Gareth James, executive creative director at Tullo Marshall Warren reviews the Nike Chosen campaign.

Certain sports, particularly the more traditionally underground ones like Skateboarding, BMX, Surf and Snowboarding have a tendency to resist the appearance of larger ‘mainstream’ brands in their scene, preferring brands that are more ‘authentic’.

Faithful support is historically reserved for ‘Rider Owned’ or ‘Skater Owned’ shops, local companies or brands that have been embedded in the culture of the sport since day one (Vans for example). So Nike, being a mainstream brand, has had to work very hard to be ‘allowed in’ to the Action Sports circle.

Chosen, Nike’s latest addition to its ‘Just Do It’ campaign, shows how far the brand has come in the world of Action Sports. It is a fully integrated promotion featuring TV, digital display, social media, events and POS, running across 23 markets.

It celebrates the best of the best athletes and (more importantly) sets out to inspire and push everyone else that goes out there and ‘does it’.

The campaign launched with a film that premiered online and on American TV this month, featuring some of the best talent from the world of BMX, Skate, Surf and Snow, performing in their favourite spots under cover of night.

Simply put, the footage is stunning: ground breaking manoeuvres, challenging terrain and super slick styling make it more reminiscent of a rock concert than your standard ‘extreme sports’ fare – it elevates the action to art with beautifully shot night time footage that oozes style and inspires the viewer to go out and do it, with a Nike tick.

After the bar is set by the film, we get the participation call to action – get your crew together, get your camera out and submit a video featuring your crew’s creativity and style. The winners, selected by fans, athletes and Nike, get the ultimate prize of premium travel, exclusive events and custom Nike products – “the experience of a lifetime”.

It’s a format we’ve seen from many brands asking for user generated content but this time it works. YouTube and Vimeo are full of the action and antics of the target audience already and Nike cleverly taps into this existing behavior, getting some great brand engagement to boot.

The campaign appears to have been widely accepted, earning Nike a place in the Action Sports fold and no doubt shifting a lot of product to a new audience too.

Interestingly, this says as much about Nike’s acceptance by a niche group as it does about how mainstream Action Sports have become today.