Creative Execution

Introducing Nike+ Run Club. Instead of creating a new app or social network, we simply created an WeChat account runners could chat with—exactly how they did with their co-runners, every day. The difference? Nike+ Run Club replied not with just another message, but with actions points to push your run. Customized running routes. Real-time run crews you could join and even create. And of course, Nike gear recommendations. Best of all, everything came in a simple form runners already used every day: a chat message. Truly turning the message into the medium.

China's runners finally had a single hub that was with them every step of their run. Within 2 months, more than 100,000 users had signed up, and more than 3,000 run crews had been created. And it's only just begun.

Nike set out to continue its legacy of inventing groundbreaking platforms—Nike+ Nike Fuel, Kinect Training—this time in China, for the country's fastest growing sport: Running. Our insight: the only thing runners loved more than running？Chatting about running. They loved nothing more than to post their routes, talk about gear, upload photos, and really just discuss running in general. We took WeChat, China's number one social platform that was a hybrid of Instant Messaging service and Social Network, and repurposed it into a service that provided runners with everything they needed to improve their run. Transforming talk—the so-called enemy of action—into the best running partner you could ask for.