Air Max 95 - Make Your Mark
A record breaking campaign, celebrating the Black British Mark Makers with transcending positive impact.
NIKE
Nike Black Future Season
Campaign Strategy / Creative Direction / Brand Design / Film & Photography / Visual Production / Talent Sourcing / Liaison & Management
Nike’s Black Future Season set out to champion and empower mark makers* and their efforts in service of the future of the Black community. Nike approached paq to strategically activate the stories of Black British Mark makers Olivia Twist, Kam-BU & Kia Commodore. paq identified and amplified these Black British Mark Makers through a joyful campaign that celebrated their voices through the launch of the Nike x Olivia Twist Air Max 95 Sketch Future.
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*Mark Makers are catalysts for change across social, communal and creative spaces. They seek to create meaningful change that positively impacts the wider community; they are people who are unique in their voice and or craft.
Purpose
To shine a light on the collaboration, the campaign spotlighted Olivia Twist an Illustrator and Educator based in East London that aims to provide her audience with the shock of the familiar using only a sharpie; a simple tool accessible to all. Alongside Kam-BU a socially responsible & environmentally conscious musician, and Kia Commodore – a personal finance coach & financial literacy advocate.
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The aim was to elevate the voices of these individuals within the Black community who are ultimately inspiring future generations to leave their mark on the world around them. Deliverables included campaign video content for the SNKRS app, a retail installation and workshop at Nike Town London and an interactive activation at the Nike Future Forward Festival.
Illustration by Olivia Twist
Nike Town Takeover
Authenticity
Strategically, paq was tasked with creating a Mark Maker toolkit to help Nike’s NBHD Partners identify mark makers and create activations within their respective communities. Building on the foundations of Nike's existing topline insights, paq undertook primary research into what makes a mark maker.
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With the story centered on Olivia Twist and her work, we held conversations with Olivia to understand her core practice and identify what makes her a mark maker. These insights formed the foundation for us to build the toolkit and guidelines for Nike’s NBHD partners; enabling each of them to identify their own Mark Makers. Encouraging authenticity, the criteria outlined was a true reflection of mark makers within the Black community; these insights championed an individual with a distinct voice, a clear medium and efforts to positively change their communities. Our toolkit ensured that the selected mark makers had depth to their stories and sat within the sweet spot of impact, inspiration and excellence.
We translated these themes into the red thread for the wider creative to be followed by Nike NBHD Partners. Titled, Everyone and Anywhere, our campaign film celebrated mark makers by highlighting the daily incremental steps they take when no ones looking and how that progresses society forward.
Quality
by spotlighting their individual stories and mark making. Led by creative director, Chiamaka Ojechi, obscure camera angles were used to play with perspective as the mark makers left their imprint on the AM 95 Sketch Future.
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Our branding team developed the Air Max 95 ‘Make Your Mark’ identity, color palette and visual toolkit that lived across all extensions of the campaign including the retail POS display and workshop hosted by Olivia Twist at Nike Town London. The visual toolkit incorporated hand written typography from each of the mark makers to highlight Olivia’s medium and belief in everyone’s ability to leave their own mark. We amplified this at Nike Town London as workshop attendees were invited to make their mark on the Air Max 95 Sketch Future alongside Olivia Twist.
Every week, Offspring put their community at the forefront through Sunday Discussions. Extending the narrative, we partnered with Offspring to host the first live IRL Sunday Discussion to amplify mark maker, financial literacy expert and founder of the Pennies to Pounds podcast, Kia Commodore. This live podcast event featured a conversation between Kia and Offspring community members - hosted by Kaff as well as Sunday Dinner for attendees. Topics covered spoke to the intersections between financial literacy, sneaker culture and Black British culture. After the discussion community members were able to unwind over a Sunday Roast catered by Chef Joyce K.
Across the entire campaign we didn’t just tell Black Gen Z that they can make their mark on the world; we provided them with the tools to do so. We highlighted how Mark Makers are consistent and driven, going beyond the surface to carve out a change within society. Our efforts went beyond the moment and towards creating a lasting legacy.
