By Angel Guerrero
CANNES – BBH Singapore’s ‘Unlimited Stadium’ campaign for Nike has been racking up an impressive number of trophies since it was first released. To date, the campaign has won the following:
- Cannes : Titanium Shortlist, 4 Gold, 5 Silver, 6 Bronze
- D&AD : 8 Pencils + Client of the Year (Nike)
- Clio : Grand Clio, Gold, Silver
- One Show : 7 Pencils
- Webby : Winner
- Andy : Winner
- CCA : 5 Grand Prix
The Nike Unlimited Stadium was erected and went live in Manila in August 2016 and ran parallel to the duration of the 2016 Olympics.
The Nike Unlimited Stadium was inspired by the world’s most iconic footprint – the lunar footprint – and was shaped as a 200 metre giant reimagined running track which took over a whole city block in the centre of Manila.
The stadium featured a running track lined with LED screens, where up to 30 runners at a time were invited to engage in a virtual race against avatars of themselves,
BBH Singapore conceptualised the stadium from strategy and creative concept to the stadium architecture and overall user experience bringing it all together with expert partners.
While at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, we were able to interview David Webster, Managing Partner and Chief Growth Officer, BBH Singapore ln the campaign’s beginnings and the agency’s reaction to the accolades heaped upon it.
1. How did the idea for the Unlimited Stadium project come about? What was the objective and brief of your client, Nike?
Nike wanted to be the most talked about sports brand during the Olympics. How do you capture the hearts and minds of a nation that’s only ever won one medal and had no major prospects at the 2016 games?
Our inspiration came from the the lunar footprint, probably the most iconic footprint of all time.
We wanted to leave an equally iconic footprint in Manila to launch the new Lunar Epic Flyknit – a sole developed to help runners Run Forever.
2. It is an ambitious project and its construction and technological support must have seemed daunting at the start. How did BBH pull this off? What was the process and who were your collaborators?
For work of this kind to happen, it always takes two parties, a great client, and a great agency. In the case of the Unlimited Stadium, not only did we (BBH) have one of the best clients one could ever hope for in the Nike team, but were also able to bring onboard some of the best in the industry: Jack Morton Worldwide (event build), Party New York and Birdman Tokyo (creative tech & production).
Everyone played to their strengths, everyone pushed each other and, most importantly, we all had absolute trust and respect in each other’s capabilities.
3. How would you describe the actual consumer experience and what has the feedback been? Also, how did it impact on the brand?
Each runner got the opportunity to try on the new Lunar Epic Flyknit and as part of their registration they created their own Avatar which was assigned to a specific RFID tag. The runner would then run their lap, with the lap time recorded on their RFID tag. The Avatar would meet the runner on the start of their second lap and would run at the speed of the prior lap.
The faster they ran, the faster the avatars did. The longer they ran, the bigger their Avatar became – telling them how many laps they’ve ran.
The Unlimited Stadium operated at full capacity while it was open during the 17 days of the Olympic Games, and was featured by every major news and media outlet in the Philippines. Repeat runners showed up every day to better their time and Nike firmly established itself as the dominant and most talked about sports brand in the Philippines during the Olympics.
We also had 100% sell-through of the Lunar Epic Flyknit.
4. What has your reaction been regarding all the recognition the campaign has received?
We position ourselves as a global agency that happens to be based in Singapore – the recognition we received (by both consumers and the industry) further evidences this.
Moreover, being recognized on some of the biggest global stages for creativity with real work for real clients and produced from Asia for Asia, is further evidence that creativity in Singapore (and elsewhere in the region) is alive and well, and will hopefully help attract even more and better talent to the industry over the months and years to come.
Also getting recognized for your work is always a great feeling, there’s no denying that!
5. Will this stadium travel to other markets or are there new brand experience projects that you are currently working on?
We’ve been developing brand experiences for Nike on a similar scale for a number of years now and not planning to stop any time soon. So yes, watch this space!
In terms of taking the Unlimited Stadium elsewhere, there’s definitely been interest. Whether or not it will happen, you’ll have to wait and see.
Click here for adobo’s previous story on the Unlimited Stadium from August of 2016.
