If you don’t follow pro skateboarding, you might not know the name Nyjah Huston, even though it’s often uttered next to prodigious athlete mononyms like LeBron, Tiger and Serena. Like those names, Huston is a polarizing figure in his sport — the best to ever do it, the most hated or somewhere in between.

But Huston contains multitudes, as explored in the latest ad from Nike SB, the brand’s skateboarding-focused line of shoes and apparel. The skater appears in a spot where missing a trick sends the viewer into the galaxy of his brain. The scene is powered by a quick-cutting, electronic music-scored collage of Huston skateboarding, motocross racing in the desert, running through a forest and DJing at a club. When the camera pulls back to reality, Huston finally lands the trick.

The spot, which promotes the new Nyjah 4 sneaker, was created by Portland, Oregon-based creative agency Thesis and represents a reemergence of the Nike SB brand after years under the sportswear banner. 

“They briefed us in on this, and they wanted to do something different,” said John Agnew, chief creative officer at Thesis and a veteran of creative roles at Apple and Nike. “They said, ‘We want to create this spot that humanizes him.’”

To do so, Agnew and Benji Wagner, chief brand officer at Thesis, tapped into the years they spent skateboarding — and filming skateboarders — for a spot that is created by and for the sport’s community.  

“Skateboarders are always filming,” Agnew said. “For product launches, it’s usually the moment where you’re able to have a hall pass to do cooler stuff.” 

Chaos in the concept

After briefing, Thesis began concepting. Using a technique he developed at Apple, Agnew puts together “mood edits” on video that captured the vibe the agency was striving for. From there, the team developed nine campaign ideas in a few days. Nike chose a cinematic option but asked for “some chaos in it,” which led Agnew to rewrite the script.

“We wanted to be weird and unusual, because it hadn’t been shot like this before, and so we really wanted to push the boundaries in a new way,” he said.

A tight budget required Thesis to work with agility and call in some “homie deals” from people in the team’s networks. Agnew had experience making “a $50K film look like $2 million,” and planned out every shot in advance. Agnew and Wagner co-directed the spot alongside freelance director of photography and editor Nicholas Woytuk (who brought on his own team of skate-friendly techs) and aimed for a style described as “Terrence Malick on mushrooms.”

“It’s just how Benji and I have always tried to work: just be very nimble, but also make it look premium and amazing,” Agnew said.

Building a team that spanned film production and skateboarding added an air of authenticity to the project — a quality in high demand in all types of cultural marketing, but particularly in the world of skateboarding.

“They can smell funniness like two miles before you’re even coming,” said Agnew of skaters. The cohort is quick to detect brands that want to use skateboarding as an easy way to connect with the youth, the executive explained.

“It’s how you hold the board and how you shoot it. It will give you away, so you have to be hyper spot-on or you will lose credibility so quick,” he added.

Music and more

Key to the ad spot is the soundtrack: an amped-up slice of electronic music that matches the speed and tone of the visuals. While Huston is a fan of EDM, Agnew found that type of music to be repetitive and not well suited for the spot. Thesis ended up working with music producers Chances With Wolves, overlaying an ascending Shepard tone, a sonic trick popularized by filmmaker Christopher Nolan.

“I wanted something that just had a melody that takes the user on a journey, because then you feel more [connected] that way,” Agnew said. 

Overall, Thesis’ work with Nike SB for the Nyjah 4 spot demonstrates how Agnew and Wagner are looking to operate at the independent shop.

“We don’t want to be that typical agency that I always had to deal with. We are making it more of like a brand agency. I work on concepts and pitches as though I’m pitching to myself on the brand side,” Agnew said. “Then we pull in our our other teams, because we’ve been there, and so we know the tricks of the trade.”