Nike Unexpected Run Conversation

During my time as a Creative Director at Buck, I collaborated with the Nike NYC team to create the "Unexpected Run Conversations." Nike NYC came to us with a great idea: They wanted to pair artists with athletes’ stories to create inspiring content for the NYC running community. We were invited to spearhead the campaign through a series of spots that mixed live-action and animation, each profiling a different runner and each featuring the work of a different BUCK artist. After selecting three artists from our roster of talented folks, we were off and running with the Nike crew.

We started with research, crafted the scripts, and led the interview process with each of the athletes being profiled. After selecting three artists from our talented roster, we were off and running with the Nike crew. For each episode, we mixed live-action and animation, profiling a different runner and featuring the work of a different Buck artist. We partnered with a live-action director to determine the overall look and feel of the live-action portion of the spots and did the design and animation in-house. Our post-production team delivered the edit quickly, and we got it to the finish line without pulling a hammy.

Episode 1: Shalane Flanagan, an American long-distance runner, Olympic medalist, and New York City Marathon champion. We picked up her story as she was leaving retirement to run all six world majors in just 42 days.

I was the Creative Director for the campaign, but on this particular episode I also happend to be the lead artist.

Lead Artist: Ege Soyuer ︎

Episode 2: Old Man Run Club, an NYC community for runners of all ages.

Lead Artist: Simone Norohna

Episode 3: Thomas Panek, the first blind runner to finish a half marathon in New York. He alos is the the president and founder of Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a non-profit which trains guide dogs for people with severe vision loss. Interviewing him was extremely inspiring, to say the least.

Lead Artist: Lucas Brooking

It was an amazing experience, and we were truly blessed to have the creative freedom to tell these inspirational stories. This was a great opportunity for me as a Creative Director, leading the vision of the entire project, and as a lead artist, shaping Episdoe 1. We loved working with our partners at Nike and appreciate the trust they put in our team.

Project
Unexpected Run Club

Client

Nike

Summary
Campaign

Studio
BUCK

Roll
Creative Director

Ege Soyuer, Creative Director & Artist