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Nike Japan’s Radio Station Taps Music, Culture & Wellness
Tapping into the ongoing audio boom, Nike Tokyo has launched NikeLab Radio – a selection of playlists, podcasts and video content. Part of the sportswear giant’s Tokyo Live cultural discovery platform, the content homes in on sport’s intersection with music, culture and wellness, while giving fans insight into the brand and its collaborators.
Nike is launching its audio offering into an expanding space in Japan, where just 14.2% of people listen to podcasts at least once a month (Otonal, 2021), compared to 41% of Americans (Edison, 2021).
Available on the Nike app (Japan only), Spotify and Apple Music (both globally), the radio station is split into four verticals:
- (x) Talk – a podcast series of interviews with sports stars and designers, including long-time Nike collaborators Jun Takahashi, founder of clothing brand Undercover, and streetwear designer Hiroshi Fujiwara.
- (x) Playlist – a space for brand partners like Japanese clothing label Wacko Maria to curate playlists.
- (x) Session – a video series that brings together stars from different fields that wouldn’t normally mix to encourage the discovery of new sports and disciplines – a theme of Nike’s global communications, as charted in Summer of Sport: Brand Engagement Tactics.
- (x) Read – enabling consumers to adopt healthier and more mindful habits to encourage relaxation, with readings from Japanese poet Satoshi Sugawara.
The move shows the continued relevance of branded audio. Stylus previously charted Procter & Gamble’s Harmonize podcast series on Spotify, which featured US musicians like John Legend discussing racial bias in the US, and music as a cultural catalyst for change. Just this week, audio product manufacturer Sonos and outdoor brand The North Face launched Never Stop Exploring, a series of nine nature-inspired soundscapes, on Sonos Radio.
For more, see Audio: The New Social Platform.
