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Nike and the Metaverse
- umamacommunication
- Apr 3, 2022
- 2 min read
This year, Nike launched its new digital portal called “Airtopia'' as a result of today's generations being largely invested in technology and gaming systems. Nike shares a virtual platform with Roblox called Nikeland, where they decided to develop the metaverse of Airtopia. This new way of marketing has greatly contributed to the sales of Nike’s Air Max sneakers because younger generations view the shoe as something more than just a physical object. Instead of receiving only a cool pair of sneakers, children are able to gain a digital membership into the Airtopia metaverse.
To make this idea come to life, Nike reached out to “three child creatives from the Play Council-its kids advisory board”(Kiefer) to design the online world of Airtopia using their imaginations. The setting of Airtopia is supposed to reflect the inside air pocket of the sneaker design. Nike took advantage of using their child creatives in order to reach their target audience of younger generations. The child creatives’ ideas, such as “Air-lien characters…and a virtual pet store”(Kiefer), were placed into the actual game. Overall, the children thought that Airtopia should represent “an Air Max spaceship that has crashed into Nikeland”(Jardine). Additionally, Nike expanded their inflow of Air Max metaverse ideas by allowing other children a part of Airtopia to vote on things that they want the virtual world to include. By doing this, Nike is allowing its audience to have a part in contributing to its marketing strategies so that they can produce the best customer experience.
Every year, Nike holds an “Nike Air Max Day” on March 26th which is supported by different agencies. The focus of this year’s annual celebration was the kids Air Max shoe and that is why they have focused on developing a metaverse for children. The main contributing agency of this year’s campaign for Airtopia was AnalogFolk Amsterdam. They were the leading factor in suggesting a marketing strategy led by kids. The metaverse will remain open for enjoyment until April 9th, unless it is made permanent. Therefore, Airtopia is acting as a test-run for Nike to try a new approach at marketing their products. Due to younger generations being the ones mostly using the metaverse, Nike has had to remain cautious about online conduct. Any digital platform runs the risk of producing negative environments where children abuse the ability to act inappropriately. If Nike’s digital platform mistakenly encourages such things then it would be very bad for the brand. So far, Nike has not experienced any negative backlash from their creation of Airtopia, but it could be a possibility in the future if they decide to keep the campaign open for more than three weeks. Brand safety is a key factor to ensuring that Nike’s new marketing strategies towards children are successful.
By: Piper Finn '25
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