Title	NIKE ON DEMAND
Brand	NIKE
Product/Service	PERSONALISED MESSAGING PLATFORM
Category	A11. Digital & Mobile Brand Experience
Entrant	R/GA LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	R/GA LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement	R/GA LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Production	R/GA LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Kathryn Chalmers	R/GA London	Strategy Director
John Wilson	R/GA London	Group Account Director
Harry Peacham	R/GA London	Senior Strategist
Rob Kent	R/GA London	Senior Producer
Anthony Baker	R/GA London	Technology Director
Nick Paget	R/GA London	Creative Director
Paris Lawrence	R/GA London	Creative Director
Josh Yee	R/GA London	Designer
Dami Kelekun	R/GA London	Associate Producer
Steve Viglione	R/GA London	Associate Director, Analytics

The Campaign

The hardest thing for athletes is staying focused and committed to accomplishing their goals. So we created Nike On Demand: a 1:1 messenger-based service on WhatsApp that connects athletes with the best of Nike on a regular basis to keep them engaged, entertained, motivated and on track. Nike On Demand delivered truly bespoke personal content in the form of conversation, images, playlists, etc. 1:1 via chat and it placed Nike’s network of athletes, coaches, experts, clubs, experiences etc. literally at athletes’ fingertips. Nike On Demand is no stale, automated chat bot. It is real human interaction. As such, it provided our audience with the things they crave most: entertaining social interactions, ways to take action in the real world as well as unique, authentic, entertaining experiences.

Creative Execution

Nike On Demand delivered truly bespoke personal creative in the form of conversation, images, playlists, etc. 1:1 via chat and it placed Nike’s network of athletes, coaches, experts, clubs, experiences etc. literally at athletes’ fingertips. Nike On Demand served up: Bespoke training plans; Personal advice from elite coaches and athletes; Meaningful reminders; Motivating kicks in the ass; Personal congratulations; General chit chat; And lots more; All delivered on their terms, through chat. This gave Nike the ability to talk to individuals like individuals, and create output that was truly unique and human. No generic drills, attaboys or badges. No two conversations or user experiences were the same.

Because Nike was talking like a real person, users responded naturally, sharing their goals, their streams of consciousness, their moods, emojis, even their holiday photos! Over 6 weeks, Nike On Demand enabled 240 athletes to take their game to the next level, exchanging over 22K messages and serving up pacers, trainers, run coaches, reminders, private classes, 1:1 sessions, training plans, playlists, app challenges, product trials, VIP bookings, coaching tips, and a whole heap of ass-kicking motivation. Here’s what users thought: 83% would recommend Nike On Demand to a friend. 81% would use the service again. 70% expect this type of service from Nike.

Nike On Demand represents a brand new form of branded entertainment: “conversation as content”. Over the course of 6 weeks, audiences reached out to Nike and killed time talking to us about their favourite activities, their favourite teams, their favourite places – just like hanging out with their friends. And this was just the banter. On top of the many cumulative hours spent chatting with relatable and like-minded local experts about the subjects closest to their hearts, audiences were provided with live chat sessions with champions, entertaining physical challenges, and VIP access to sold out live Nike experiences. To put it

Nike is in the business of unleashing athletes’ potential. For millennials, it was no longer enough for Nike to tell them to Just Do It – we had to enable them to do ‘it’ on their terms. And whilst Nike’s suite of apps, including NTC (Nike Training Club) and NRC (Nike Run Club) were great at bringing consumers into the world of Nike, Nike was unable to harness user data from these platforms to create truly personal content and experiences. We knew that millennials were expecting more authentic, personal, relevant experiences from brands. We also knew our audience was migrating from social media-based conversations to the private world of messaging and stories, vis a vis Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. And we knew that people are more compelled by social accountability than by robots. Our strategy therefore was to unleash every athlete’s potential through a truly human 1:1 service.