Issue #127 - Nike Pegasus on TikTok

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Welcome to Good TikTok Creative!

We are Simon Andrews and Anthony McGuire, two people who have been working in marketing, advertising, and media for decades.

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TikTok Case Study = Nike Pegasus

Simon’s Take:

The new Air film (on Amazon Prime) tells the story of the firm pitching Michael Jordan and the consequent development of the Air basketball shoes. The back story is that Nike was already a $billion company but was all about running. Only with Michael did they conquer other sports.

But now running is really competitive with emerging brands like ON talking the high end and other brands being seen as more authentic.

So the new activity from Nike is all about product - the new Pegasus 40 - but it's done in an on brand way, starting with a 60 second TikTok ad asking the perennial question What type of runner are you?

This ad features a range of running personalities, identified in a fun way and with a distinct graphic style. Viewers are invited to take the test.

A number of paid partnerships get over the concept by having different types of runners take the test, using the pegasus effect. Creators include boxer @joshuagustave, French triathletes @aeroflow_, fitness coach @hollyb_fitness and marathon runner @lucyannesruns.

Because running covers so many different activities the question makes for entertaining answers and many of the 853 videos run longish - so the footprint of the campaign is big. 

Each person using the effect gets allocated to one of the types featured in the launch and because of the way they use the graphic style introduced in the launch video, everything is clearly branded.

The hashtag used #NikePegasus has 64m views and variants do well too; #NikePegasus40 has 4.6m and #NikePegasus39 has 3m.

I think the smart use of effects with the support of the right creators is the next way to stand out on TikTok, but Nike makes it look easier than it actually is.

Perhaps the only gripe is that the Pegasus effect doesn't make it to the @Nike organic content, but for a global brand with such a wide range of product, I can see that could be hard to manage.

Anthony’s Take:

The Nike Pegasus ad passes the audition of capturing your attention while scrolling through TikTok. The big bold letters create a caption that provokes curiosity - asking the question “WHAT TYPE OF RUNNER ARE YOU?”

The video then proceeds into a kind of turbo-charged and wacky, bright vivid spectacle. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. This reminds me of the aesthetic from that famous Nike “Nothing Beats A Londoner” commercial. The video then becomes borderline surreal, as we see this person running through a park and then picking up anthropomorphic characters to join her on a run. It’s like a modern Wizard of Oz-templated British comedy sketch show…squeezed into a Nike running ad.

I’m not sure how the Nike marketing team distinguishes this type of content from others, but I’m personally more used to the serious aspirational Nike content that portrays ordinary people like Olympic heroes. But in this case of Nike Pegasus, and specifically on TikTok, this wacky aesthetic really works.

As Simon mentioned, these days people have many different choices of running shoe. Apart from the obvious contenders in Adidas, younger brands like On Running, Hoka, and Salomon are chasing younger runners who may have more malleable brand loyalty. In the case of the Nike Pegasus, Nike appears to be taking a more lighthearted positioning. And with the collaboration with smaller creators on this TikTok campaign, the Nike Pegasus appears more approachable than a brand like On Running, who prominently feature Roger Federer.

The idea of posing a question and then soliciting responses from UGC isn’t new. But this TikTok campaign adds two more layers of interaction. The first layer is the hero video asking people how they run. The second layer is content creators and influencers posting. The third layer is user-generated content. Using uniquely TikTok AR filters, people can answer questions.

Overall, it’s a solid campaign and honestly stands out when compared to other brands people would be considering for running shoes.

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