Participation in sports at younger ages has been proven to help build self-esteem and provide tools (such as perseverance and the ability to work in teams) that help individuals succeed later in life. High school athletes are more likely to attend a four-year college and earn ‘A’s in school. (Women’s Sports Foundation, 2018.)

That said, girls between the ages of 10 and 13 drop out of sports in droves. By age 14, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys. By age 17, more than half of girls have quit altogether.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic "Just Do It" tagline, the Nike Young Athletes division wanted to create a program that would engage and inspire young girls, to find a way to reignite their belief that anything is possible and motivate them to not give up on their athletic dreams.

The idea came right from sport: Pep-talks, the same approach used in locker rooms around the world to inspire individuals and teams to do more than they thought possible. But these pep-talks had to be reimagined for the world of digital content. The idea was to create a massive multi-platform Pep-Talk initiative fueled by the voices of elite female athletes and inspirational kid-influencers that could inspire young girls to not give up on their own dreams.

Rather than locker room events, each athlete and influencer would share their crazy dreams and their own personal pep-talks across the platforms where our target lives today. Each pep-talk was unique just like the talent, and tied back into the iconic “Just Do It” tagline.

The idea was to create a narrative that would encourage our target to engage, to create the connection needed to help build confidence.

Despite its simplicity, positive self-talk is a powerful psychological tool. Among other studies, a 2016 British study conducted with BBC Lab UK showed positive self-talk improves competitive performance and helps people bounce back from failure.

To leverage the power of personal pep-talks, the team built an eight-week campaign fueled by a group of people that pre-teen girls respect most: social influencers and athletes, people that embody their dreams and unbridled potential.

Each of the 20 athletes and influencers would share their crazy dreams and the personal pep-talks they use to keep themselves motivated to succeed when they are faced with adversity. Each pep-talk was unique to the influencers selected for the campaign, but all tied into the brevity and power of "Just Do It" to link to NIKE's larger 30th anniversary celebration of the tagline.

The program was designed to encourage participation to maximize engagement.

In practice the Pep-Talks required careful coordination of 193 pieces of content over eight weeks on Instagram, YouTube & Music.ly plus, as well as instore events/rallies and printed pep-talk posters. Each talent posted their own pep-talks and crazy dreams, and encouraged the target to share their own dreams with them and their peers.

To spread the message, the program centered on our pep-talk army of 20 inspirers: four athletes and 16 kid-influencers, each of whom could reach and inspire. Each person was someone to whom girls between 10 to 13 could relate. The elite athlete group included Gold Medal gymnast Laurie Hernandez and professional soccer player and U.S National Team Forward Alex Morgan. The kid-influencers brought a combined reach of over 13 million on Instagram, YouTube and Musical.ly and included talent such as 13-year-old dancer and actress Jayden Bartel and 13-year-old fashion blogger and soccer/track and field athlete Zahara Juarez.

The program was a massive success, smashing all goals and delivering a platform inspiring girls to chase their crazy dreams.

In eight weeks:

• 193 pieces of content produced/distributed by the elite athletes & kid-influencers

• 100,000 pep talk posters were taken home by the target audience

• 12,000 crazy dream postcards submitted by the target

As the postcards from NIKE stores nationwide flooded back to NIKE headquarters, each athlete shared a video highlighting their favorite postcards.

In total, 12 posts from the four athletes drove more than 1.4 million social media engagements exceeding the KPI by 40%.

Among the kid-influencers the engagement rate was a massive 9.5%, nearly 2X goal (5%) and tripling industry norms.

Based on the success, NIKE has continued programs to inspire young girls. At the time of this submission, NIKE had executed additional programs in some cases working with some of the same talent.