Nike: Fearless Virtual Race

In its ongoing commitment to keep runners running, Nike has partnered with R/GA London to create the 'Fearless Virtual Race', a virtual running program designed to keep runners engaged throughout lockdowns and create a stronger sense of community. Whilst a new year comes with renewed optimism, the lack of sporting events on the horizon for athletes puts their progress in danger, and quashes their goals before they get off the ground. So as 2021 continues to unfold, with more and more sporting events, including marathons, being cancelled, the Fearless Virtual Race was created by Nike to bring a stronger sense of optimism for runners. On April 11th 2021, Nike EMEA hosted its first official Fearless Virtual race through the NIke Running Club App to coincide with what should have been the Berlin Half, Milan Marathon & Paris Marathons. R/GA London partnered with Nike on a series of four editorials that went live in the Nike Running Club app to launch the Fearless Virtual Race. These included the ‘Run Club City’, which told the stories of local Run clubs and their members to show the community the connection running as a team can create. This also focused on how these clubs and their members kept motivated to keep running throughout lockdown. R/GA also created a pre-race digital version of a pre-race pack, including curated playlists, a printable race number and bib so runners could feel the part when it’s pinned to their running top, and links to pre-existing editorials on nutrition, sleep and recovery. R/GA London also partnered with Nike by creating the Project Fearless HypeFilm, which launched on the Nike Running Club app over the weekend, as well as was reposted on the @nikerunning and @nikelondon Instagram handles.