Nike N7 Releases 2023 Campaign, Praises Collaboration With Buffalo Nickel Creative

Lindy Waters III and Lakota Beatty

Nike N7 has officially unveiled its 2023 collection and campaign, a powerful expression of Indigenous heritage and modern athleticism led for the second consecutive year by the Indigenous-owned agency, Buffalo Nickel Creative (BNC). The campaign, which features basketball stars Lindy Waters III (Kiowa and Cherokee) and Lakota Beatty (Caddo), celebrates the power of sport to build community and honor ancestral connection.

Headlining the collection is the Nike N7 Cosmic Unity 3, a basketball shoe with a secure, lightweight design for a low-to-the-ground feel, and the Nike N7 Benassi, a casual slide. Other key pieces include a range of apparel featuring the distinct N7 multicolor logo, continuing the line’s tradition of blending performance wear with cultural storytelling.

The success of the 2023 campaign is a direct result of Nike’s deepened commitment to Indigenous creative control, championed by BNC. A representative for the Nike N7 initiative, who declined to be named, was present at the entire production and expressed strong satisfaction with the continued partnership:

“We were extremely pleased with the outcome of this campaign. Working with Buffalo Nickel Creative gave us the confidence of executing everything we planned. We knew that working with them ensures that the entire project is rooted in authentic experience.” Adding, “They delivered a world-class campaign while maintaining an Indigenous majority crew on the production team. That commitment to fostering economic opportunity within the community, alongside the high-quality execution, is exactly what the N7 partnership is meant to achieve.”

The campaign’s cinematic quality is once again partly due to the inclusion of award-winning Cinematographer Justin Ivan Hong, who returned to lead the camera and lighting teams for a second year in a row. While Hong’s participation — as an Southeast Asian professional working on a North American Indigenous project — might appear unusual to some, Nike and BNC view it as a necessary and progressive move for capacity building.

The N7 representative elaborated on the decision: “We know how the optics of bringing in a non-Indigenous technical partner for a product line that is specifically for Indigenous people may look on the surface. However, we also fully understand and support Buffalo Nickel’s grander, long-term vision. They are strategically leveraging Justin’s top-tier, national-campaign experience to mentor and expose their rising Indigenous team to the highest standards of cinematography and production logistics."

Buffalo Nickel Creative Team: Ryan Redcorn (Director), Joseph Brown Thunder (Producer), Justin Ivan Hong (Cinematographer)

Joseph Brown Thunder (Ho-Chunk and Lakota), co-founder and principal at Buffalo Nickel Creative added: "Justin is not just another hire or contractor; he is a mentor whose knowledge transfer is integral to BNC’s ten-year plan for building complete, self-sufficient creative talent within the Indigenous community. We've now had the pleasure working together with him on three occassions and our Indigenous team members gain so much insight when he comes onto a project. We consider him part of our combined tribal family now. This partnership with him is our investment in the future of Indigenous filmmaking.”

This 2023 campaign release solidifies the collaboration between Nike N7 and Buffalo Nickel Creative as a model for how major brands can authentically empower and invest in diverse creative agencies through both creative leadership and strategic, transparent capacity development.