NIKE GOLF | "PLAY IN THE NOW" 

Nike Golf has always had the best golfers, but to many golfers they never had the best equipment. This has been a big problem for Nike Golf since the beginning. The golf world didn’t look to Nike first when it came to equipment. Rational conversations did not work. Even when people tested Nike Golf products and saw the performance benefits, they questioned the validity. Golfers were constantly saying all types of things. They said "Nike is not a golf company. They’re a sporting good company.” They questioned the legitimacy of golfers who used the equipments with statements,"The only people who plate Nike equipment are either paid to play it or they’re not serious golfers.” They even doubted the origins of the equipment saying, "Nike doesn’t design or make the equipment. They just stamp it with a swoosh.” But was any of this true? 

The answer was no. Nike Golf made kick-ass equipment. Best in the business type of stuff. Nike Golf pushed the boundaries of the sport. From their athletes to their equipment, Nike Golf represents progress in a sport that feels comfortable living in the past. But how do we get golfers to realize this? What do we have to say? How do we get them to listen?  

This was a big task and there was a lot we needed to do to infiltrate the stingy minds of golfers. Nike Golf needed to challenge product perception head on. We needed to create doubt in the golfer's mind through an honest thought on the sport and products of golf. We needed to be authentic to the game and it’s rituals in an irreverent way. We needed to break the category norms and highlight the product benefits and superior product credentials of Nike equipment. We needed to utilize the brand's voice to build a consistent dialogue with consumers. No matter what, Nike Golf had to tell it how it is. Through this work, we revealed the truth about the perceptions of the sport, the brand, the products and the consumer. No matter what, Nike Golf was always going to progress the sport and our products. 

With this campaign, we would attack golfer’s fear of change. Most golfers find something that works and they stick with it. Even the best golfers in the world. But rejecting better equipment simply because it’s new is dumb. It always has been and it always will be. It was obvious that the guy who dismissed Nike’s new technologies in golf is the same guy who dismissed the rubber-core ball, the gutty, the feathery and the very idea of golf in the first place. It was who he was, but that was about to change. Nike Golf had one message for him - Play in the Now.