Nike follows Japan marathoners on 'Re:Run' for redemption

Client: Nike

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo

Market: Japan

Campaign scope: 'Re:Run', a series of online films.

Details: The brand and agency found three women who had failed to finish a previous marathon attempt, followed them for two months and helped them train for the 2015 Nagoya Women's Marathon in, which took place on 8 March. Films detailing each woman's story hit YouTube on 6 March (see below), and then the brand used its social channels to cover their progress in the 2015 race as it happened. A final film (above) recapped the whole story.

Press release quote: "A marathon is more than just running 42.195 kilometers, at least for these three women ... The documentary film series 'Re:Run' celebrates the transformative journeys of three women who made it through to the finish line to determine their own destinies."

Campaign Asia Pacific's comments: Unlike glossy, stylised 30-second commercials, the work here connects because it is so personal. The filmmakers wisely chose an oral-history approach, so the only voices we hear are the women's own as they first reveal their feelings of failure and inferiority—doubts that are in no way limited to their running—and then overcome those barriers.

CREDITS: PDF

Here are the three individual stories.

Nao:

Natsumi:

Kana: