Social media feeds and fuels basketball culture. So we combine our knowledge of all things social with our love of the game to bring the iconic Nike Basketball brand to life across digital platforms.
A legendary company with a storied cultural legacy, Nike is synonymous with basketball. And while its brand voice has long been clearly defined for arenas like TV, print, and IRL, Nike Basketball needed an agency that could help them show up in the always-on world of social media while maintaining the Just Do It gravitas its audience has come to expect.
For 5+ years, we’ve served as Nike Basketball’s social thought partner, combining our sports, social, and cultural expertise to help the brand navigate critical moments. Basketball is a 24/7/365 sport, and working with a global brand like Nike requires us to weave nimbly between ideation, strategy, and execution to meet the needs of the brand, its athletes, and its partners.
Touching Asphalt
The foundation of everything we do with Nike Basketball is the digital playbook, a document we first created in 2019 and revised in 2023 to meet the organization’s evolving needs.
Central to the revised version is Touch Asphalt — an idea that’s equal parts mantra and imperative, embodying an agile, unconventional strategy that puts Nike Basketball at the heart of the always-dynamic basketball culture.
Expertise
Project Description
Informed by a love of basketball culture and relentless social listening, we’ve architected a multi-layered social strategy for Nike Basketball and we’re bringing the vision to life on Twitter through @NikeBasketball.
Creative Campaign Development
Marketing Playbook Development
Social Media Strategy + Content Creation
Tone + Messaging Strategy
Stories Made for Social
Building on the Touching Asphalt North Star, we rolled out twelve distinct, social-first content ideas tailor-made for Nike Basketball’s global marketing teams — including the popular Shot Clock content series. We crafted these concepts with flexibility in mind, so that they can be spun up quickly around any of Nike Basketball’s athletes, employees, and personalities — some in a matter of minutes — allowing the brand to touch down anywhere in the world and create content at the speed of social, be it at a photo shoot, product launch, or global events like NBA All-Star Weekend and Nike’s Global Basketball Festival.
Kicking Campaigns into High Gear
In support of the overall campaign messaging, we’ve paired a read-and-react strategy for proactive, conversational content with a more curated approach to major moments, including the launch of signature Nike footwear for athletes like Ja Morant, LeBron James, and Paul George.
Shooting Our Shot
With Nike appearing in thousands of online conversations each day, we use our understanding of the brand, the sport, and the platform to create a narrative strategy that allows Nike to quickly read the room and respond accordingly. This lets us generate an ongoing stream of high-touch content, hitting everything from product launches to pop-culture references.
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