The Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity has announced Nike as this year’s recipient of the Advertiser of the Year award. The accolade recognises a brand that sets the standard of excellence through the quality and innovation of its creative work in Asia.
Established as one of the best-known brands in the world, Nike continually demonstrates boundary-breaking creative bravery through its marketing and communications. Globally and across Asia Pacific, Nike brings an unparalleled understanding of its audiences and produces emotionally effective work that demonstrates the highest standard of creative excellence.
In 2018-2019, the creative work by Nike, coming out of Greater China has seen strong recognition. For FIFA 2018, Nike made a brave move by choosing to dominate just the Quarter Finals, because it is when audience attention in China peaks, as the number of favourite players on the field are at the maximum. The brand also gave young footballers the chance to record and share their favourite moments using specially installed on field cameras, which caught the six seconds before and after a goal.
Nike also reaffirmed its ability to not only inspire, but to also physically enable a new generation of ballers in Beijing and keep the city’s moniker of “Hoops City” indisputable. And, looking to the future of athletes across China, Nike made waves during Children’s Day in June when it launched an epic Douyin challenge that got kids and their families moving. In this playful campaign, parents and kids were inspired and activated to get moving towards a bright future in sports by channeling the creative power of kids in the fun of motion and music.
Nike is no stranger to the Spikes Awards Festival, winning 13 Spikes since 2016: 9 Bronze, 2 Silver and 2 Gold Spikes in Film and Digital Craft. Notable winning work includes Nike Hyper Court, a collaboration with Google and BBH Singapore that engaged Philippine basketball players through a digital and physical experience, which aimed to improve the skills of the nation’s young players; and ‘Run It’, an original song and sport-driven music video that presented the rarely seen side of modern Korea, challenging gender roles and cultural stereotypes.
Commenting on the announcement, Joe Pullos, festival director of Spikes Asia, said, “We’re delighted to honour Nike with the coveted Spikes Asia Advertiser of the Year award, it’s so well deserved. Nike is synonymous with purpose-driven creativity that engages audiences at scale and it’s fantastic that we’re able to celebrate them for continually excelling in creative marketing and communications in the APAC region.”
Nike will accept the award onstage at the Spikes Asia Awards Show on Friday 27 September 2019 in Singapore. Speaking on the announcement, PT Black, senior director, integrated media and strategic brand partnerships for Nike Greater China, said, “Winning Advertiser of the Year at Spikes Asia is great recognition of our continued effort to deliver innovative products, experiences and services to inspire athletes. It’s been a great year of creativity for us in this very dynamic region and across the world powered by our amazing team across the region. We would also like to thank all the partners that have worked with us who we know put in a level of passion that goes well beyond what the job description asks for.”
The Awards Show will culminate the three-day Spikes Asia Festival, where the creative community from across Asia Pacific comes together to learn and be inspired by industry leaders and creative change-makers, such as Linna Zhao, Head of Insights, Wavemaker China; Michael Roth, Chairman, Interpublic Group; and Wei Soong Toh, Singaporean para swimmer. Nike will also be speaking on the main Inspiration Stage during the Festival.
