Nike’s ‘Play Less Nice’ Canadian hockey campaign focuses on the country’s competitive side and spans no less than nine slightly different spots: each delivering a single message about sporting manners.
This campaign positions Canadians, who are stereotypically known for their cordial politeness and for their repetitive apologies and frequent use of the word ‘sorry’, as being fiercely competitive when it comes to hockey.
Developed in harness with regular creative agency Wieden+Kennedy, the campaign creative tracks a Canadian athlete’s on a pre-game training run.
The nine ad video series – essentially nine different versions of the same 90-second spot, depicts the dramatic difference between the Canadian sport and non-sport personas.
In non-training mode the athlete is courteous, polite and generous, but once the sports begin he is single-mindedly determined.
Each video subtly differs from the previous ad and as they role out the protagonist becomes more and more and more focused on winning and less and less nice.
The spots also feature various well known Canadian sports stars: such as snowboarders and Olympians Mark McMorris and Spencer O’Brien, 800-metre runner Melissa Bishop and Vancouver Canucks NHL forward Bo Horvat.
The sportswear behemoth’s campaign leverages the beginning of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Junior Championships (WJC) – commonly known simply as the World Juniors.
This is an annual event, with a particularly high profile in Canada (who won it for the 17th time), organised by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world and the 2017/18 tournament was hosted in Buffalo (USA) from 26 December to 5 January.
Nike released a new version of the spot each day through the nine-day hockey tournament: the first debuted on 26 December and the last aired during the finals on 5 January.
The campaign’s release also had the advantage of dovetailing with the lead-up to the Winter Olympics (a big deal in Canada) and it also acts as a spearhead for the brand’s broader 2018 winter marketing strategy.
The idea behind these evolving spots was based on the insight that NHL fans watching hockey on TV in Canada are often served up the same commercials several times during a single game broadcast.
Thus, Nike plays on this to create a knowing campaign with both humour and longevity: one that would keep viewers engaged through the tournament.
As well as running on tournament broadcaster TSN, the ads were also amplified across Nike’s ddigital and social platforms – including its core website and YouTube channel.
After the World Juniors ended, the ads continued to air on Canadian television during NFL divisional and championship games, plus on TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, Lucifer, The Gifted. X-Files, Saturday Night Live and major live TV entertainment events such the Golden Globes and The Grammy Awards.
The spots are also showing on OOG screens in Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas Square and Yorkdale mall, while Nike Canada is also hosting a related interactive experience pitting members of the public against its Play Less Nice athletes in various challenges.
The spots were shot in Vancouver and they were helmed by director Keith McCarthy of Stink Films.
Media buying was handled by Jungle Media, public relations was done through Narrative and the digital interactive video component was worked on by Anomaly.
Indeed, W+K creative director Chris Groom explained that the creative was actually guided by and tailored to the campaign’s large media buy: which saw a staggering 31 90-second spots run over the tournament’s nine days on broadcaster TSN.
“One film would not have achieved our goal without running out and creating weariness for our target audience,” said Groom.
“So we decided to use this media purchase to our advantage. We decided to let media buying guide the writing of our story and our character: make our hero less and less friendly throughout the media.”
“This unique approach was developed in response to how when Canadians watch a hockey series, there’s often the same ad on repeat, in a very short period of time. We wanted to create an innovative mini-film that provides the audience with a different episode throughout the World Junior games,” explained Nike Canada communications director Claire Rankine.
“We’ve cast recognisable athletes beyond hockey because the campaign goes across sport categories and demonstrates that this game face applies to Canadians playing any sport. We’re always focused on the win,” Rankine added..
Comment:
As far as we are aware this campaign is the first of its kind and we invariable like to salute innovation and bravery.
Especially when it blended with some audience insight and a touch of subtle humour!
It is also notable for proving that creativity can still be brilliant even in a campaign driven by the fixed media buy.
Links:
Nike Canada
https://www.youtube.com/user/niketraining
https://www.facebook.com/CanadaNike
https://twitter.com/nikehockey
https://www.nike.com/ca/en_gb/
Wieden + Kennedy
