cities, which, in addition to London, also include New York, Shanghai, Beijing, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Mexico City, Barcelona, Seoul, and Milan.
Nike describes this approach as ‘local business on a global scale’.
The Chicago work is part of Nike’s ongoing ‘Sport Changes Everything’ changing communities through sport programme which includes a series of short social spots from across the sports landscape and across the USA.
Launched in July 2019, this marketing strand features a stable of big name and amateur athletes and offers inspirational stories that promote physical activity, despite the challenges.
The focus of ‘Sport Changes Everything’ is to provide access to sports for young people in communities across the US, knowing the life-changing impact it can have on kids.
In addition to the film series, the initiative involves multiple sports days across select US cities, plus a programme enabling summer shoppers in US Nike stores a chance to donate $1 to various non-profit organisations – such as Marathon Kids, Girls Inc., and PeacePlayers International – which are all dedicated to changing communities through sport.
Links:
Nike
https://www.instagram.com/nike/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+nike
Wieden+Kennedy
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