Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai’s latest stunt for Nike reveals who really makes the world go round

Last Saturday, the people of Shanghai rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they saw a person running on top of a 50 meter tall giant spinning globe. His running made the world go round and as he ran faster the world spun faster.

The latest stunt for the company, “Running makes the world go round”, marked the launch of Nike’s new running campaign “Choose Go” and introduced Nike Epic React to a wider audience in China.

WATCH THE CONCEPT

To create the illusion, Nike China and long term creative partner Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai hijacked the globe-shaped Metro City building in downtown Shanghai and built a 5 meter tall invisible screen on top to project runners who were actually running on a treadmill across the street in real time. The speed of the earth’s rotation was connected to the speed of the runners on the treadmill so people could see how their run affected the rotation of the earth.

Nike invited local celebrities and athletes to participate like Su Bingtian ‘the fastest man in China’ who broke the Asian sprint record three times in two months and Edison Chen who pioneered street fashion in China. Their names were projected onto the spinning globe as they ran: “Su Bingtian makes the world go round”, “Edison Chen makes the world go round” etc…

The event sparked national interest as TV channels covered the story live and the event was live streamed to millions of fans on social channels. In less than two hours the event was viewed by more than 2 million people online and over 2.7 million in one day.

Credits –

Nike Brand Design: Sally Zou