The Campaign

Filipinos lack many relatable, successful heroes. Creating new idols, our idea was Rise: a primetime TV series, terrestrially broadcast and supported by a cross-medium network to reach a nation. It would cover the highs and lows of 24 young players chasing a dream they had long thought denied by adversity. We would recruit players from across the country; give them the facilities, expertise and resources needed to tangibly progress their game; and have them face off against the best young collegiate talent. Top basketball heroes would help along the way, as dramatic eliminations would see the dream end for some. With scouts and coaches from leading universities and schools watching on, we were hoping for at least one to gain a tryout or scholarship, and show anyone could achieve their dreams with hard work and heart. In the end, 13 of the 24 managed this – an incredible life-changing success.

Creative Execution

Following nationwide tryouts, 24 kids arrived in Manila to eat, sleep, and breathe basketball at the purpose-built House of Rise, with ex-national head coach Chot Reyes and superstar guest mentors such as LeBron James, Paul George and Jimmy Alapag. The journey unfolded in five ‘documentary-style’ 20-minute episodes. Broadcast every Sunday on primetime terrestrial TV, it shared their highs, lows and inspirational backstories with millions. It was supported across OOH, digital and retail, and picked up by the country’s biggest news and sports outlets and influencers in TV, print, and online. Partner show ‘Rise Live’ went deeper behind-the-scenes after episodes. We also created exclusive, high-octane training videos, enabling anyone to improve. The finale saw the team play in the 10,000-seater MOA Arena with LeBron, gaining the confidence they needed to rise to their final challenge: a live, televised game against a collegiate All-Stars select, in front of top coaches and scouts.

Rise content reached 28% of Filipinos, with 290m impacts. In total, episodes attracted 7.5m views across TV and digital, with trailers and bulletins cumulatively further accounting for ten times as many impacts. The shows also attracted a rating almost three times TV5’s daily average. Consuming 85 years’ worth of video online, 31% of digital episode views were to completion: an incredible level of engagement for longform. Social engagement was high: 1.2m likes, shares and comments, 3.3m total engagements, 63.5m total impressions and 4.7k Rise-related hashtags. Our dedicated microsite received 115k pageviews: deepdiving into backstories, hosting superstar training videos, and heroing product. Rise fuelled an upswing of over 120% in unique visitors, and over 175% in average pageviews to Nike Basketball .com pages; users dwelling almost 40% longer once there. It drove 3000 footwear and apparel unit sales, the flagship Manila store bringing in over $1000 per square foot during August.

Reaching 28% of Filipinos through terrestrial TV, digital, social, OOH, retail, national print and events, Rise was a stunningly beautiful story of incredible determination in adversity, a source of enablement, and a legacy; empowering a generation to believe in greater. We created training videos for the masses, brought superstars to mentor our team of street players and inspire thousands at packed-out events, and created, renovated and left behind pinnacle courts for impoverished kids. But most importantly, we gave 24 kids a shot at greatness they thought long lost; 12 players winning college scholarships and tryouts, and changing their lives forever.

With basketball being such a large influence in Filipino society – 81% of the urban population deem themselves fans – we wanted to make a series both inspiring to basketball players, and accessible for what we knew would be a huge casual audience. As a nation with a strong ‘underdog’ psyche, we deliberately placed as great an emphasis on backstories of hope, determination or adversity during recruitment as we did skill. As a fiercely patriotic country, we designed a bespoke VC with heavy ‘Pinoy’ influences, and celebrated the local language and culture of wherever possible in comms. We seamlessly integrated star names into each episode to attract attention; and given the local viewing behaviours partnered with the country’s biggest TV, print and digital media outlets and influencers to create Nike’s first ever prime time TV series to break into the public consciousness.