International competition puts the world’s best athletes on the biggest stages. For athletic apparel brands, those athletes can become powerful ambassadors. As neck-to-toe sponsor of Canada Lacrosse, Nike was looking to build hype around the upcoming World Championships—and the official gear the legendary brand provided the athletes. The Martin Group partnered with Nike to build a campaign focusing on Team Canada’s run to the gold-medal game while showcasing the gear that helped get them there.
In the initial phase, The Martin Group gathered two of the sport’s top personalities, Buffalo Bandits star Josh Byrne, and Duke standout Dyson Williams. As each player saw their custom shoes, shirts, gloves, and jerseys for the first time, The Martin Group was on location to capture both stills and video. The final deliverables were displayed on Nike Lacrosse and Lacrosse Canada’s Instagram pages: one primary unboxing video and two shorter take-downs.
As the unboxing experience was spreading across the platform, Canada was cruising through the tournament. On their way to a championship-game rematch with Team USA, Nike asked The Martin Group to prepare a video montage to support the team and build awareness of the historic matchup, and we were able to blend the content we shot before the tournament with in-game footage from the team’s first few games.
While the game didn’t end in Canada’s favor, The Martin Group was actually able to support Nike’s partnership with USA Lacrosse through a print ad congratulating Team USA (another Nike team) on their victory.
During the 10-day World Championships, the Lacrosse Canada Instagram account more than doubled its followers and the four video posts racked up nearly 4,000 likes and 50 comments. And while tangible results are always crucial to any campaign, anecdotal responses also can offer valuable insights: the work our team provided received high praise from throughout Nike and from both Canada Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse.