SNKRS Day

Amplify + Nike flipped the script to create SNKRS DAY LIVE...

Background

Nike SNKRS app is the ultimate source for Nike sneaker culture where you can explore, buy and unlock the best of Nike sneakers. The app provides inside access to the latest launches, hottest events and experiences. Every year on the 8th of August, Nike celebrates SNKRS Day to commemorate the app's launch and create a moment for fans to remember – usually centred around iconic sneaker releases.

Challenge

For the 5th anniversary, Nike wanted to bring fans and culture lovers together physically and digitally for the first time since 2019 with their most ambitious SNKRS day in history.
The mission was to get an international audience together from across Europe and to reimagine what W’s (wins) Nike fans can come to expect – going beyond the sneaker drop, planting Nike firmly at the heart of emerging culture, creativity and community.

Insight + Strategy

This new gen is shifting to a more autonomous model. They aren’t waiting to be let into the building anymore; they’re creating their own and birthing new cultures along the way. From Cortiez changing the drop culture by rethinking access to fashion to Slawn disrupting the art scene with community-focused events – the street culture has evolved.

We decided to embrace the grassroots trailblazers from micro-communities who are creating a new wave. This strategic approach not only shone a spotlight on the creativity, fashion and sounds of the next-gen but also found a way for Nike to give back and accelerate their passions.

In turn, this amplified their voices via a platform that only Nike could provide.

Solution

SNKRS DAY LIVE

An 8-hour event spanning three cities: London, Paris and Berlin. Each city hosted an ambitious event that invited artists, musicians, creatives and sneaker fans to celebrate the day with a programme of events that put the micro-communities and trailblazers front and centre.

Whilst each event became its own content engine, for those that attended, we amplified it even further via owned media channels to ensure that access was open to everybody, not just fans in big cities.

The live broadcast through the SNKRS app gave Nike members and fans an entirely new experience, bringing all three cities together, and presented by fan favourites Will & Az live from Nike European HQ outside Amsterdam. The campaign gave audiences unprecedented access to sneaker culture. Four livestreams culminated in hotly anticipated sneaker drops that fans could unlock. Quizzes and games earned each city bragging rights and the power to get the sneaker first. Easter eggs and hyped product releases were dropped throughout the day, setting social media on fire with theories and clues to unlock mechanics.

Within the livestream, pre-recorded films gave a deeper dive into the stories and culture surrounding the micro-communities. The films gave audiences an authentic point of view from the streets of London, Paris and Berlin and served up an authentic flavour of what’s driving the next generation of creativity.

SNKRS Day 2022 was a party and celebration of emerging talent that culminated in high-energy headline performances hitting the stage in each city. Fans at home partied alongside Knucks in London, Bu$hi in Paris, and Chapo102 in Berlin.
This new approach to engaging with culture attracted new audiences and embraced the existing sneaker-obsessed fandom.

With Nike, we changed the face of the SNKRS app and raised expectations for all future SNKRS Day events.