The island that never stops apologizing. – BBC

Influenced by Confucian thought, Taiwanese society is overly polite. “I’m sorry” constantly rolls off everyone’s tongue, making us seem feeble and uncompetitive.

But Taiwan’s young athletes aren’t like that. Off court, they know how to be polite. But on court, they understand: giving your all is the best way to show your opponents respect.

With the help of Taiwanese athletes, Nike gave birth to a “More than Just Humble” culture: #SORRYNOTSORRY

With this exciting, culturally dialed-in insight, Nike released a “Pep Talk” for the nation, giving Taiwanese athletes the social permission to “Just Do It.” Introducing “Sorry, Not Sorry,” a new manifesto for Taiwanese to show they are capable of so much more.

Our campaign took hold just before the Asian Games, with a groundbreaking brand film featuring footage of Taiwanese athletes in action, especially the Asian Games national team. These athletes were seen achieving their goals with unstoppable aggressiveness and perfection, while still holding on to that famous “humble Taiwanese” attitude. Nike showed the world how Taiwanese athletes demonstrated their #SorryNotSorry spirit.

We followed the film up with a series of online and offline events, building up the #SorryNotSorry tension. The campaign rallied the nation to support Taiwan’s Asian Games national team, spurring them to “Just Do It” and achieve success with the distinctively Taiwanese “Sorry, Not Sorry” spirit.

Confronting Adidas’s rapid growth, we saw an opportunity in the upcoming 2018 Asian Games, to put Nike at the heart of the nation’s rising sporting ambition and pride. Yet the actual challenge was, how? How could Nike, a brand emphasizing “Just Do It” – a competitive, aggressive sporting spirit – connect with a humble, polite nation like Taiwan?

To close this cultural gap, we did several in-depth studies, including social listening, language analysis, and data mining. We analyzed word clusters and themed clouds, in the hope of uncovering genuine insights behind the humbleness of Taiwanese. Surprisingly, our research led us to an intriguing truth. On the surface, we saw many discussions on Taiwanese politeness, but underneath, we found out that the polite words Taiwanese say can have a double meaning. For instance, “Excuse Me” can also mean, “I am overtaking you, and I’m ready to move forward.”

In fact, this culture tension in Taiwan is the exact spirit of “Just Do It.” Taiwanese might be “saying sorry all the time,” but they do not “act sorry.” In fact, they present a paradoxical combination of humble attitude and aggressive action.

Through this film, Nike challenged the “culture of over-politeness” in Taiwanese society.

As the film kicks off, a baseball coach establishes the context, with the words: “They say the Taiwanese are too polite.” This immediately reveals that the Taiwanese place so much emphasis on etiquette that they are often viewed as too soft. Next, we see a quick succession of young Taiwanese athletes. They all apologize with their lips, but with their actions they prove: You can have a polite attitude and still be tough and bold.

The result was a win-win for Taiwan and Nike.

- With #SorryNotSorry, we spurred Chen Kuei-Ju and Chao-Tsun Chen, two of Taiwan’s most promising Asian Game athletes, to unprecedented success, bringing home Taiwan’s first 2 Silver medals.

- Moreover, for the first time in 60 years, since 1954, Taiwan finally ranked 6th in the Asian Games.

- But of course, Nike also won in Taiwan, with a record 183.2 million total impressions, 6 times more than the most famous sports campaign in Taiwan over the decades.

- Serious Social Buzz: Numerous influencers and celebrities, far more than expected, took part in this nationwide sensation, resulting in an overwhelming use of the #SorryNotSorry hashtag, appearing 112 times more than Adidas’s competing hashtag.

- Most importantly, local recognition of the “Just Do It” spirit reflected directly on sales. In less than a month, sales of limited-edition “Sorry Not Sorry” T-shirts grew 80%.