Wish I Did That

In a Nutshell: A virtual race between men and women, merging 3-D visualization with real-time user running data, incentivizing Nike+ runners to run more.

Why I Wish I Did It: I’m not really into digital toys. I love things that are creative utilities or clear demonstrations rather than beautifully crafted distractions.

This latest installment in Nike’s “versus” moves beyond geographies such as North vs. South London and onto the battle of the sexes. The strategy is smart because it is built from an insight into one of the things that motivates runners—competition. The team has found another way to bring that to life in an interesting way with some nice real-time visualizations. My only build would be some of the criteria which are maybe male-biased—e.g., average pace. I’d love to see a level such as “consistency” that recognizes who gets out there and runs everyday.

This is a periodic installment that asks an agency guru to highlight a project from Google’s Creative Sandbox, an online gallery of standout campaigns that blend creativity and technology.