Nike Italy's best-converting influencer campaign on record
A cultural shift in how Nike running showed up in Italy, and who showed up back.
Nike · Running Brand Manager, EMEA South · 2018–2020 · Led
The brief
In 2018, running in Milan had a clear face: male, 35 to 50, performance-driven. Women were under-represented both as runners and in our local communication, and Nike was coming off a period where Italian women's running hadn't been a priority. The job was to shift Nike's perception as 'favourite running brand' among Italian women, starting from Milan, in a category where direct competitors (Adidas, Asics, even Oysho) held more share of voice.
The budget
Around half a million euros for the first wave, spread across roughly 12 months.
The media mix
One tone of voice held it together: running is for you too. A multi-year partnership with Aurora Ramazzotti as the face and voice, rather than a one-shot testimonial. Other women's voices relevant to the Gen Z and Millennial target. Women-only running events with women coaches (Coach Anita, Coach Najla). A fully female Nike Running crew built from scratch, Flying Girls, because you can't be what you can't see. Social and digital made for Italian women's feeds. A retail experience inside our Milan stores. And a PR plan with general-interest press, not only sport. No TV. No OOH.
The creative call
The riskiest call was Aurora. At the time she wasn't yet the figure she is today; she wasn't big on sport and wellness, and there was internal scepticism. But she was exactly the Italian woman we were trying to reach: real, not perfect, in the middle of her own story. I still remember her laughing in my face at the first pitch, when I told her we'd have her running a 10K in a few months. Today she still runs and trains on her own, and talks openly about what movement does for her mental health. That call paid off: it became Nike Italy's best-converting influencer campaign on record.
The challenges
Three main ones. First, convincing the internal organisation that Aurora was the right call, without the KPI profile of a traditional testimonial (her social numbers were strong, but that was it). Second, building women's running events in a city where women told us openly they didn't see themselves as runners, or didn't feel safe running in the streets, which meant thinking through community, routes, coach presence and safety. Third, keeping the program alive through the first lockdown, when physical running collapsed entirely.
How I solved them
On Aurora, I built a business case grounded in her real audience and value alignment, not just follower count. We invested in her as a partner, not a paid influencer. She had to be the first to believe sport could make her life better, and that belief built the trust and credibility that turned into brand love and participation. On the events, we worked closely with the Flying Girls crew, coaches and pacers, with dedicated comms, and reframed the absence into a narrative of reclaiming the city. During lockdown we moved the community online, with live workouts and Aurora-led content on the Nike Run Club and Nike Training Club apps, which kept the relationship alive until things reopened.
What moved
+6 points as 'favourite running brand' among Italian women, roughly two years from the start of the campaign. Aurora as Nike Italy's best-converting influencer campaign on record. A women's running community in Milan that grew steadily over the following 18 months, and is still active today.
Why I'm proud of it
Because the campaign asked people to change a concrete behaviour, running in the city as a woman, and because it played out as a challenge to a cultural perception, not a pure performance story. The moment that stayed with me isn't a KPI. It was watching Aurora's own transformation, and that of thousands of Italian women, and getting to help them feel the joy and the benefit of sport. Seeing Milan's women's running community still alive today makes the effort worth it.
- Brand
- Partnerships
- Sport