SOMETHING SPECIAL TO SEE HERE

Wieden + Kennedy cooks up an instant classic with the Caitlin Clark Signature Shoe launch, and I talked with the Chief Creative Officer of McKinney, Omid Amidi, to hear this 3rd party perspective on the campaign.

I will not be tolerating any discussion around last night’s Indiana Fever vs Las Vegas Aces playoffs game. I don’t wanna talk about it. I’m only going to focus on this campaign and the creative work. Deal with it!

There is nothing harder in today’s day and age than capturing the moment. You can maybe grasp a sliver of the moment in a very specific point and time. But in a time when it’s impossible to slow down and be in a moment, it’s almost like there’s no moment to have been had in the first place.

And then Nike and Wieden + Kennedy formulate one of the smartest campaigns for a shoe launch around one of the most iconic athletes of the 21st century, and you remember what it looks like to capture the moment.

“Nothing Special to See Here” is the tagline for the launch of the Caitlin Clark 1s, Caitlin Clark’s first signature shoe. According to Sports Marketing expert and former Nike employee Jordan Rogers, “I cannot remember a shoe that has had this much build up to the launch day.”

Since Caitlin was signed 2 years ago by Nike in a deal where she turned down offers from every major sports brand, the teasers and the logo builds and the Instagram account creations have all led to this exact moment in time.

The “signature shoe” space is… oversaturated… to put it lightly. Nike has introduced dozens of signature shoes over last 5ish years, and their most successful launches have been with their WNBA talent. Namely, A’Ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu’s signature shoes. And this is something Nike is acutely aware of.

Per recent Nike investor calls, basketball is next in line for Nike as a place for growth: management expects growth to expand beyond running into training, basketball and ACG in fiscal '27. Elliott Hill, CEO of Nike, named Clark's shoe as a holiday '26 launch on a June call.

So everyone in the marketing world waited to see what Wieden + Kennedy and Nike had up their sleeves. There was a million directions to go, but they went with these two vids for the final tease:

AND FOR THE RELEASE DAY, THIS:

I always wonder about the instincts of creatives coming up with these worlds and why they go in a certain direction, so instead of me doing some speculation and trying to get in the head of a creative, I just asked one of the most talented creatives in the world for his opinions on this campaign.

Here’s my conversation with Omid Amidi, Chief Creative Officer at McKinney about his thoughts on the campaign (subscribe to see the convo it’s $0):