Key insight:
As gyms around the world closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, people have been trying all manner of ways to stay fit while being mostly stuck at home. Some have been wildly creative, like a French man who reportedly ran the equivalent of a marathon in laps on his balcony.
Brands are filling the gaps as well. Home-based workout programs like Peloton have offered up free trials, which seems a savvy move considering the brand has had to close its showrooms. Other platforms like PopSugar have also jumped in to give consumers free access to their own fitness apps and programs.
Today, Nike is joining the mix as well, giving consumers access to the premium features of the Nike Training Club (NTC) app. In classic Nike style, the effort is supported with a super-simple, clean ad with copywriting that the brand and its agency, Wieden + Kennedy, are known for.
The subscription-based service includes studio-style workouts, training programs and tips from the athletic giant’s master trainers. Some of the brand’s top athletes including Sue Bird, Tiger Woods, Elena Delle Donne, Serena Williams and Saquon Barkley have been amplifying the brand’s message across their social channels.
The move follows Nike’s COVID-19 community response earlier in the week, committing more than $15 million to response efforts. Nike’s chairman emeritus and co-founder Phil Knight and wife Penny, executive chairman of the board (and former CEO) Mark Parker and wife Kathy, and the brand’s current president and CEO John Donahoe and wife Eileen are personally donating a combined $10 million.
Those funds will support some of the brand’s hometown organizations including the Oregon Food Bank ($1 million), the Oregon Community Recovery Fund created by the Oregon Community Foundation ($2 million) and Oregon Health & Science University ($7 million) to improve statewide care coordination, increase patient access and ramp up operational readiness for expanded diagnostic testing for COVID-19.
The Nike Foundation also announced a $1 million donation to the global COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund that was created by the United Nations Foundation and Swiss Philanthropy Foundation to support the World Health Organization and its partners.
The brand’s foundation also chipped in to aid the Oregon Community Recovery Fund, community organizations in the EMEA region, the Mid-South Food Bank and Community Foundation of Greater Memphis (Nike has operations in the city, including the brand’s largest distribution center), and the Boston Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund.
