On September 8th, Tokyo was announced as the host city of the 2020 games.

The significance of this announcement is bigger than the Olympics or even sport. It gave Japan, a country stuck in a two-decade recession, a deadline to turn everything around and another chance to unite after the earthquake in 2011.

With high youth unemployment and a domestic media that criticizes young people for lacking motivation, Nike gave the youth of Japan a much needed boost of optimism about the future. Whether or not Tokyo won or lost the bid, we prepared a message to remind youth that nothing has been decided for them and that their future is in their hands. And with this powerful message, Nike was ready to run the campaign irrespective of whether Tokyo won the bid or not.

In seven years time, a person can accomplish a great deal. A young athlete can become a pro. An aspiring artist can become a world phenomenon. And if everybody believes, a country can turn the tides.

On the morning following the announcement, when the country was just receiving the news about the decision, we delivered a provocative message that told people the opposite, "Nothing has been decided."

First we launched a film on YouTube and Nike social channels that featured real youth of Japan and delivered our message. A microsite was launched that served as the hub for all social activation.

On the microsite and with the help of Nike's athlete social channels, we asked people where they will be in 2020. It forced the youth of Japan to think about what they truly want out of their future and proclaim it to everyone. We then wrote custom manifestos to the best responses, publicly acknowledged those people and mailed them a physical poster as a reminder. Traditional outdoor, online media, and other campaign collateral were also used.

Knowledge/consideration:

Within 24 hours of the launch, there were 2,274 positive tweets related to our message, 1,460 of which used #justdoitjp.

Action/business impact:

In the same 24-hour period, the campaign microsite had 51,614 visitors, an impressive number for Nike Japan. 773 of those visitors pledged what they want seven years from now and 6,786 downloaded the campaign manifesto wallpaper.

To date 216,095 people have watched the film on YouTube without any paid media support.