Nike transports runners to the digital world of “Reactland”

Running on a treadmill might be a means to an end however look around any gym and you will see gym bunnies desperately trying to distract themselves from the task at hand.

Be it drowning out the world with their most pumping tunes or absorbing themselves in a YouTube video on more high-tech machines – it is always easier to run if your mind is taken away from the burning in your calves.

Nike has delivered what might be the next step up by turning gym goers in China into the protagonist of their own video game in “Reactland”.

Participants were digitally scanned and turned them into pixelated avatars of themselves before stepping up to the treadmill to enter the game on giant screens displayed in front of them.

As they ran in the real world their video game counterparts could be seen traversing a series of landscapes from forest to deserts, past dancing pandas and the Great Sphinx of Giza.

Using special handheld controllers they could enable their characters to jump over incoming obstacles in the side scrolling platformer, adding another level of concentration and interactivity to their workout.

The experience was designed to highlight the “bouncy” and “soft” characteristics of the brand’s new show model the “Epic React”.

Once their trip to “Reactland” was over players were finally given a shareable 10 second clip of their game play to show off their personalised avatars – perfect for their social media outlets.

 

ALL Sport