The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2022
Nike's '5 Minutes More' storybook lets a girl show her mum the joy of sport
Nike Middle East tucks its argument into a children's storybook: a girl helps her mum see sport from a new perspective.
Nike
What it had to solve
Public schools in the Middle East have only recently begun encouraging physical education, so most parents never experienced sport themselves and see it as a distraction from more important things. Nike needed children and parents to start a conversation about playing sport together.
How it works
Public schools in the Middle East have only recently started to encourage physical education, so most parents grew up without sport and treat it as a distraction from study. Nike needed children and parents to start talking about playing sport together — a conversation a campaign aimed only at kids could not have.
Wieden+Kennedy's answer was an innocent-looking storybook with a deeper meaning: the tale of a young girl who helps her mum see sport from a new perspective. Reading the book aloud turns the brand's argument into a family moment instead of a pitch.
The book gives the generational divide a story both sides can share, and D&AD's archive files the work under Book Design — design whose real job was to start a conversation about play at home.
Why it lands
- A storybook is read aloud at home, the one place the parent-child conversation Nike needed could actually happen.
- Telling the story from the girl's side lets the parent hear the case for sport from the child who loves it, not from a brand.
- The innocent children's-book format disarms the adult who would switch off an ad telling them exercise matters.
- It names the true obstacle — a generation of parents who never experienced sport — instead of lecturing them for saying no.
What it did
The book moved Nike's pitch from screen to bedtime, giving the argument for sport a form a parent and child meet together. D&AD's archive keeps the work among its Book Design entries.
What you can take
When the decision-maker never experienced your product's joy, put the argument in the voice of someone they trust — a child's story can open a conversation an ad cannot reach.
Since then
The storybook sits in D&AD's awards archive under Book Design as an example of design that persuades rather than decorates. Its deeper move — handing the argument to a child — shows how a brand can enter a family conversation it would never be invited to join directly.
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