Nike Music Shoe
The Nike Free+ is a sneaker with an extremely flexible sole. We created an "instrument" that produces sound when the sneaker is bent, and used it in a music video performed by musicians. We did this because the performance itself serves as a "Hyper Product Demonstration," effectively showcasing the shoe's flexibility. Please also take a look at the behind-the-scenes footage to learn more.
Behind the scene
Creating an instrument from a shoe was a first-time experience for all the staff involved. Moreover, when it came to having musicians actually play it, a very high level of precision was required. Although we had limited time, thanks to the entire team working together, we somehow managed to pull it off.
One part that particularly stands out to me personally is the intro. The decision to go with the intro from "2001: A Space Odyssey" was made around 1 am the night before the shoot (technically, the same day). After finishing a meeting with the musicians HIFANA, I went home, searched for the song on YouTube, created a sound file by ear, sent it to the team around 3 am, and then headed straight to the shoot. It was a close call and is now a fond memory, but it was truly a last-minute situation. 😅
Presentation video
Additionally, I put a video of myself performing for the presentation. At this stage, of course the Music Shoe didn’t exist yet. But I placed an iPhone inside the shoe, launched the some synthesizer app, and played it with my thumb while bending the shoe. This setup ensured the video and sound were very synchronized, making it easy to visualize the final product. After showing the video, I even performed live in front of the client. The client was amazed and exclaimed, "It's already done!" Naturally, the presentation went smoothly, and we immediately decided to proceed with this idea.
RT Tasuki
In Japan, there's a major sports event known as the "Hakone Ekiden," which is a long-distance relay race for university teams.
We developed a cheering system for five universities sponsored by Nike, called the RT Tasuki. Traditionally, a tasuki is a sash used as a baton in ekiden races. We created various ASCII art pieces featuring the tasuki and shared them from Nike's Twitter account. All people need to do is retweet these posts. We designed it this way to avoid distracting them from watching the race.
Once retweeted, these posts appear on a special website where they connect to form an extended tasuki. We've dubbed this "Tasukii ART." 😁
Girl Runs Boy
We launched a social media campaign for the Lunarglide+ 5, a line of women's running shoes. The campaign featured the tagline "Girl Runs Boy" and introduced a unique running challenge game on Facebook. In this game, only women could issue challenges to men. Women were able to set the date, time, and distance of the challenge without the men's prior consent. While men had the option to ignore the challenge, doing so would result in the app posting an image declaring the woman the winner and the man as having backed out. The app was integrated with the Nike+ app, which determined the outcome of the challenge.