Benchmarks are set to be broken. As official Hockey Canada sponsor, the 2014 Winter Olympics set the stage for the most important sporting event for Nike and Canadians since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. So being asked to top our most successful campaign launch with something even better was a challenge we were glad to accept.

To position and launch the campaign digitally, we set out to seed the conversation in a unique way for Nike. Knowing that a global brand – which supplies jerseys for all Olympic hockey nations – can’t pick sides on the ice, we enlisted the support of Twitter influencers within the Canadian hockey community to make the statement, two months before the Olympics.

Through the collective reach of athletes and influencers, the cryptic messages got the #alliceishomeice hashtag trending on Twitter and earned millions of media impressions – including live on TSN’s SportsCentre broadcast. Once every line was released, Nike Hockey revealed a fully designed manifesto, to live on social media and in local arenas. This was coordinated with the release of spot created by Wieden+Kennedy, first as an exclusive to Nike Hockey social communities and followed by television.

Consumers quickly adopted the messages and content, engaging in conversation and making it their own with thousands of uses across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Over the next two months, leading up to the Olympics, the campaign’s momentum was continued with social media content published by celebrating the Team Canada World Juniors and Olympic team naming.

As the Games neared, digital content and physical experiences were used to build energy to a climax and get the Olympic jersey in the hands of young hockey players. On Facebook, a series of images were released, inspired by the manifesto messages. On Twitter, consumers who engaged with the hashtag were seeded with custom product packs. In Toronto, two youth teams were surprised with their own home ice advantage – a Nike bus to take them to an away game, complete with on-board trainers, customized product and pro athletes to prepare them.

The campaign culminated with the ultimate victory; double gold for Canada’s Women’s and Men’s hockey teams. Within a minute of repeating as champions, Nike Hockey content was published to Facebook and Twitter – becoming the most highly engaged with content Nike Canada has ever published. The result flooded social media channels with our content, making Nike one of the top brands celebrating the Olympic win.

Even today, the campaign continues to live on in the hands of consumers, with over 1.9 million video views on YouTube and 1,200 active Instagram posts.