Auteur: Martin Van Tilburg

We Are The Party

Client: Heineken Market: Global Role: Lead Creative

Desperados – We Are The Party

Bringing Desperados’ party spirit to life through a bold global campaign.

As Heineken’s TQ beer brand, Desperados is known for its daring heritage and wild experimentation. To kickstart its new identity and packaging reboot, Desperados launched We Are The Party—a global 360 campaign designed to celebrate the brand’s unique party spirit. This integrated effort combined vibrant storytelling with a disruptive edge, creating a bold statement that redefined the brand’s position in the market.

My Role:
As the lead creative, I was tasked with overseeing the end-to-end ideation, development, and execution of campaign assets, ensuring they aligned with the brand’s adventurous ethos while resonating with a global audience.

What I Delivered:
Social Media Content: Developed attention-grabbing visuals and animations tailored for high engagement across key platforms.
OOH & DOOH Campaigns: Created striking designs for outdoor and digital placements that brought the campaign’s energy to life in urban spaces worldwide.
Visual Storytelling: Infused every asset with the bold, rebellious spirit of Desperados, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.
Global Alignment: Collaborated with teams across regions to ensure local relevance while maintaining a cohesive global narrative.

The Impact: This campaign reinforced Desperados’ identity as a trailblazing, boundary-pushing brand. The assets not only increased engagement on social platforms but also strengthened the brand’s presence in key global markets, positioning it as a leader in its category.

Netflix Talent Gift Packaging

Client: NETFLIX Market: Global Role: Creative Director (Art & Design)

NETFLIX 2023 GIFTING & BRAND ACTIVATION

Celebrating Netflix talent worldwide through a bespoke gifting experience

Netflix honors its film and TV talent with premium, tailor-made gift experiences that reflect the brand’s creative spirit. For 2023, the Netflix x Cubitts gift box was designed to make a lasting impression, combining high-quality craftsmanship with bespoke artistry.

The Concept:
The gift set, housed in a bespoke case, featured multiple custom-designed pieces. Each element was meticulously created to celebrate Netflix’s iconic storytelling while offering a tangible expression of appreciation for its talent.

My Role:
As the lead designer, I oversaw the entire creative process—from initial sketches to full 3D wireframing, prototyping, production, and printing. Every piece, down to the finest details, was thoughtfully crafted to align with Netflix’s premium brand identity.

The Result:

This gifting experience became more than just a token of appreciation—it was a statement of Netflix’s commitment to creativity, quality, and its talent. The bespoke designs resonated deeply with recipients, leaving a lasting impression and strengthening their connection to the brand.

Key Highlights:

Custom Sunglasses Cloth: Designed an exclusive 3D artwork printed on the cloth, reflecting a unique visual language tied to Netflix’s brand.
2D to 3D Design: Translated flat concepts into fully realized 3D prototypes, ensuring every piece was functional and visually stunning.
Tailor-Made Packaging: Developed a bespoke case to house the gift, blending elegance with a modern edge.
Artistic Vision: Designed all elements under my artist alias, Artybymartie, infusing the pieces with a signature creative touch.

Contact: Work@martinvantilburg.nl

Nike

Client: NIKE Market: EMEA – Global Role: Creative Director

The NIKE Membership Ecosystem

Helping Nike develop a new Membership program through a rebranding & redesign of all digital & in-store touch points.

Nike Membership

Nike Membership supports athletes* around the world through daily inspiration and information to help everyone stay active, healthy and feel their best.

Approximately 250 million Members are part of the Membership program..

The Membership can be accessed through the digital & in-store ecosystem: Nike.Com, Nike APP, NRC/NTC, Lifecycle Moments, 365, In-store, and Member-gated content/campaigns for example ‘Member Days’.

Once your a member, Members get access to exclusive benefits.

Why a new program?

Currently Nike Membership and its member benefits are being under utilized.

To reach Nikes ambitious growth targets set in 2025, Nike Membership needs to drive more growth & demand.

To enable this Nike Memberships needs to play a more active part in their daily live

Working on Nike Membership

Joined as a Creative Director to reach Nike’s 2025 growth targets set for Nike Membership
Overall improving the Membership experience & program
First hire, scaled to 10+
Nike Marketing & Creative teams are globally distributed
1-week roadmap alignment session every quarter for Leads
Roadmap alignment on a global level, spanning the entire C-level of EMEA and Nike Global
Lead driver for the new Nike’s membership design system with weekly syncs Nike Brand Creative (Zang/Jonny) + Member Growth (Ben) & Member Growth Marketing (Fabio).
Key Themes: User research, Strategy, Prototyping, UI design, Design Systems, Wireframing, Flowcharts, Copy, Design Elements, FIGMA Templates
Built and maintained a new Membership program
Working agile & cross-departmental including vendors

RESPONSIBILITIES

Team resourcing & planning
Roadmap & Backlog
Stakeholder Management
Lead strategy, UI, Copy.
Brand Guardian Membership
Conduct & Plan usability
POD-Testing new initiatives

NIKE TEAM

1x Creative Director
1x Project Manager
2x Junior Copywriter (Hybrid)
1x Senior Copywriter (Kobie)
1x Corporate Designer (Kobie)
1x UI/UX Designer
1x Senior Designer
1x Motion Designer (Freelance)
2x Loyalty Experts (Kobie)
1x Strategist (Kobie)

Approach/Process

(Full case study available HERE. PW Protected, reach out)

Recognizing the complexity of this project, I’ve strategically turned to adopting several frameworks including the ‘Double Diamond Framework’ & agile (kanban) light framework driving content (UI + Copy) production. These frameworks proved to be an excellent fit due to its emphasis and thorough exploration, analysis and iterative refinement depending on what is looked at (FE the member benefits, newsletter, App benefit utilization etc).

After extensive market and user research (in collaboration with W+K using task analysis, usability expert review, jobs-to-be-done analysis, and user research), the development of the marketing strategy and the creation of the new Nike Membership Global brand book (See full case study) I continued by leading the refresh of all the Nike ecosystem touch points + Membership imagery database:

Digital Ecosystem:
– Nike.com
– Nike App
– NRC & NTC
– Lifecycle Moments
– 365 comms
– Member-led campaigns & activations

Instore Ecosytem:
– In-store Signage (Print + Digital)
– Experiential designs flagship stores: Berlin, Paris, London.
– Store Signage flow

Result

Nike Digital Ecosystem redesign and refresh, tailored to the needs of the member for making daily (holistic) progress.
Increase in growth, demand & retention.
Retention increase Membership funnel & redesigned UI.
Decrease churn in onboarding process.
New Brand book (200+ pages) that drives all marketing content for Nike Marketing, enabling a clear, consistent and tangible way of communicating with its Members across all of the Nike ecosystem.
Including redesigned FIGMA templates.
Newsletter with a increased click through rate and opening rates

Refreshing the Nike Membership Ecosystem:

Workflow / design process

1. QUICK CONTENT ITERATION

Using a MIRO Board to prototype flows, strategize, creating a feedback loop with devs, marketing and UI design team to iterate.

2. USER FLOW & WIREFRAMES

Defined the user flow and started wireframing the spreadsheet content. This led to further iterations on the content.

3 . FINALISING DESIGNS

I used the newly created design system for the UI designs. Along the way I updated the system with new patterns.

4. TESTING WITH STAKEHOLDERS

Presented the latest designs through presentations with C-level executives, Member Growth & Marketing and Members to get feedback on our redesigned touch points.

In general I lead and am part of the entire lifecycle experience, from user needs, conceptualization & ideation, Prototyping & Validation, Implementation Guidance to continuous improvement. Having a hands-on approach from the initial user research phase, through conceptualization and validation, to guiding the implementation of designs. Making sure it looks great while being functional and user friendly, aligning with the members expectations and requirements.

Data Driven Decision Making

Based on our first designs

Used Nike’s internal data/IT department to capture user behaviour across the ecosystem.

Included completion rate, drop-offs, churn rate, source, language, gender, country, and age.

Launched designs first and data helped on decision making for further design translations.

Combined with user feedback captured from feedback loops through presentations and POD-tests

Key Learnings

Strategy must be done before moving towards creative direction

Design metrics early to focus on user & product/growth goals

Make sure to source the right talent

Find subject experts

Any tool, even spreadsheets, can be used to prototype an experience

Using summits and events to connect with the audience

TOV and messaging that match members search intent for increase organic search and click through optimization

Working on physical and online products requires creativity and continuous iteration

Hardware & software play completely different time scales and processes but coordination is possible with effort

Beschermd: Netflix | A Universe In Your Pocket

This post is protected. To view it, enter the password below!

Nike

Client: Nike Market: EMEA & Global Role: Creative Director

Play Video

CASE STUDY (THIS PAGE NEEDS SOME LOADING TIME ^^):
SETTING UP AN IN-HOUSE STUDIO AND BUILDING THE FUTURE STATE OF NIKE MEMBERSHIP

Nike Is No Longer a Brand With Membership. Nike Is Now a Membership Brand.

For 50 years we’ve served Athletes.
From the back of the Van, to the back of the house, to the app in their hand.

Our commitment is the same. Our aspirations are bigger. We’re here to help every member feel unbeatable – whether it’s their first run, or their 50th. We’re here to inspire members to get moving, and make sport a daily habit.

We’re here to listen.
We’re here to coach.

We’re here to meet their sport & style needs, big and small.

Not just today. Everyday.

The Business Need
Over the next 3 years Nike Inc. needs to double its membership footprint across:

Total engaged members (+87%)
Total buying members (+121%)
Increase member demand (+133%)

The Ask to Nike Marketing
Grounded in GEO-aligned, Priority Benefits, develop a new membership identity, messaging and O2O tools (stores, connected partners, Cities, etc.) to deliver more consistent, consumer-right, communication, journeys and application across all 4 GEOs by Q1, FY24. In doing this work, also better integrate the Jordan Brand into Nike’s Membership tools/identify, knowing Jordan member buyers spend 2.5x more than Nike-only.

The Outcome / Goal by the end of FY24
Increase benefit utilization rate from 9% today to 30%
Growth EMEA Membership with 10% (90 to 100 million EMEA)
Growth global Membership 200 to 250 million.
Increase C2R / retention across all channels.
Increase Member Demand 2.4%
Set-up a new in-house studio for Nike.

**There already redefining sport* for themselves**

The Member Promise
To reach these growth ambitions, I was recruited in July ’22 to set-up an in-house studio and lead, oversee and develop the future state of Nike Membership and all member-gated content.

This highly complex, cross-departmental and multi year project is called the ‘Member Promise’ and aims at solving for clear challenges grounded in consumer expectations. While the MP represents a long-term evolution of the Nike program, the first milestone we set was getting to “Bronze”.

FY 22-24

1. The Road To Bronze

Create programming consistency throughout Nike Membership and increase consumer visibility on Nike.com, Nike APP, NRC/NTC apps, SNKRS, In-stores, Lifecycle moments, 365 and Member-led activations.

FY 22-24

FY 23-25

2. The Road To Silver

Unlock new technical capabilities, focus investing in Member Rewards, people & processes, customer segmentation, highly bespoke content based on affinity.

FY 23-25

FY 25

3. The Road To Gold

Globals vision for the future.

FY 25

Getting to bronze means making it easier for Members to feel the value of Membership in their daily lives and construct a program that is clear, consistent and tangible. One Membership, one identity, one voice, designed to speak the language of the Member, and connect with them on a deeper and holistic level.

To make them feel, we need to make it real. And then we need to make it last.

Phase 01: Listen & Learn.

Building a successful membership program is an iterative process that requires ongoing refinement based on consumer feedback and market dynamics. After having the goals & objectives defined, we needed to gain insights into our Members and really get to know them. Nike partnered up with W+K to do consumer research based on cultural insights from our members. I used these findings as the foundation for building a refreshed membership proposition and program.

W+K Crowd DNA (This is a curated and slimmed down version)

Phase 02: Nike Membership Strategy

Based on the Crowd DNA, consumer research and internal Nike playbooks I developed the EMEA Member Marketing Strategy together with Fabio Martini (director of member marketing). My role as a creative director is also part educator, where I took lead during daily meetings, onboarding partners, vendors, agencies, employees, leadership and GEO counterparts on our refreshed membership strategy. To safe time I’ve decided to construct the strategy as a story which helps explaining our thought process and making sure everyone is aligned from reading it the first time.

Chapter 01 EMEA Member Marketing Strategy

Phase 03: Developing a new Membership identity

Once the strategy got signed off by Nike Brand Creative, the EMEA leadership team and global counterparts, I pushed the work forward and began with developing a new Membership identity. I translated the member marketing strategy into a tangible set of messaging, design, photography and tone of voice guidelines, including the creation of bespoke Membership assets. This process took 3 months as it required a lot of calibration between myself, Brand Creative and the technical teams who helped me understand what is creatively possible in the current ecosystem. During our review sessions with EMEA brand creative we quickly concluded that we needed the involvement of global to guide the process as Membership is such a core brand and required approval at the highest level. In the end we developed a membership brand book (200+ pages) serving as the new marketing directive and offers up foundational support to help create new material for Nike Membership for all GEO’s.

Chapter 02 Creative Direction

Chapter 02/1 Tone of Voice

Chapter 02/2 Visual Direction

Chapter 02/3 Messaging Direction

Phase 04: Member Benefits
A key component of any membership program are exclusive and valuable benefits that will incentivize customers to join and remain engaged with the program and or brand. In total Nike Membership offers 14 member benefits (FE early access to product releases, special discounts, personalized recommendations, free shipping, members-only events). The member growth department aligned these benefits with our members preferences and wrote clear value propositions for each of them. My role was to translate these internal propositions into consumer facing propositions, creating bespoke identities, assets, landing pages and video content for each of these benefits.

Member Benefit: Nike By You (example)

Member Benefits Ecosystem Integration

Phase 05: Finalizing the Membership Brand Book
The new membership identity brand book consists of 6 chapters, and combined gives all the tools for marketeers, agencies and third parties to communicate and create content for EMEA Membership in a clear, consistent and tangible way. Creating this brand book took 4 to 5 months and countless of LT meetings, brand creative calls, copywriting, designing and late night brainstorm calls with Nike US and member marketing. I loved it!

Moving forward: Global Membership Photography Library Refresh & Nike Ecosystem
With a now finished brand book we had everything we need to move toward and start refreshing the Nike ecosystem and global membership photography library. Very exciting to use the new identity for creating, producing and shooting content.

Global Membership Photography Play book (Guidelines, Shot lists, Art Direction etc.)

Key Accomplishments 2022-2023:

– Set up an in-house studio in a fast pace, cross GEO and culturally diverse environment.
– Paris House Of Innovations.
– Grew EMEA Membership from 90 to 100 million.
– Grew global membership from 200 to 250 million.
– Increase Member benefit utilization from 9% to 16%.
– Delivered the ‘Road to Bronze’ within time and budget.
– Written the EMEA Member Marketing Strategy and Global.
– Developed the Membership Marketing Playbook (200+ Pages).
– Continuously sell my ideas and concepts to Nike Leadership, growing the program to a global scale.
– A Nike first by developing the global program out of a GEO.
– Lead produced the Nike Membership Global Imagery database refresh.
– Director Nike sizzle reel videos (one is seen on top of this page).
– Increase C2R, retention and demand (Member Newsletter) through extensive POD testing.
– Lead creative for the latest Member Days campaigns.
– Lead Marketing Activation within key cities and flagship stores (Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid).
– Refreshed the Nike Ecosystem on a global level (.COM, Nike APP, NRC/NTC APP, Nike Stores).
– Drive quality acquisition and repeat traffic for the Nike APP, through compelling value proposition across O2O ecosystem
– Drive top funnel Member acquisition for .COM and shift demand from guests to Members by giving more incentives to log in.
– Drive mid-funnel active member retention for NRC/NTC App through habit formation (weekly engagement) and deliver uplift through cross-platform journeys.
– Drive member acquisition and engagement IRL for our stores, through a mix of scalable and pinnacle services and experiences that meet different member intent.
– Driven multiple member gated campaigns for key cities: Berlin, London & Paris.