Nike leans into empowering IGTV series with 'Fight for Your Dream'

Brief:

Nike released another video series on IGTV, Instagram's standalone video app, this time to share stories of four female athletes who are rising stars in boxing, wrestling and taekwondo. The "Fight for Your Dream" series will roll out a full season of similar videos throughout the year, according to a statement shared with Mobile Marketer
Developed with agency Conscious Minds, the IGTV series highlights Somali-British boxing champion Ramla Ali, Lebanese-German boxing champion Zeina Nassar, Turkish world champion wrestler Yasemin Adar and Turkish Taekwondo champion Irem Yaman.
Their inspiring stories range from their families' struggles in coming to terms with their careers in fighting, to one woman's battle to wear a hijab while competing, to another woman's desire to be the best, even after a decade of failure.

Insight:

Instead of focusing on traditional product ads, Nike is leaning into inspiring stories and focusing on overall health and well-being in an effort to resonate with mobile consumers and spur positive associations with the brand. As the #MeToo movement raises awareness about the mistreatment of women and gender stereotypes, the stories of female athletes who are breaking barriers in fighting sports is particularly poignant.

Nike's "Fight for Your Dream" series follows last year's rollout of "My Crazy Dream" that highlighted inspiring stories of everyday athletes. Conscious Minds also produced that series exclusively for IGTV. Nike producing a second series exclusively for IGTV likely indicates that the first one performed well and resonated with viewers.

Nike is among the brands working to develop a presence on IGTV since Instagram launched the long-form video hub last year to compete more directly with YouTube. Brewing giant AB InBev launched a campaign on IGTV to reach craft beer fans who are interested in beverages beyond the company's traditional top brands like Budweiser and Bud Light. Mercedes-Benz celebrated the 130th anniversary of the first long-distance drive with a short film on the video platform, marking the first cinematic production to be featured on IGTV. Chipotle and National Geographic also tested the platform as more consumers seek out longer-form video content online.

While brands are experimenting with fresh ways to connect with consumers, Instagram is doing the same as it seeks to boost viewership for IGTV, whose user numbers weren't disclosed in parent company Facebook's earnings report last week. CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointed out that Instagram usage of Stories had climbed past 500 million daily active users. Instagram's 1 billion users watch 60% more video on the image-sharing app than a year earlier, Fast Company reported, and IGTV this week added video previews to Instagram to drive viewership to the standalone app, which appears to not have caught on among consumers as quickly as some had hoped.