Powered by Nike, the SNKRS app quickly grew into the digital HQ for sneaker drops and sneaker sneak peeks. But what if it became the HQ for sneakerhead culture as whole?
The key to culture is people — so as Nike dug its rubber heels deeper into sneaker culture, its attention-magnet app SNKRS seemed like the perfect place to connect with sneakerheads and get the community talking. And in the world of campaigns and marketing, a solid strategy lays the foundation for break-out, brand-led conversations that connect companies and people.
Artemis Ward stepped in to combine our deep understanding of culture with our knack for crafting strategy-led playbooks — a combo that creates connections and keeps the conversation flowing in the right direction.
A Strategy for Sneakerheads
With a passionate fanbase — and a roster of designers, collectors, athletes, and other influential figures at its disposal — Nike recognized an opportunity to use live and on-demand video content to transform its SNKRS app into a central hub for sneaker culture. After an immersive discovery phase, Artemis Ward developed a social strategy for the platform, all focused on pulling new audiences into the SNKRS ecosystem, driving engagement on the platform, and fostering a global community of sneakerheads.
Expertise
Informed by a broad discovery phase that investigated audience, platform, and cultural context, we built a partnership plan, social strategy, and communications playbook to remind users that SNKRS is about more than just sneakers.
Audience Journey Mapping
Market Research
Trends + Audience Insights
Tone + Messaging Strategy
Social Media Strategy + Content Creation
Marketing Playbook Development
Bringing in the Neighborhood
Or, more appropriately, the NBHD. As part of its SNKRS play, Nike aimed to build a bridge not only to sneakerheads, but to the local stores and partners who serve the SNKRS users on the ground. NBHD — a community-focused sneaker-release program — offered a salient opportunity to advance the cause. A layered partnership strategy with NBHD paved the way for a targeted audience analysis and outreach strategy to give SNKRS a distinctly community feel.
Growing the App,
Play by Play
At the end of the day, a shoe is a product with a price tag — but when a sneaker becomes a way to express yourself to the wider world, its value borders on priceless. With this spirit driving us, we joined forces with the SNKRS and NBHD teams to develop a strategic community-building playbook that clarifies who our audience is, what opportunities exist to better connect with them, and how all the players can unite to make the SNKRS neighborhood even stronger.
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