Nike leveraged Wimbledon 2022 by continuing its straight-talking ‘What Are You Working On?’ athlete endorser and creative ambassador web series with a ‘Letting Go Of Perfect’ short film and supporting content featuring young tennis star and brand endorser Emma Raducanu.
The ongoing Gen Z-friendly 360-degree editorial campaign, which began in January 2022, is built around a docu-film series paired with editorial photography and supporting content rolled out across Nike and each endorser’s social channels and apps.
The work takes a fresh, less bombastic approach to most sports marketing: offering more nuanced and more personal insights (free from their advisor entourage) into some of Nike’s younger athlete ambassadors with a focus on authenticity and wellbeing.
June’s Raducanu video is Episode 14 in a series that has previously featured young Nike ambassadors such as skateboarder Ishod Wair, snowboarder Cai Xuetong and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu.
Raducanu’s campaign strand, which dropped on 13 June, seeks to provide a rare glimpse behind the Gen Z player’s tennis priorities and what nutures her while exploring her old haunts and Asian family roots.
Created by agency Soursop, the four-minute hero ‘Perfection Doesn’t Exist’ film seeks to reveal the real Raducanu rather than her meteoric rise, the weight of expectation and her media persona. The British star, who emerged from the youth ranks to win the 2021 US Open aged 18, explores her Romanian and Chinese and admits that she is most herself when at her Grandma’s house in China (as well as her surprising love of Motocross).
“One thing I need to get better at is switching off more and actually learning that you need to leave the club,” said Raducanu. “When you spend the whole day there, over and over again, it is pretty draining.”
Shot in her hometown of Bromley (South London), it sees Raducanu attempting to let go of her innate perfectionism by re-discovering her love for thrill-seeking and family connection.
The campaign was conceived and produced by Soursop’s British-Asian co-founder and Executive Creative Director Ravi Amaratunga with production by Untold Studios.
Comment
Raducanu’s film notched up more than 2m YouTube views in its first week alone and thus far there have been 14 episodes ‘What Are You Working On’ which began with Ishod Wair’s Episode 1 on 25 January.
This more editorial and authentic style of campaign embraces a fresh approach to tell athlete stories to younger audiences: one which deploys the power of long form marketing to humanise talent,
Emotionally and functionally this series feels a touch different from the usual Nike creative approach which so often focuses on the sacrifice, sweat and tears of training as the path to athletic achievement (and to selling its brand and its products). Instead, with the aggression dialled down, it feels a little more like L’Oréal’s ‘Lessons of Worth’ series which sees endorsers reflect honestly and frankly on their human value.
The narrative deviation comes as many people are focused on their own mental health and performance expectations as they navigate relaxed Covid restrictions and follows the pandemic’s period of doubt and soul-searching.
It also comes after several much publicised challenges for high profile elite tennis stars: such as Naomi Osaka’s mental health challenges and Serena Williams’ difficulties meeting expectations after giving birth.
Interestingly, Nike has sometimes been part of /effected by some these issues which has resulted in changes to some of its policies around maternity and guaranteed pay and perhaps a more rounded view of its endorsers as people rather than gladiators tuned marketing commodities.
Indeed, the sportswear behemoth’s mission is now stated as: “Our mission is what drives us to do everything possible to expand human potential. We do that by creating groundbreaking sport innovations, by making our products more sustainably, by building a creative and diverse global team and by making a positive impact in communities where we live and work.”
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.