Strategy
Nike wanted to launch a student-led pilot program at The Ohio State University to inspire a diversity of movement in every corner of the college campus. Uncorked Studios brought me on to support the strategy of the program, workshop facilitation with the student cohort, and marketing for on-campus activation. Nike U Move, formerly known as Nike Project Move, launched its first iteration in August 2019.
Goals
Launch a proof of concept on the OSU campus
Gain stakeholder buy-in at Nike
Opportunity
This was a first-of-its-kind program. There was risk in having college students be brand ambassadors for Nike. However, we went through a thorough vetting process to narrow 300 applications down to the top 15 students.
Research
While we didn't perform a ton of research ahead of the launch, we used the initial launch at the Workshop at Nike WHQ to be our first in-person opportunity to interview the participants to understand the pain points they experience in regards to movement on campus.
Ideation
Workshop Facilitation
The 15-student cohort was brought to Nike World Headquarters (WHQ) for a first-of-its-kind workshop hosted by my team and featured prominent guest speakers such as Kevin Carroll, Coach Bennett, and other Nike employees. This workshop acted as a model for the students on how to create their own movements on their campus.
I was responsible for creating workshop session materials, assisting the students in conceptualizing project ideas, prioritizing ideas based on the highest impact, and identifying the steps it will take to make the project come to fruition on their campus.
Execution
Outside of the strategy, planning, workshop facilitation, and marketing support, I also supported the team on the website design. The purpose of the website was to:
Accept applications from students
Showcase the current projects on campus
Provide validation for internal Nike stakeholders
As the students went back to Ohio to prototype their concepts and activate their projects on their campus, my team continued to meet virtually to educate, equip, and inspire the cohort. I assisted the students in marketing and communication efforts to disseminate their project information in every corner of The Ohio State University's campus.
Results
COVID-19 Curveball
Due to the pandemic, the first year of Project Move did not end as planned. However, we were still able to see one project launch on campus and document the cohort's experience. To close out the first year, we had a virtual party where we shared a special "Thank You" video to the cohort of the first 15.
Expansion
However, after the success of the program, Project Move expanded to University of Texas. They have since shifted their focus more to a campus-wide game that celebrates the movement of every student body.
Rebrand
With this expansion, the branding needed an update. The first iteration of the logo was done quickly and in practice, it was learned that it was hard to use in multiple scenarios. We needed to rebrand the program both to give it new life and to fix some of the technical design problems. Since then, it has been rebranded again to U Move.
Reflection
Skills acquired:
Due to the nature of the pandemic, I learned how to successfully collaborate remotely.