The primary objective for Air Council was to engage and re-align Air Max with innovation while establishing a deeper connection with consumers and igniting inspiration within them.

We were challenged to develop a creative idea/experience that would instill a love for the Air Max franchise, inspire a love for the brand vision, and engage consumers to love the latest products through the Air Max brand. 

Ultimately, we were tasked with developing a program that infused Nike Chicago’s community-driven ecosystem with Air Max’s spirit of innovation.

The Nike Air Council program was the creative idea designed to be the centerpiece of a 4-month strategy that would see the Air Max brand engage 10 creatives in Chicago paired together to advance the state of the creative landscape and the opportunities for those working within it. The group consisted of 5 former Nike School: Chicago students who displayed incredible talent and a strong desire to create. We paired them with 5 elite Chicago creative professionals within the Nike ecosystem who served as Air Council mentors, providing guidance and leading educational 'Air Experiences' through the program.

The program was driven by a curriculum designed to enhance and innovate the students’ creative practices through exploration, application, and discussion between the Air Council mentors and mentees. The resulting insights and perspectives were further amplified through digital and physical activations, which provided access to the broader community.

The target audience for the Air Council program was identified as an influential cohort of the local creative community whose experience and appreciation for the brand would provide the brand with an authentic and deeper connection to a new generation of cultural curators in the city. As such, we identified a cohort of young talented creatives in Chicago who were eager to grow and had demonstrated their skills through various Nike School: Chicago creative sessions.

The strategy was for Nike Air Max to engage and inspire this cohort of mentees through brand-owned experiences, enhancing their practice and skills while fostering a stronger brand connection. These creatives would then become influential advocates, embodying Air Max's spirit and spreading its innovative ethos within the community.

The brand would further share the learning and experiences from the brand experiences with the broader community to reignite brand appreciation, engagement, and affinity.

The Air Council Experiences:

*Air Council: Launch Party [March] - To kick off the Air Council experience, we brought together the program mentors and mentees for the first time at a momentous launch event.

*Air Council Program[April - May]: The 6-week program with curated learning experiences - from portfolio reviews, real-world experience, design challenges, and networking opportunities.

*WHQ Visit [April]: A 3-day immersive visit to Nike World Headquarters where we were able to provide a once-in-a-lifetime view of the magic of Nike & organize a series of workshops and panels with key Nike Air Max personnel.

*Air Summit [June]: Facilitated access and democratized knowledge from key Air Council experiences to the broader community through a collection of workshops and talks hosted across Chicago.

Digital Content:

*Social Content - Social Content that showcased weekly programming and experiences through Nike App and social channels.

*Hypebeast Partnership - Announcement & Editorial Coverage

Through Nike App and Nike Chicago IG, we created a full Online-to-Offline journey to inspire, drive awareness and pull the Member into the ecosystem to register and join us IRL.

*Reach - 87.8K

*Air Summit Registrants - 900 (32% New Members)

*Product Demand - +15% (Demand for all products increased by 15% amongst all members who registered for the event over the 14 days before and after the event. This is 10% better than the 5% increase USD demand for the same category and period in Chicago.)

AIR MAX Social Journey: The Air Max campaign performed significantly above the benchmark (3-4x expected benchmark) across nearly every KPI. The social journey included branded digital posts, stories and paid editorial coverage.

*Followers: +1.1K

*Impressions: 295.5K

*CTR: 2.86% (3x Benchmark)

*Average Engagement Rate: 3.51%

*Average IGR ER: 1.65%

Hypebeast Coverage:

*Impressions : 4M+

*Views : 3.1M+

*Engagements : 11.4K+