Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Sports has always been a social activity that connects people on a physical and emotional level and the pandemic situation has disrupted this connection, with many people losing the motivation to do sports. At a time where the physical and mental benefits of sports is more important than ever, this campaign delivered a strong motivation for consumers to continue to do sports in isolation by allowing them to overcome the physical walls of quarantine and reunite with friends and loved ones through the sports they enjoy together.

Background

2020 is a year marked by the pandemic and its unprecedented challenges; one of the more obvious being the sudden isolation from one another. Consequently, many in China have deprioritized sports or physical activity due to the loss of a conducive sports environment and a loss of motivation that comes from enjoying sports as a group activity. Recognizing that, Nike wanted to find a way to bring sports and positivity back into the lives of everyday athletes as we believe sports is one way to help everyone tide through this difficult time and emerge stronger together.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

To overcome the physical walls that separated sports lovers during the quarantine period, Nike created the “Contactless Partner Workouts” on Tik Tok, a social media workout challenge that invited everyone to co-create split-screen partner workout videos. Led by national team athletes, celebrities and sports influencers, sports lovers from any part of China could pick their favorite sports and partners to work out as together, unlimited by any form of physical or geographical barrier.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The target audiences are everyday athletes and sports lovers that have a regular habit of doing sports or exercising. The quarantine period has meant that these people could no longer do their usual sports at their usual grounds and any form of social connection in sports would be impossible. Our approach was to leverage social media, the online social interaction that's safe from the pandemic, to bring back positivity and the motivation to keep exercising during quarantine in order to stay physically and mentally fit. Through a fun digital activation, we can hurdle over the walls of isolation and reconnect people physically by doing sports together on a social platform. The primary call-to-action is for users to create their own Contactless Partner Workouts on Tik Tok, while a secondary call-to-action invites users to discover more advanced home-based workouts on the Nike Training Club App.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Rallying under the hashtag of #YouCantStopUs, we collaborated with national sports athletes, celebrities, and sports influencers to launch the Contactless Partner Workouts on Tik Tok in the beginning of April. With a specially designed split-screen interface, users could co-create seamless “duet” workout videos with our sports personalities or with their own friends and family. To further inspire people to join the biggest partner workout ever, we produced a mini-podcast series throughout the entire April featuring China women's national team footballer Wang Shuang and six other influencers who represented different sports communities to share their stories of perseverance and dedication, as well as words of encouragement for everyone in quarantine.

List the results (30% of vote)

This campaign won positive reviews across major Chinese social media platforms including Tik Tok, WeChat and Weibo. On last count, it garnered over 4 billion views on Tik Tok and generated over 700 thousand user-created videos; a participation rate 1.5 times higher than the industry benchmark. Further more, our athlete podcast series on WeChat reached over 246,000 total views and over 80% of consumers resonated with our campaign message. Our campaign had an additional call-to-action and the high level of engagement was further reflected on the Nike Training Club app where it recorded higher than usual numbers of daily updates on users' workout progress. The Contactless Partner Workouts gave people the peer motivation to do sports at home and re-established an important human connection that we all need during this isolation period.