Nike Teams Up with Gen. Z to Have Fun and Make a Difference with “Made to Play”
NEW YORK (PRWEB) May 16, 2018 -- Today’s kids are part of the least active generation ever and may be faced with a shorter lifespan than their parents.” This alarming situation means that we have to get kids moving! Which is why NIKE, Inc.’s (NYSE: NKE) Community Impact team is launching the “60 Second PowerUp” as part of Made to Play - NIKE’s commitment to getting kids moving.
The three-week campaign aims to get kids (ages 7-12) active by educating and activating their older peers ages (13-25) to join the movement to help get kids active. To kick off, NIKE is inviting a group of creative social media influencers who are focused on health, lifestyle and fitness, to partner with them and their global commitment “Made to Play.” This is NIKE’s rallying call to bring sport and play to kids across the world knowing the kids aren’t made to sit still, they’re Made to Play. By taking action, this group of social media influencers will join forces with their fans in six collective teams, competing against each other to unlock donations and awareness for community organizations supporting activity amongst young people, including: Marathon Kids, PeacePlayers, Active Schools, Mamba League, Zoom League, Students Run LA.
“NIKE believes in the power of sport to move the world, starting with kids, so we’re leaning on not-so-recent kids to get inspired and get moving to motivate others to do the same. Together we can help inspire the generation of kids that’s growing up right now” said Jorge Casimiro, Nike Vice President of Global Community Impact. “This is an issue NIKE won’t ignore, and we hope that the impact of creatively bringing both the issue and some potential solutions to social media will ignite a whole new group of change agents to join us in Made to Play.”
About the 60 Second PowerUp Challenge
The 60 Second PowerUp Challenge will be introduced on the influencers’ social channels as they complete their own creative 60 seconds of activity, and invite their followers to complete the same activity or develop their own. The participant call-to-action also asks that they each share their individual 60 seconds of movement through Instagram Stories with the designated challenge hashtag #60SecondPowerUp and #MadeToPlay.
The intent of engaging a unique group of content creators is to underscore that you don’t have to be a sports star to get involved, anybody can do it- in the spirit of NIKE co-founder Bill Bowerman “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” And in that spirit, young people will do more than just watch videos and learn about the activity crisis with this campaign, as they are challenged to Just Do It themselves. Each individual will be challenged to take the simple and immediate first step in combating the activity crisis by moving for 60 seconds then share their one-minute feat on social media to play it forward, and encourage others to do the same.
Influencers Leading the Challenge
The participating young influencers include Bobo Matjila, Alivia D’Andrea, Huge Aparente, Jennie Pegouskie Bentot, Gabriel Padilla, and - Brock DeHaven.
BOBO MATJILA
With 50K+ followers on Instagram and 50K+ subscribers on YouTube, Bobo Matjila is a University of Southern California and Fordham University graduate. She is a visual artist, best known for her self-portraits. Originally from South Africa, Matjila has made her career creating content for fashion and beauty brands and posting her work on her Instagram page, @thisfashionfiend_. She also runs a very popular YouTube account and is a co-founder of the Afrolit podcast.
ALIVIA D’ANDREA Los Angeles resident Alivia D’Andrea is well known for creating YouTube videos and Instagram posts talking about dance, yoga, health and mindfulness. She is all about expanding the limits of your own body and achieving your personal goals. She has 70K followers on Instagram and 500K subscribers in her YouTube channel.
HUGH APARENTE
Hugh Aparente is a 21-year-old dancer from Detroit, Michigan. His movement consists of a variety of styles with a specialty in hip hop. Hugh has performed with several artists such as The Chainsmokers at the American Music Awards, and Sabrina Carpenter at the Radio Disney Music Awards. He also appeared on the tv show World of Dane as part of a group called Ian Eastwood and the Young Lions. Hugh hopes to someday be a role model for young creatives who wish to change and inspire the world.
JENNIE PEGOUSKIE BENTOT
Jennie Pegouskie Bentot is a model, dancer and actress. She has toured with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis as a dancer for nearly four years, and is also known for having played the lead in Ed Sheeran's video for "Shape Of You." The content she puts out is a perfect reflection of how versatile of a human and artist she is.
GABRIEL PADILLA
Gabriel Padilla is a hip hop dance instructor/choreographer at various dance studios throughout Los Angeles, CA. He is known for his positive messaging around dance and life, while encouraging creativity in a stress-free learning environment.
BROCK DeHAVEN
Brock DeHaven is a 21-year-old lifestyle and fashion photographer from Los Angeles. An activist at heart, Brock was a DoSomething.org Club member in middle school, and in the last few years, he has become an avid proponent for less time on social media, in favor of spending more time outdoors.
About Nike Community Impact
Nike believes in the power of sport to unleash human potential and build community. We fuel this belief through Made to Play, our commitment to getting kids moving through play and sport so that they can lead healthier, happier and more successful lives. Together with community partners and our employees around the world, we’re designing innovative solutions to get more than 16 million kids playing, running and jumping their way to a brighter future. Find out more about Nike's commitment to getting kids moving and providing opportunities for equal playing fields for all at communityimpact.nike.com.
About DoSomething Strategic
DoSomething Strategic (formerly TMI Strategy) is the data-driven consultancy arm of DoSomething.org. We help brands and organizations engage young people for positive social change. We combine proprietary data with a deep understanding of what young people care about to help clients build relationships with this unique demographic and activate them for social good. Our expertise is grounded in moving 6 million DoSomething.org members—ages 13-25 in every area code in the United States and in 131 countries worldwide—to take social action, and we've been doing this work successfully day in and day out for the past 25 years. DoSomethingStrategic.org
Dezmon GIlmore, DoSomething Strategic, 803-524-7671, [email protected]
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