Nike: World Running Day | Q3 2024

Creative Direction for the Los Angeles activation to celebrate a day recognized around the globe within the sport of running.

THE CHALLENGE: Nike Running wanted to make a huge impact on one of the sport’s biggest days in one of its biggest US markets. The event needed to visualize the electricity and energy that the shoe release was representative of. For the big day the idea was to bring runners from all over the city to descend onto a historical landmark and have a disruptive moment that alerts the world at large while uniting the runners who breath the sport.

I worked with a large team on both the agency and client side to create an impactful run that would then culminate into a huge post-run celebration with the greater running community of Los Angeles. Nike would take over a stretch of Santa Monica from their retail store, the adjacent 3rd Street Promenade and all the way to the city’s landmark: The Santa Monica Pier. I came up with features that would be visually impactful where runners would gather to check in, along the running route and ultimately at their private surprise after party and concert.

We painted the store and parts of the sidewalk in Volt Green to match the newly released product. The Volt Green was used to customize things along the route to disrupt the average run, yet visualize the energy for the run. This showed up on signs, barricades, walls, sidewalks along the run route and ultimately all the elements on the pier for the after party. This included the food trucks, the bars, the stage and more. I helped develop the drinks, recommended local restaurants and vendors to be included that made sense to the Los Angeles community. Especially since many of the local community run clubs were bringing out the runners. We even were able to outfit the brand ambassadors in outfits that made aligned perfectly to the themes of energy and disruption. All participants were treated to free food and beverages after the run, a t-shirt customization area to make unique products to celebrate the run and their favorite local run clubs, and a special performance from Sofi Tucker.

Knowing a number of people in the run community, this was a great project to work on. Being able to reimagine traditional road signage with the Volt creative was exciting. Though most of the fabrication was “simple”, the Volt Green being everywhere made so many simple things feel that much bolder. Couple that with the massive turnout we were able to create an event that was definitely disruptive and brought energy to such an important day for runners across the globe. My favorite part was the last leg of the run and being able to reinvision what this dark tunnel could become by adding in the Nike branding, Volt green paint on the ground, and the energy of the runners. For many, this was the runners’ favorite part. It felt climactic and really made the afterparty feel like a just reward for such an exhilarating run. There were some unique challenges as to what branding moments could and couldn’t be used due to permits, city restrictions, etc., BUT nothing that took away from the core objective of the activation. It was still bold and disruptive event that celebrated and brought attention to one of the biggest events in the running community. It was the moment Nike wanted and we delivered.