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A Creative Marketing Concept For Nike Sneakers

We developed this creative marketing concept for Nike sneakers to tell a different story — one of failure, perseverance, and remembrance.

 

What is failure other than a starting point? 

To us, failure is a path from which one can mature and better themselves. No one is perfect. And those that are wildly successful encountered countless missteps. But they kept going. Not all people respond to defeat the same way, though. Some give up while others dig deeper and push beyond whatever they thought capable. Within this context, not every tale of failure has a happy ending. Some people face defeat and never go beyond that threshold. But that is not to say they remain defeated. This creative concept is one such story.

 

Sports brands often rely on a theme of failure and triumph to rally their demographic. Again, most of us have faced failure. Those who have endured and overcome tend to connect with this cliched narrative. That’s why it is so wildly popular in mainstream marketing. Besides, who doesn’t identify with an underdog story? But what of the others? Who is sharing the story of those who were dealt a bad hand — who failed and never triumphed but persevered?

 

Our creative concept is powered by the heart of the athlete and the love of the sport. Failure is a chief theme. Triumph is not. With the negation of triumph and happy endings, we invoke remembrance. Some of us don’t play to win; to prove our strength; to show that failure does not have a hold on us. No. Some of us play for the love of the sport; for the freedom of remembering our childhood; for the feeling of our feet leaving the ground.

The Story Is the Product

From an advertising standpoint, this creative concept is selling Nike sneakers. From a marketing and branding standpoint, it is showing how Nike products empower everyday athletes.

 

A brand as massive as Nike demands clever marketing such as this. Hard sells don’t work. Nike’s consumers are influenced by storytelling. The product is second to emotion. Therefore, this creative marketing concept for Nike sneakers places feelings of empathy above product shots. This tactic strengthens the appeal of the advertisement and equips Nike sneakers with more value than what the product offers.

 

The defining moment — where the story becomes an advertisement — is confirmed 27 seconds into a 30-second video. The Nike sneakers are planted in the center of the frame. This moment is timed with a break in the dialogue. A pause lingers as the sneakers fill the screen. And when they lift off, the final words are spoken, pairing feeling with the product.

 

As an homage to a brand we love, we chose to conclude the video advertisement with an iconic shot. In the context of failure, this serves an intended purpose. We wanted to show that even athletes who fail and never triumph carry their heroes and their love for the game in every step taken on the court. This is a big moment and one that resonates with our audience. What it confirms is that you don’t need to be a star athlete to take flight like you always dreamed you could.

 

If you like this creative marketing concept for Nike sneakers, you should check out the work we’ve done with Karelle Edwards. She is a 500-meter Olympic hurdler from Canada set to make her Olympic debut at Japan in 2020. We’ve done a few shoots with Karelle. The first, we photographed at a track in L.A. The second, we photographed around downtown L.A. for an urban-centric athletic profile. Both shoots featured Nike sports products!

View from behind of the lower half of an African American man wearing black Nike shoes and white Nike socks poised holding a basketball on a basketball court with a light shining on him in semi darkness
View from behind of an African American man poised holding a basketball on a basketball court with a light shining on him in semi darkness
An African American man poised holding a basketball on a basketball court with a light shining on him in semi darkness
An African American man poised holding a basketball on a basketball court
Side profile of an African American man poised holding a basketball on a basketball court
An African American man poised holding a basketball on a basketball court with a light shining on him in semi darkness
Creative Marketing Concept for Nike Sneakers An African American man holding a basketball on a basketball court with a light shining on him in semi darkness
White Nike Sneakers Concept Storyboard sketch

Behind The Scenes On The Set Of Nike

We filmed this video campaign idea for Nike in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We rented a high school gym and captured all of the photography and video content over the weekend. Our entire production team helped bring this idea to life. Working on creative videos like this is a great team-building exercise and perhaps one of the most enjoyable parts of working with our studio.

 

We faced a few challenges during production. One was significantly more stressful than the rest!

 

On the first day of filming, we set up the scene. Standard. We tested the lighting. Set the mood with the fog machine. Set the camera track and so on until we were ready to start filming. The only problem… we were still waiting for our talent to arrive. Suddenly we get a phone call from the talent’s manager. They canceled on us last minute without explanation. Can you believe that? But we didn’t give up. No, we embodied the spirit of Nike and persevered.

 

Fortunately, luck was on our side. Outside the gym was our saving grace, the athlete seen in the video and the photography. It honestly could not have worked out any better. He was a great guy to work with and injected this video concept with the exact emotion we had envisioned.

Nike BTS African American man checking video equipment on a cart on a basketball court with another crew member looking on
Nike BTS Closeup of a man working with video equipment with a woman in the background
Nike BTS African American man wearing a gray t shirt holding a ball on a basketball court posing for the camera with a crew member walking off screen in the background
Nike BTS African American man wearing a gray t shirt holding a basketball walking with a film crew member on a basketball court
Nike BTS African American man checking laptop next to a cart of video equipment on a basketball court
African American man wearing a gray t shirt holding a basketball being shown by a film crew how to film a scene on a basketball court. Video Production Services
Nike BTS Joshua by a computer talking to film crew around him
Nike BTS Two male film crew members adjusting equipment for filming on a basketball court
Nike BTS Two male film crew members adjusting equipment for filming on a basketball court
Nike BTS being filmed on a basketball court in a gym with an African American man wearing a gray t shirt holding a ball walking away on the court surrounded by a film crew
Headshot of African American man wearing a gray t shirt
Closeup of a video cameraman working a camera
Nike BTS African American man with a white towel around his neck being sprayed in the face by a makeup artist
Nike BTS being filmed on a basketball court in a gym with an African American man wearing a gray t shirt holding a ball being tended to by a makeup artist
Side profile headshot of African American man wearing a gray t shirt
Film crew working on equipment for a scene. Video production Services
Nike BTS being filmed on a basketball court in a gym with an African American man wearing a gray t shirt holding a ball surrounded by a film crew
Nike BTS being filmed on a basketball court in a gym with an African American man wearing a gray t shirt holding a ball walking on the court surrounded by a film crew
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Nike. Run!

Nike Training Campaign Concept

We are attached to the brands we use most, so when we’re inspired to create something original for a brand we love, we get right to work. When planning our passion projects, we aim to recreate what should be. We take the time to step back and analyze a brand from a new perspective — an artistic one. A while back, we had this idea for Nike of an athlete running through California’s rugged wilderness. The purpose of this creative marketing concept for Nike sneakers was to attach the brand to nature and fuse the product with the environment. The result is that the viewer can feel the apparel as if they are feeling the weather. It places our audience in the setting, showing them how it feels to wear Nike.

Man striking a pose on one leg in front of a culvert
Man jumping in the air in front of a culvert
Side profile of a man running on a path
Side profile of a man kneeling in the sand by a cliff
Side profile of a man leaping in the air by a cliff
Side profile of a man leaping in the sand by a cliff
View from the front of a man sprinting
Closeup view from behind of a man looking out over the cliff
Black and white of a film crew filming a man running
Black and white of a film crew filming a man running
Black and white of a film crew sitting on the back of a pickup
Black and white of a film crew filming a man running
Black and white of a film crew setting up equipment on a cliff
Black and white of a film crew filming a man running on a cliff
Black and white of a videographer filming a man striking a pose on one leg
Black and white of a videographer setting up equipment with two men and a woman standing by
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