We wanted to inspire every type of athlete during the 2016 Games with one thought: unlimited potential. “Unlimited” was an inspirational call for athletes to keep going beyond their limits, and then go beyond this limit in really fun, exciting ways.

Nike used the Unlimited campaign to tell stories of the surprises that can happen when athletes of all levels—including superstars, babies, and at least one quadruple amputee—push past what they thought were the limits of their abilities.

Our approach:

- Own conversation ahead of the Games: In July, Nike launched a 23-market social media blitz across Twitter and Weibo, where 216 global Nike athletes shared limits they’ve overcome in concert with the release of Nike’s Unlimited Future film. This was Twitter’s largest first-view and promoted trend activation ever, and included the alpha activation of its Moments product.

- Impact at the Opening Ceremony: We orchestrated a global launch of the brand’s anthem film, “Unlimited You,” across TV, digital takeovers, and mass-reaching social platforms.

- Align efforts to local energy: To sustain Nike’s presence with maximum relevancy, the following 16 days allowed markets to turn local insights into unique Unlimited approaches. For example, we built tentpole moments around events that drive live prime-time viewing in the US, got Brazilians to move their bodies via Nike’s innovative activity-for-data telecom partnership, and took over urban landmarks with high-impact activations in China.

Unlimited achieved our goal of making Nike the most relevant brand of the Olympics, specifically tackling our three objectives:

Be the most talked about brand:

- Most talked about brand in USA and Brazil (source: Twitter)

- Highest share of voice in China (source: Kantar)

Create the most engagement:

- 1.6B Unlimited film views

- 109M social engagements

- 50% more engagements in the US than rival Adidas, as well as Under Armour, Samsung, and P&G (source: Origami Logic)

- Most searched for brand in Brazil (source: Google)

- All-time most viewed Weibo opening ad in China; the highest-ever social interaction rate for a brand on the platform (source: Weibo)

Strengthen the connection between everyday athletes and the Nike brand:

- Most remembered Olympics ad (source: AdWeek)

- Most seen Olympics campaign (source: Ad Age)

- 8% revenue surge (source: Nike) for the quarter ending immediately after the Olympics (8/31/16)