Nike Inaugurates Play Bondy Football Festival with Yard

Sep. 07, 2017

Nike is bringing football back to the streets. As part of its new «Play Free» strategy, the brand held a special event September 6th to honor one of football’s most talented prodigies, Kylian M’Bappé, the 18 year-old who recently landed a recordbreaking contract, a 180M euro transfer to the French capital’s team, Paris Saint Germain.
Held in M’Bappé’s hometown, Bondy, the event was the occasion to honor the player and the game. Nike revitalized his childhood field, since neglected, that where M’Bappé spent his youth, honing his skills and learning the joys of playing the game. To inaugurate the restylized new terrain, the brand held the «Play Bondy Football Festival» tournament, welcoming a new generation of local players, kids and young adults alike, to the turf.

To organize and put on the event, Nike turned to creative agency Yard, producers of the documentary «Concrete Football», which focuses on street football culture and which was recently released on Netflix. The agency specialises in communicating to younger generations about all things urban culture - music, sports, lifestyle, and more.  The «Play Bondy» field’s new look was conceived by architecture studio laisné roussel and scenographist Midori Hasuike whose transformation of the field to an abstract camouflage was inspired by the area’s surrounding forest.
The celebration was capped off with the coming of the French rapper Niska introducing his latest album and the unveiling of a fresco of the player’s likeness – an homage to the hometown hero, as well as an inspiration and reminder to all of what it means to «Play Free».