Niketown AD CAMPAIGN

Let’s enlist some world-class athletes, beloved in their home markets and beyond, to pay homage to Nike’s one-of-a-kind retail experiences.

Nike’s own retail mantra, “To all athletes and the dreams they chase, we dedicate Niketown,” was at the heart of the campaign direction. Nike was opening landmark stores in new markets, including New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Previous Niketown advertisements focused on rather pedestrian product highlights and seasonal sales. The new campaign used simple messages to cast light on each athlete, chosen in part as “hometown heroes” in the new markets. Media was far-reaching on a modest budget, using local sports magazines, event postals, traditional outdoor bulletins and bus posters, and unique outdoor executions like wrapped buses, street furniture, and painted wall murals.

Signs of campaign success included months-long overcrowding at store openings, heightened media coverage of events, sales increases at existing stores, and chronic theft of campaign materials.

The Leap Partnership · 1996

Creative direction: David Hernandez, Joe Sciarrotta, George Gier · Art direction: David Hernandez, Andrew Day · Design: Andrew Day, Darrin Marzorati · Copywriting: George Gier, Terry Cosgrove, Ted Xistris, Tom Raith, Dean Wei, et al. · Photography: Richard Corman, Walter Iooss, Sandro Miller, Brian Bosen