Game On, World HOW YOU TRAIN IS NOW THE GAME Insight With new Nike+ products coming to market and London 2012 – the first social Olympic Games – approaching, we had a unique opportunity to help everyday athletes get challenged and connected. Idea For the first time, Nike had products to track a range of sports, helping everyday athletes improve their performance. We created ‘Game On, World’ – a series of global competitions combining physical movement with digital measurement. All powered by Nike+. Impact Nike+ users jumped at the chance to play, with almost 100,000 people joining one of our physical Nike+ activations. Many more took part in virtual ‘missions’ – games in which they used their Nike+ product to compete. New members flocked to the Nike+ community too. The number of Nike+ runners alone increased by 4.2 million, and 5% of all web visits clicked through to learn more about Nike+ products. This celebration of everyday athletes during London 2012 resonated strongly in social media. With the #findgreatness hashtag, Nike became the leading sports brand associated with the Olympic Games – outstripping the official sponsor.

In July 2012 Nike+ hosted the British 10K – the country’s most prestigious road race – for the very first time. It was an opportunity to promote Nike+ as an essential accessory for runners. We made it our mission to give runners a taste of the Nike+ experience, whether or not they owned a Nike+ product - allowing runners to track and measure their performance, and giving them access to messages of encouragement from their social networks. So we created the British 10K app on Facebook. It let friends of runners send inspiring cheers from Facebook, direct to giant screens visible to runners during the race. It tracked every runners’ progress – so friends could follow them live, on their mobiles or at home. It also compiled every runners’ race results, allowing them to compare their race with any other runner.

The Under The Thumb mobile application is a ground-breaking new interactive platform for MTV that redefines how entertainment is seen and shared by the digital teenagers of Europe in several ways. When out and about, the best MTV shows – past and present – can be streamed onto mobile devices on demand for the first time. When at home, the app becomes a remote control which can be paired with a PC, laptop or connected TV for an immersive dual-screen experience. And when you’re feeling social, the app syncs your viewing with friends so you can watch shows and chat together in real time, no matter where you are. This new app needed a big launch, so key influencers were targeted at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Putting the app exclusively in the hands of journalists proved highly effective, generating front-page headlines on respected tech and mobile blogs as well as setting Twitter alight. By the end of the conference news of Under The Thumb had reached over five million tech and TV enthusiasts, generating a download a minute of the app on both iTunes and Google Play stores before MTV’s supporting advertising campaign had even launched. On launch, Apple saw the potential of Under The Thumb instantly; it featured on the iTunes Store in both the ’new and noteworthy’ section and in a promotional thumbnail. Excitement over the app’s release was instantaneous with numerous 4 and 5 star reviews by review blogs and customer feedback in the download stores. Pressure from non-participating countries has been immense, and MTV are looking to expand the app into new markets after seeing first-hand the desire of the fan-base to get MTV Under The Thumb on their mobiles.

Nike Football wanted to create a grass-roots campaign that inspired young footballers by showing them a tangible route into the pro game. It was key to ensure our audience was truly connected to the campaign and could participate in it, rather than just have it fed to them. We also wanted to expose the true football heart beneath the glossy exterior and bring our audience closer to the brand. We created the Nike Academy, an elite football school to help promising players go pro. Our 24/7 team delivered never-before-seen access to a football club via our Facebook page. The players tested themselves against Europe’s top clubs under the watchful eyes of pro scouts. And our audience got unrivaled access to pro coaches and Academy players to inspire their game like never before.

Nike Running UK wanted to engage with a younger, aspirational female audience, interest them in running, and promote the Nike+ app as the tool to run with. Music is an integral part of this audience’s lives, and pop singer Ellie Goulding genuinely loves to run, so who better to front the campaign than Ellie, using one of her own songs, specifically remixed to make it the perfect running track? AKQA filmed Ellie as she toured LA, New York City and London, running using the Nike+ app between gigs and parties. As she ran in different parts of the world, the runs were posted to her social channels with her commentary on each one, putting them in the context of her real and glamorous life, making running appealing to her audience. The campaign climaxed in a stylish film documenting her passions for running and music in equal measure, pushed through her social channels and Nike’s. The film was critically acclaimed by press and blogs worldwide: Creative Review, Fubiz.net, Campaign, Creativity Online, Ads of the World, Adrants, and more. The film was watched by 65K people in the first 2 weeks, and had over 2490 likes on facebook. Best of all, the campaign inspired thousands of Ellie’s Facebook fans to get out there and run.

Your bank, where you need it. AKQA wanted to bring ‘Helpful Banking’ to life, by making personal banking even easier for NatWest customers. To do this, AKQA designed the NatWest Mobile Banking app (the first from a UK high street bank), which allows customers to manage their money on the move, when they want, simply and securely. Customers can now view transactions, transfer money, find branches and cash machines, set balance alerts, and even top up their mobiles – wherever they are, straight from their iPhone or iPad. The top free finance app since its launch in June, 750,000 people are already using the app. Here’s what they’ve been saying on the App Store and Twitter: “Probably the simplest and most effective app I have. So easy. Cheers, NatWest.” “Easy 2 use and better than all the other banks!” “Where is the iPhone/iPad app for Metro bank? Have you seen the new NatWest iPad app? It is superb!!!!” “I've moved from HSBC to NatWest, the iPhone app + text alerts appealed.” “After seeing Santander online banking, I appreciate how good NatWest are. Even their iPhone app is great.” It’s NatWest, in your pocket.

Who is Superfly? The Mercurial Vapour Superfly III is Nike’s premium football boot designed for quick-footed strikers and wingers and some of the most exciting pro athletes in the world. For the launch of the latest model, Nike has set up a high profile social media campaign that pitches this globally array of football talent against one another in a playful debate: Who’s the fastest moving? The fastest-thinking? The most dangerous? The most stylish? Who is the most Superfly? Nike Football’s Facebook page hosts a Superfly hub aggregating the Facebook fan pages of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Iibrahimovich, Mesut Ozil, Neymar, Theo Walcott and 12 other speedy danger men. Over 20 high-energy films plus comments and content published by the players themselves drive young footballers and fans to debate which of these players has the greatest Superfly qualities. Over the first five weeks of the campaign, the Superfly hub (Facebook app) has had over 2 million users. Over 5 million fans have been added to the athlete’s Facebook pages. The campaign has seen over 1 million views of the players videos, with Cristiano’s ‘Who is Superfly?’ video (http://www.youtube.com/nikefootball#p/u/17/-M6E_vO4Koc) leading the way with over 200k views. The debate continues. Who is Superfly?

Empower women to take control of their bodies and lives and make themselves whatever they want to be. Provide them with the tools and products to enable this personal transformation through a mobile experience that's simple and effective and fits into their busy lifestyles. Ignite a get-fit revolution with a new way to work out – in their own time, on their own terms, to their own tunes. An App that combines years of Nike training expertise in a simple, premium experience. A personal trainer in your ear talking you through customised training experiences set by goal and level, all to your own music. Celebrity & athlete rewards based on training activity, all sharable in community spaces - a localised, customisable product for global markets.. The personal trainer, anytime, anywhere.

On the weekend of the London Marathon 2010, Nike invaded London’s iconic postcode system to unleash a global first – a real world gaming platform for runners.  Nike turned London streets into a running game where speed and performance count, but local knowledge has the edge. Runners came together via Facebook, registered, and then took to the grid to ‘Claim their Streets’.  How did it work?  London is your gameboard. You have 24 hours to claim your streets. 40 postcodes across London. North. South. East. West. Grid phone boxes in each postcode. Run between them. Score points. Run more. Score more. Badges awarded for speed, endurance and stamina. Play for your postcode. Get the glory. Claim the crown.  Creative responsibilities were shared between AKQA, W+K London and Mindshare. 

Nike fuses world-class training with the world’s fastest boots  Take the Brazilian Journey and get faster  Nike no longer just sells world-class boots. They deliver everything you need to get faster. The new Mercurial boots come packaged with an exclusive Nike Football+ Master Speed code – unlocking a world of top-level training and pro insights. Train with Brazilian superstars Robinho, Fabiano and Nilmar. Then race the world’s fastest player in the Cristiano Ronaldo speed test. Get faster with the fastest.  In a year when the eyes of the world were firmly on football, we gave young footballers mobile access to the world’s best training programme, featuring the Brazilian national team.  Nike Football+ revolutionises the way aspiring footballers improve their game. When they buy the Mercurial boot, they receive a code to unlock Master Speed: The Brazilian Journey – a new mix of training and storytelling.  Young players follow the authentic journey of a Brazilian hopeful. Start on Rio’s streets and futsal courts, progress to a top Brazilian club and go on to a leading European team, before earning the national shirt and entry to Brazil’s mountaintop training compound.  Every stage features drills from the Brazilian national coaches, plus insight from World Cup superstars and footballing sensations, including Robinho, Fabiano and Nilmar.  The iPhone App enables young players to take The Brazilian Journey to the pitch where they watch videos, get advice and instantly share training progress with players worldwide via social networks.  This competition increased as young players raced the world’s fastest footballer. Using their mobile, players watched the specially created Cristiano Ronaldo Speed Challenge pitch-side.  They ran the challenge and instantly posted times to the global leader board to rate themselves against players across the world and Cristiano himself. This helped push the Nike Football+ App to 1 million downloads.  We extended the mobile platform with The Brazilian Journey: Team Edition on iPad. This enabled coaches to view every player’s stats and assign bespoke, video-based training programmes, tracking and storing results all in one place.  Discover Nike+ Master Speed and get faster with the fastest. 

Nike Football+ Team Edition is an essential football app for coaches of all levels to help take their team to glory. It gives a coach the tools to improve a squad’s Speed, Control, Accuracy and Fitness – using instructional drill videos, challenges and pro insights on the iPad.  Nike Football+ Team Edition enables a user to build and customise a flexible training program, focusing on specific areas of improvement. The application brings pro drills created by the world’s greatest teams and coaches, straight to the iPad. Teams can Master Speed with Brazil, Accuracy with Juventus, and Control with Barcelona.  A coach can control every aspect of his team’s game. Creating multiple training programs and selecting specific players to take-on different challenges based on areas they need to boost.  Teams can be put to the ultimate test, taking-on the world’s fastest players in the Master Speed: Cristiano Ronaldo Challenge. There are more superstar challenges, including the Fernando Torres Challenge and Cesc Fabregas Challenge in Master Control and Master Accuracy.  Taking a team to the top of their game starts with Nike Football+ Team Edition.

AKQA and Fiat have developed eco:Drive a motor and technology first for linking drivers with in-car diagnostics, improving fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.  eco:Drive is the very latest in digital integrated technology. It is an easy-to-use computer application that connects your car to your PC. Using cutting-edge analytic software, eco:Drive dissects and evaluates your driving style and shows you ways to cut down on fuel consumption, reducing your CO2 emissions and saving you money. In fact, with consistent use of the application, you can expect to reduce your CO2 emissions by up to 15 per cent.  Driving data (in-car diagnostic information) is transferred from your Fiat to your computer, by means of a USB stick and Fiat’s Blue&Me™ technology. The eco:Drive application on your computer analyses your acceleration, deceleration, gear changes and speed. It then awards you a mark out of 100, according to how efficiently you have driven. Step-by-step tutorials then help you improve your score, giving you practical advice on how to perfect your driving style, using information from your own journeys.  eco:Drive is designed to empower Fiat drivers worldwide. As the number of users grows, so does the online eco:Drive community, enabling drivers not only to access their own performance data, but also to see where they stand within the global eco:Drive family. What is more, the system will evolve and develop with feedback from each eco:Driver taking part. As numbers grow, the application will automatically update and improve.  eco:Drive has been created for multiple markets (so units, currency and language can be tailored). Italian, French and English versions are currently available – with German and Spanish coming soon. 

Nike’s European Championships campaign inspired young footballers with a call to arms; Take it to the Next Level. But they didn’t leave it there. With the help of AKQA, they backed it up to the hilt with the most comprehensive and innovative cross-platform digital training programme ever created.  From state-of-the-art coaching techniques and 480 multi-lingual instructional videos to a mobile app of advanced training aids to take to the pitch and the ability to measure and compare performance stats online, Bootcamp blurred the boundaries of product, branding, marketing, viral and social network in the pursuit of sporting excellence.  Hundreds of thousands of young players around the globe are interacting with Bootcamp. To get a taste of the action – go to www.nikefootball.com 

To help re-establish the association between Yell.com and Yellow Pages, AKQA developed a series of interactive games using innovative 3D technology.  The campaign was made up of four 3D Rich Media banner executions. Each game set the user a fun challenge, while at the same time communicating the breadth of services available on Yell.com.  In the driving challenge, the user had to do three laps around the Yell.com logo in a set time   In the flying challenge, the user had to successfully land the helicopter on the Yell.com logo  In the golfing challenge, the user had to sink the balls in the holes in the Yell.com logo In the paintballing challenge, the user had to hit each letter in the Yell.com logo.

'Local knowledge’ is the core theme of this six-month campaign introducing Yell.com’s new strapline ‘Results for real life™’. This campaign emphasises Yell.com’s product benefits through real-life scenarios showing a useful advantage to locals and visitors alike. The campaign incorporates location-based digital outdoor concepts, online ads, posters, TV sponsorship and cinema.  Taking the simple proposition that Yell.com gives you results for real life and using media channels that allow us to target messages geographically, the advertising effectively demonstrates Yell.com’s local expertise and the breadth of information the site offers.

AKQA launched its latest work for Peperami, with the launch of the “Fanimal” World Cup campaign at www.fanimal.co.uk  It is the centrepiece of an integrated campaign designed to flood the nation with thousands of mental, shouting Peperami “Fanimal” football mascots, in time for the World Cup. Every person who buys a Peperami will receive a unique on-pack code that they enter at the web site to see if they have won a Fanimal. If they have not won, they will have a second chance by playing ‘Rant at the Ref’, where the aim of the game is to be sent off by successfully heckling a celebrity football referee. AKQA cast legendary former Premiership ref, and Match of the Day star Jeff Winter as the star of the game and site.  AKQA has also created an interactive online advertising campaign, where executions allow people to pick up and throw the Fanimal around the screen to hear him rant. It will run on sites including Sky Sports and Football365 in May.

Nike asked us to create a new way to use their athletes and entertainment content to drive consumers directly to their NikeStore online retail site.  We created NikeStore HOTSPOT, an interactive video feature that allows viewers to discover more about Nike product featured in the video simply by rolling over animated hotspots – before linking directly to purchase.  NikeStore Hotspot turns every piece of Nike branded content into a potential direct route to purchase. 

On 1 April AKQA released Alpine Legend, a spoof and homage to popular music gaming titles such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, to celebrate Xbox sponsorship of the Snowbombing Music Festival. With almost a million views to date, the film promotes a fictitious music game exclusive to the Xbox 360. Within hours of being released, Alpine Legend was causing a massive stir on gaming and video sites, blogs and community forums, and created a 400% lift in visitors to Xbox.com. Twitter has also been brimming with coverage and in terms of media attention, the film has graced the pages of The Times and been featured on CNN and Kotaku's Best Of.

Feelgood tunes for a feelgood car -  Summer 2009 saw the launch of a jaunty new addition to the Fiat 500 family: the Fiat 500C, the convertible version of the iconic 500 supermini. To celebrate the arrival of the ultimate feelgood car, Fiat and Spotify teamed up to create a social media first: a branded playlist of feelgood summer tunes, as contributed by Spotify users. Audio and banner ads on Spotify invited music lovers to click through to the campaign landing page and add their favourite happy tracks. Twitter updates kept people posted when songs were added, encouraging further click-throughs and generating conversations on a timeless theme: ‘What’s your all-time favourite tune’? 

Nike Football+ revolutionises the way players improve their game. Players buy the CTR360 boot and get a code. This unlocks Elite Training from FC Barcelona’s coaches featuring Cesc Fabregas and Andrés Iniesta. Young players worldwide share training progress via social networks. And it was all launched with a world-first Facebook takeover with Cesc Fabregas. 

To develop an online presence for the Trident Gum brand within the UK market to support the release of Trident Gum into the UK in January 2007. To provide an online information source for all consumers who want to find out more about Trident gum. To raise awareness of Trident Gum as a new chewing gum brand and provide an unparalleled user experience through innovation and entertainment/content delivery, given that chewing gum is a relatively low interest category.  

AKQA wanted to create a piece of activity that would leverage the enormous success of Heineken’s “Walk In Fridge” TV spot, which gained over 15m views online before being put on-air in the UK last year. The idea needed to reflect Heineken’s premium brand values, and engage the core audience. To do this, AKQA created a real Walk-in Fridge, and hid it behind a branded fridge door at a premium outdoor location in Chelsea. The idea was to allow our audience to have their own Walk-in Fridge experience and recreate the moment of surprise and delight made famous in the spot. But the Walk-in Ad was not meant to be easy to find or to access – only a secret word, seeded on the Heineken Facebook page, would open it. On provision of this magic word, the burly bouncers flushed with glee and opened the door to the sound of a choir of angels singing. Inside, the guys were treated to an ice cold bottle of Heineken and to some amazing close-up street magic from rock’n’roll magician Pete Hathway. A photographer was on hand to capture the revelations and reactions, with photos instantly posted on the Heineken facebook page. Over two thirds of all visitors tagged themselves and commented on the experience.