Nike x London Youth Games

Challenge and Opportunity

The Nike x LYG partnership was born out of a shared commitment to use the power of sport to create life changing opportunities for young people all over London.

Together they believe that
1. Sport is a right for all
2. Sport promotes both physical and mental wellbeing
3. Sport is a catalyst for social integration.

The first year of their partnership focused on a holistic rebranding of LYG. This involved improving the organisation’s digital communications, and enhancing event experiences for participants and spectators. In their second year, the partnership sought to inspire through storytelling. Our role was to help capture and share real life stories to show the meaning and impact that LYG has on their community and the boroughs of Greater London, and demonstrate the value of the games to their internal and external stakeholders to secure future financing.

Approach

Protein used qualitative research methods to better understand the LYG community, and connect with a diverse range of individuals and teams across a variety of sports. 

Working alongside director Irene Baque, we created a hero series of powerful narratives that emerged through live events, photography and multi-channel storytelling.

To help capture these stories, we connected with the LYG community across 33 London boroughs by creating a bespoke, meaningful and actionable storytelling strategy to uncover a range of diverse and inclusive narratives and insights that champion the kids, coaches and programmes, and create an inspirational content series in the form of six hero films with accompanying imagery.

Insight and Impact

We gathered untold stories from within the LYG community and brought these voices to  the forefront, to help shape the future of their organisation and inspire the next generation of participants, volunteers, coaches and partners.

A picture of Shani, one of the London Youth Games athletes. Photography by Irene Baque.jpg
A picture of a basketball team during the London Youth Games.
We were excited to be working with Protein and Nike to create films that showcased the difference LYG makes. No sooner did we start, the Pandemic struck. Protein were incredibly flexible and dedicated to providing us with an excellent end result. We now have a fantastic suite of outstanding films that really demonstrate the difference we make.

Andy Dalby-Welsh, CEO London Youth Games

Results and reach

Today the London Youth Games hosts competitions across an incredible 31 disciplines for disabled and non-disabled youth alike with over 100,000 annual participants representative of every London borough.

It boasts an enviable list of competitors, including Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists Mo Farah, Bradley Wiggins and David Weir as well as Premier League star Raheem Sterling and track legend Dina Asher-Smith.

LYG’s reach is broad (see below stats), and the content series continues to help their  growth. The storytelling campaign is still ongoing, and is used by LYG in their multi-channel strategy to champion young Londoners, highlight the diversity and inclusivity of their organisation, and secure collaborations with future investors and partners. The stories have been incorporated into a Nike x LYG Brand Impact Report, and the first film was screened at The November 2021 Mayor of London meeting.

Over the last three years the organisation has reached

361K

Participants

+42.9%

BAME

11K

Volunteers

+59.2%

Female participants

31

Sports

33

Boroughs

13

Para sports

PRESS