NIKE | Nothing Beats a Londoner | 2018
The Day London's Kids Took Center Stage / NIKE "Nothing Beats a Londoner"
Skepta shows up on screen, gets roasted by a kid, and walks off. The real stars aren't famous athletes — they're 258 unknown young people grinding it out on London's streets.
The problem
Nike was seen by London's youth as some huge American company that had nothing to do with them. At the time, London's headlines were full of knife crime stories, and young people were either ignored or treated as troublemakers, day after day.
The insight
The opening scene of a boy running two miles comes from a real story — kids who couldn't afford subway fare. Nike flipped the usual formula of celebrating famous athletes. This time, the kids themselves deserved the celebration. The realization that young people aren't fickle, they just have fewer chances to connect, pushed the idea forward.
The idea
The stars are 258 real young Londoners. Skepta, Mo Farah, Harry Kane, Dina Asher-Smith, and Gareth Southgate all play cameo roles on the side. It was shot on 16mm film on the streets of Brixton, Peckham, and Dalston — no royal parks, no cobblestone alleys. The track is Skepta's "Shutdown."
What happened
The campaign won numerous awards at Cannes Lions, including the first-ever Grand Prix in the Social & Influencer category. After it launched, Nike searches in London rose 93%, and the video got 9 million views on YouTube. On the flip side, it also ran into trouble over a trademark dispute involving "LDNR" and was pulled from YouTube.
Afterthought
I think this ad flipped the usual center of advertising on its head. Famous athletes became the supporting cast; unknown kids became the stars. There was criticism that Asian communities weren't represented enough. But even when something gets taken down, it stays in people's memory. That's what makes it immortal.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2018
