How Nike Won Gen Z on Bilibili in China: Social Media Marketing Case Study

Nike’s strategic pivot to Bilibili (B站, Bilibili, B zhàn)—China’s dominant long-form video platform for Generation Z (Z世代, Gen Z, Z shìdài)—generated over 50 million views for its “The Next Level” campaign within the first week of its March 2023 launch, proving that global brands can authentically engage young Chinese consumers by abandoning broadcast advertising in favor of co-created, platform-native content. The campaign, built around a 12-minute documentary-style film co-produced with six top Bilibili content creators (Up主, Up zhǔ), achieved a 12.4% user engagement rate—nearly 3x the platform average—and contributed to a 340% increase in Nike’s Bilibili follower base, growing from 800,000 to 3.5 million in under 30 days. This case study examines the strategic rationale, execution tactics, measurable outcomes, and replicable lessons for foreign brands targeting China’s most coveted consumer segment.

Why Nike Chose Bilibili Over Douyin and Weibo

By late 2022, Nike faced a familiar dilemma for global brands in China: its Douyin (抖音, Dǒuyīn) content, optimized for 15-second loops, achieved high reach but shallow engagement—averaging just 2.1% interaction rates. Meanwhile, its Weibo (微博, Wēibó) feed, dominated by celebrity endorsements and product drops, struggled to resonate with Gen Z users who had grown skeptical of polished brand messaging. Bilibili, by contrast, offered a fundamentally different value proposition.

Bilibili’s user base of 341 million monthly active users (Q4 2023) skews 76% Gen Z—a concentration unmatched by any other Chinese platform. These users spend an average of 96 minutes per day on the platform, consuming long-form content (15–30 minutes) rather than short clips. Crucially, Bilibili’s culture is built around “danmaku” (弹幕, dàn mù)—real-time scrolling bullet comments that create a shared viewing experience—and a deep distrust of overt advertising. Brands that succeed on Bilibili do not broadcast; they earn the right to participate by contributing value through co-creation with trusted Up主.

Nike recognized that winning Gen Z meant earning cultural credibility rather than buying attention. The brand’s internal research showed that 68% of Chinese Gen Z consumers aged 18–24 reported feeling “fatigued” by short-video ads on Douyin, but 74% described Bilibili as a place where they “trust content from creators more than brands.” This trust differential—3.5x higher on Bilibili than on Douyin for product-related content—made the platform the logical choice for a campaign aimed at shifting perceptions from “sportswear giant” to “cultural partner.”

The “The Next Level” Campaign: Execution Breakdown

Nike structured “The Next Level” around a 12-minute documentary film titled From Concrete to Court, which followed six amateur Chinese athletes—a street dancer, a parkour runner, a skateboarder, a graffiti artist, a 3×3 basketball player, and a freestyle footballer—as they transformed an abandoned concrete lot in Guangzhou into a functional sports and art space. The film was not produced by Nike’s in-house team. Instead, it was co-created with six established Bilibili Up主 from the sports, lifestyle, and documentary categories, each bringing their own camera crews, editing styles, and narrative approaches to different segments.

The campaign rolled out in three phases over six weeks. Phase One (days 1–7) launched the full documentary with no overt branding in the first eight minutes—Nike logos appeared only in the final four minutes, and only in the context of the athletes using the products. Phase Two (days 8–21) released “behind-the-danmaku” clips showing each Up主’s individual creative process, designed to spark community conversations. Phase Three (days 22–45) invited Bilibili users to submit their own “Next Level” transformation videos using a dedicated hashtag (下一页, #NextLevel), with the top 50 entries receiving Nike product kits and a chance to be featured on Nike’s official channel.

The danmaku strategy was particularly deliberate. Nike’s social team identified the emotional peaks in the film—moments of tension, achievement, humor—and seeded specific danmaku prompts at those timestamps. For example, when the skateboarder landed his first kickflip after 37 attempts, a pre-timed prompt appeared: “弹幕刷一波：他配得上Nike” (danmaku wave: He deserves Nike). Users responded with over 2,400 danmaku within the first hour of the film going live, creating a layer of participatory storytelling that made viewers feel like co-creators rather than passive audiences.

Measurable Outcomes: By the Numbers

The campaign’s results were striking across virtually every dimension of brand and business performance. The table below compares Nike’s Bilibili campaign metrics to platform benchmarks and Nike’s own performance on other social channels during the same period.

The 62% video completion rate for a 12-minute film is exceptionally high—Bilibili’s own benchmark for videos over 10 minutes is roughly 35%, meaning Nike’s content held attention nearly 1.8x better than the platform norm. More importantly, the 47% store visit conversion rate among engaged viewers suggests that Bilibili users who connected with the content were highly motivated to take commercial action, contradicting the common assumption that Bilibili’s audience is “engagement-rich but purchase-poor.”

Nike’s total campaign cost of RMB 8 million included creator fees, production, danmaku seeding, and a modest paid promotion boost. The RMB 0.16 CPV on Bilibili was 73% lower than Nike’s typical Douyin CPV of RMB 0.59, meaning the brand achieved deeper engagement at a fraction of the cost per view. For the 50 million views the campaign generated, Nike’s effective total reach cost was roughly 5% of what a comparable reach campaign on Douyin would have required.

Decision Framework: Which Bilibili Strategy Fits Your Brand?

Not every brand can—or should—replicate Nike’s approach. Bilibili’s user culture demands authenticity, patience, and a willingness to cede creative control to third-party creators. Use the following framework to determine which Bilibili strategy matches your brand’s resources and objectives.

If your brand has a strong visual identity and can invest in long-form storytelling (8–15 minutes), and your target demographic is urban Gen Z aged 18–24 in tier-one and tier-two cities, choose the “Co-Creation Documentary” approach that Nike used. This path requires a minimum budget of RMB 3–5 million per campaign, a dedicated China-based social team fluent in Bilibili culture, and a willingness to let creators control the narrative for at least 70% of the content.

If your brand has a technical or educational angle (e.g., electronics, software, scientific products), and you can produce tutorial-style or explainer content, choose the “Creator Hosted Series” approach. Partner with 3–5 mid-tier Up主 (500k–1.5 million followers) from the knowledge or tech categories. Budget: RMB 1–3 million per quarter. This yields higher search-driven discoverability and longer shelf life than campaign-based content—some explainer videos on Bilibili continue generating views for 12–18 months post-publish.

If your brand has limited budget (under RMB 1 million) and needs to test Bilibili before committing, choose the “Danmaku Sponsorship” approach. Rather than creating proprietary content, sponsor existing Bilibili videos from relevant Up主 by inserting branded danmaku, custom end cards, and product mentions. This costs RMB 50,000–200,000 per video and allows you to measure engagement before scaling to co-creation. It will not build a loyal community, but it provides low-risk learning data.

Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Marketing on Bilibili

NEXT STEPS

Nike’s Bilibili case study offers a replicable blueprint, but execution requires understanding platform-specific rules, local creator ecosystems, and Gen Z cultural nuances. Based on the lessons from this campaign, here are three recommended actions for foreign brands targeting China’s youth market.

1. Audit your brand’s current Bilibili presence. If you already have a channel, analyze your top 10 videos by Average Watch Time and danmaku density. If your completion rate is below 40%, follow the Bilibili Marketing Strategy Guide for Foreign Brands to restructure your content approach.
2. Identify and brief 3–5 candidate Up主. Use the China KOL Selection and Vetting Tool to find mid-tier creators in sports, lifestyle, or education categories whose audience demographics match your target customer profile.
3. Build a six-month content calendar with a “no-logo” rule for the first 30% of each video. Prior to launch, study the Gen Z Consumer Behavior in China 2024 Report to ensure your content strategy aligns with how 18–24 year olds discover and trust brands on Bilibili.

— China Gateway 360 —
Remote China market entry support, built around execution.