Nike's 2020 with Wieden + Kennedy Global Group Strategy Director, Paula Bloodworth
Paula has worked on the Nike brand on three continents. We first discuss what inspired Nothing Beats a Londoner and then how Nike approached planning in a year without sports.
Listen and see the creative work below, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
The news image that inspired Nothing Beats a Londoner
The Nothing Beats a Londoner film
2020 was first derailed by the tragic loss of Kobe Bryant
Kobe “Mamba Forever”
Once the pandemic hit, and sports shut down, the question became what role the brand could play in a world without sport. This was the first response, inspired by a man running a marathon in his backyard, during lockdown.
As the pandemic progressed, sports could teach us lessons in hope, resilience and optimism, as in “We are never too far down to come back.”
Social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement dominated our collective conscience in 2020, and Nike responded with a powerful plea asking that we not turn our backs on racism.
Social justice and equality themes continued in the brand’s work as the year progressed and the 2020 presidential election loomed. With sport as a metaphor, the work reflected the hope that shared human aspirations, experiences and beliefs can be what hold us together, not tear us apart.