Nike is going Back to the Future. The athletic company is planning to release Marty McFly’s power lacing shoes from the year 2015, as seen in “Back to the Future II”. No signs that the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series or that Max Speilberg will begin directing movies. Nike took advantage of social media yesterday to spread the message about their new product. Let’s take a look at the campaign.

Nike’s #BTTF Campaign and Twitter

Nike took great advantage of the “Back to the Future” movie tie in. The first news of these shoes came from Frank Marshall, who served as executive producer on the “Back to the Future” series. He tweeted yesterday:

“Something big is coming soon. Can’t say anything yet. No one should know too much about their own destiny. #BTTF”

Immediately this had the Twitterverse buzzing, but not over Nike. At first, many on Twitter thought a remake or a sequel was in the works. This led many Twitter uses to hang their heads in shame over Hollywood. It was then that Nike made their move. The next big Tweet was from Kevin Durrant, of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who has an endorsement deal with Nike. Durrant tweeted:

“I need some new shoes. Any recommendations? Think, McFly, think. #BTTF”.

But Nike’s Twitter campaign wasn’t over yet. Frank Marshall dropped the following video, from a user named “DocEmmettBrown88″. The video’s description says, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that looks like shelves and shelves of 2011 Nike MAG shoes.” Since being uploaded late yesterday afternoon it has 65,000 views (at the time of writing). Take a look at the video.

The Nike Youtube Video

Let’s breakdown the Youtube Video a little bit.

At first Nike makes it unclear what you’re looking at. The video starts out blurry and is accompanied by a little bit of music, that as I’m listening now sounds like it’s classic Alan Silvestri. Silvestri is the composer who did the work on the “Back to the Future” series as well as “Forrest Gump”. Oscar nominated for both. The blurry opening is great. You’ve heard the rumor, now you want to see if it’s true. Nike still has you wait a few seconds before seeing the product.

At about 9 seconds into the video, Nike shows us rows and rows of the MAG sneakers. They look almost exactly like their 2015 movie counterparts. The Nike sneakers are lighting up, sitting in what is called “McFly’s Closet”. Great job by Nike on the shoe design here.

The Nike video moves down one of the corridors in this huge closet and finally settles in on the back wall of MAG shoes. However the camera never gets too close, just close enough. Nike did a good job of teasing these shoes, and hopefully they’ll show us the real ones, soon.

What Nike Did Right In the Mag Campaign

Nike took great advantage of an already huge fanbase. The “Back to the Future” series are classic movies, that many, many people love. They have great acting, great writing, great directing. Nike jumped on that instantly.

The first time we heard a rumbling that something was going to happen, Frank Marshall used the line “no one should know that much about their own destiny”. Destiny of course is a central theme in “Back to the Future”. The line is actually verbatim from Doc Brown as Marty tries to tell him in 1955 that 30 years later, in 1985, he’ll be shot dead by Libians. Perfect so far from Nike.

The second Tweet that went out was from Kevin Durrant. Someone from Nike was obviously in contact with him telling him exactly what to say. The “think Mcly, think” line is a straight movie quote as well. This one coming from Biff, who everyone hated. Now, Nike had people buzzing.

Another movie quote was used to promote a Nike event happening shortly. Every member of the media that checked into the hotel for the event received a pair of aluminum sunglasses, similar to those Doc wore in “Back to the Future II” and an I-Pod Nano. On the Nano a message showed. It read, “If my calculations are correct, in the next 24 hours you’ll see some serious s**t”. This line is a play off of Doc’s line in “Back to the Future I” when we first see the time traveling Dolorean.

They also used the #BTTF hashtag perfectly. It’s been in use before, when people watch “Back to the Future” or connect to the movie somehow. Here Nike, took it over the top though.

If any more details come about, you can bet the Social Medianaires will be all over it. So continue to follow us!

Nike, congrats, you’ve got a winner on your hands; when can I get in line for a pair?

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