Nike Run Club

We wanted to offer members variety in the subject matter, medium and delivery of content they’d receive as part of the in-app experience. To this end, we worked with experts to gain invaluable insight into the competitive challenges ahead for runners and how to encourage the marathon mindset.

Our communications team joined forces with seasoned professional ultra runner and specialist journalist Kieran Alger - a self-confessed borderline running obsessive with 43 marathons under his belt - and Cory Wharton Malcolm - the highly experienced leader and trainer of renowned London run crew Track Mafia, Nike Head Coach, and Director of Sporting Change. Together we worked to combine their sporting experience and in-depth knowledge with our strategic communications expertise.

This combination of skills delivered content across a raft of subjects. From choosing the right footwear to injury management and on-going motivational advice. We were also challenged to tailor content to both eager first-timers heading to the start line of a half or full marathon, alongside more experienced marathoners looking to push beyond their personal bests.

Together we produced a raft of in-app long-form editorial articles for participants to scroll through, alongside films delivered by Coach Cory, in an effort to help move members successfully and positively, along their training journeys.

The challenge was to present new content in a compelling way that would work symbiotically in the hero environment of Nike Run Club.

Each article presented new information as a step along the path to marathon achievement and was presented to members as their training weeks picked up pace.

We covered myriad topics. From practical challenges of understanding the how’s, why's and benefits of different footwear, to maintaining a motivational mindset, how to prevent and avoid injury and the all-important race day prep.

Alongside the articles we also produced a series of films, that worked as part of the in-app coaching process for participants.

Nike Run Club would check in every fortnight, enquiring on the state of training play and to see how the individual members were finding their marathon journey at each stage.

This interaction was punctuated with the offer of solutions to some common challenges - finding it hard to fit training demands into a busy lifestyle, getting enough rest, dealing with a lack of motivation or injury and so on.

To help members combat these issues, we worked with our friends, Coach Cory and members of the London based Track Mafia crew. Producing a series of films, we offered insight from a raft of runners with a range of expertise, detailing how coach and crew themselves, deal with and conquer the very same issues.