Challenge

How might we sustain authentic credibility within a tightly-knit football community when Nike is a big part of every other sport as well?

Nike was looking to strengthen its position in football and find a way to become closer to football culture, taking on a more authentic presence in communities.

Transformation

Instead of following the stereotype of typical sports campaigns, we abandoned the status quo to connect with Nike's audience on a more human level.

Leveraging the insight that street football culture is present across the planet, we created Concrete Football (Ballon sur Bitume), the first ever documentary on street football culture, broadcast live on our own media (yard.media) and internationally on Netflix.

Following the success of Concrete Football, Nike commissioned three further documentaries showcasing life in French urban areas through the lens of sport and culture.

Ousmane (2018) gave the floor to the phenomenon Ousmane Dembélé and his entourage. Footeuses (2020) specifically focused on young women trying to live out their dream. Le Jardin (2021) offered a deep dive into the mental challenges facing young professional players.

Impact

Football inspired by the streets, connecting with football lovers in an authentic way is now the cornerstone of Nike’s global football strategy.

After more than 2M views on our YouTube channel, Concrete Football was bought by Netflix and streamed across 150 international markets, and spent three weeks as one of Netflix’s most watched content. During a 3-year long run on Netflix, Nike Football’s brand relevance improved drastically in key markets, spurring future documentaries and continued success.

Footeuses was broadcast in cinemas across France and Ousmane is now paid for premium content on the FC Barcelona video channel.