Behind the Work: Nike Air Max Graffiti Stores
Luiza Baffa, Managing Director at AKQA São Paulo, and Renato Zandoná, Executive Creative Director at AKQA São Paulo, discuss tapping into street culture and going up against local government.
Nike Air Max Graffiti Stores is a project by AKQA São Paulo that saw erased graffiti characters in the city repainted wearing Nike trainers you could only buy through unlocking the purchase with geolocation activation. “It was what Nike called a ‘phygital’ experience,” says Baffa.
The project not only created an ongoing platform for exclusive product drops it also helped the people of São Paulo fight back against the governor’s erasure of the city’s much loved street art.
It was a very simple brief but it was also very challenging in the context of the great work Nike has done
“For many years people engaged with the sneakers and the franchise but we needed something a little bit bigger and we needed to sell sneakers,” explains Baffa. The project landed on ‘Air Max Day’ and had to work on many levels. “It was a very simple brief but it was also very challenging in the context of the great work Nike has done,” says Zandoná. “We had to talk to the sneakerheads but also to the mainstream, drive ecommerce and engage the target [audience].”
