Nike is leveraging ‘Children’s Day’ in China by releasing a new range of kids bandages which double as comic strips that tell stories about athlete who fall and then get up again.
The initiative, called ‘Badge of Honour’, revolves around a plaster stickers (of the type doctors and parents give to their children).
Developed by regular creative agency Wieden + Kennedy (Shanghai), this animated story led campaign aims to address the concerns of Chinese parents who worry about their kids getting hurt during exercise and sport.
Each ‘Badge of Honour bandage is specifically designed for a particular sport: basketball, running, football or skateboarding.
They are packaged in four sets of 14 (each set comes on a sheet that unfolds and includes different shapes of bandages) and come in special sleeves that unfold into comics: each animated strip tells a fictional tale about young athletes who ‘played hard, fell and found the courage to get back up’.
The project, which rolled out on 1 June (China’s National Children’s Day), aims to be a utility and confidence boost for (overprotective) parents.
It also acts as a symbol to the brand’s dedication to sport in China.
The bandages are available for free when any parent makes a purchase of one of Nike’s “Young Athletes” products in China (from participating Nike retail stores).
In addition to a core, explanatory digital/social film,
on the initiative’s launch day itself, the packages were further promoted by a team of influencers – such as Wang Junkai and Li Na – who posted selfies with bandages on their faces.
While there were further supporting fun, trippy-image animated videos that featured Nike-sponsored athlete cameos.
These included sports stars such as Su Bingtian (China’s top sprinter); Zhao Lina (the women’s national football team goalkeeper), high jumper Zhang Guowei and basketball star Yi Jianlian.
Examples off these animations include: ‘Running – The Unbreakable Tin Girl’,
‘Football – The Zombie Penalty Comeback’,
‘Basketball – Allen The Alien’s Buzzer Beater’.
and ‘Skateboarding – Tim The T-Rex’.
“The idea is incredibly simple: Overprotective parents are afraid to let their children play hard. Our solution is the Nike ‘Badge of Honor,’” explains W+K Shanghai ECD Ian Toombs.
“Creatives realized the bandages looked like the frames of a comic book; they became a medium for telling stories around the theme, ‘When You Play, Play Hard’. They’re bandages, they’re stickers, they’re non-conventional storytelling devices – and ultimately they are a product kids will want.” adds Toombs.
Activative Comment:
Of course, overprotective parents are everywhere (not just in China) and we feel this idea could roll out in other markets too, if, of course, it proves a success.
This is essentially a dual-action activation that blends utility with motivational storytelling.
It is part of the ongoing trend for brands, particularly in the sports space, where a product itself is the marketing campaign.
Other example of this approach range from ING’s ‘The Next Rembrandt’ to Samsung’s ‘Blind Cap’ (see page 18 of our Activative Annual trends review).
This isn’t the first piece of plaster/bandage promotion that uses storytelling to tweek products so that they themselves become marketing initiatives.
Beiersdorf-owned bandage brand Hansaplast recently rolled out a Belgian campaign that used heart-shaped plasters/stickers specifically designed to ‘heal’ emotional wounds (click to view).
Links:
Nike China
news.nike.com/china
W+K Shanghai
