Case study: experiential marketing gets social

Now in its eighth year, the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards identify and celebrate outstanding marketing by organisations, individuals and teams. The shortlist for the 2017 Awards have just been announced. As we wait for the winners to be revealed at the Awards Ceremony on 27 April 2017 in London, we look back at the work of 2016 winner, EventsTag, the London and New York based social tech agency, and its work for Nike.

We own the night

EventsTag won the Digital Social Media SME award in 2016 for its work with Nike on its women’s 10k night racing series. Dubbed, “We own the night”, the races take place across five cities: London, Milan, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin. Nike asked the company to engage participants and spectators at running events using social media channels such as Instagram and Twitter.

In London, the race took place in a festival atmosphere around Victoria Park, with refreshment tents and support from Nike Master Trainers. After the race, DJ sets kept the party going.  

This video from the London 2014 race series captures the atmosphere.

Curating content for shareability

Thousands of women took part in the energetic race series. The events are a celebration of running with friends and enjoying the music with neon colours lighting up the night.

As well as working with Nike to create vibrant designs and an involving social media experience for runners at the finish line, EventsTag focused on curating content including newbies working through their training plans prior to the race, being able to share weekly runs on social media to build momentum.

EventsTag explain:

“With a targeted digital campaign leading up to the series, we extended Nike's photo collection to include 6 months prior to the first event. The allowed their social team to carefully manage user generated content posted prior to the run days. Our on-site support team then maintained a real-time moderation dashboard to approve new photos to the Instagram walls throughout each race.”

The outcome – involvement and reach

EventsTag helped Nike capture, manage and display emotive images, generating a total reach of 55,000,000 for the brand.

Over 8,000 runners around Europe contributed Instagram photos to the #WeOwnTheNight hashtag which were showcased on stage within social slideshows at all five cities.

More case studies from 2016 winners

Case study: risks of traditional pastime exposed

Case study: when is it Bad Betty?

Awards Ceremony 2017

To attend the Awards Ceremony, on 27 April 2017 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, contact the Marketing Excellence Awards team.