Nike: After Dark Tour London

Nike After Dark Tour London was a three-day Nike event activation in London, created around the final stop of the brand’s 2026 After Dark Tour.

The closed-road 10K brought women runners from across the UK and Europe to the Royal Docks. Starting and finishing at Silverworks Island, the route took in part of London City Airport’s runway, giving runners rare access to a side of the city normally closed to the public.

Canoe created the media and VIP guest experience around race weekend, building a branded Nike ADT Townhouse in London and an experiential programme shaped around training, race preparation and recovery.

Experiential / Creative / Production / Talent

Nike event activation London: more than race day

The brief was to build an immersive ADT weekend event for media and Nike VIP guests.

Guests were arriving from different cities, countries and running communities. The challenge was to give everyone an immersive and on-brand experience with enough flexibility to prepare for the race in their own way.

Canoe developed the experience across two neighbouring venues in Canary Wharf. House of Gods became the ADT Townhouse, while Broadwick Studios next door was transformed into the ADT Hub.

The Townhouse handled the more personal side of the weekend. The Hub brought together training, product, customisation and recovery. Together, they created one joined-up experience from arrival through to race night and recovery.

Creating the ADT Townhouse

The ADT Townhouse gave runners a shared home from the moment they arrived in London.

Each bedroom was prepared with race-day product, a personal itinerary, care package and practical recovery kit. Guests could see what was happening across the weekend and had what they needed without the rooms feeling overloaded.

Those details mattered. International media and VIP guests were moving between travel, work, training sessions and social moments, so information had to be easy to find and the schedule easy to follow.

A hosted rooftop dinner gave the group time to meet before race day. Breakfast and dedicated transport then moved everyone towards the main event without turning the practical side of the weekend into a production in itself.

There was enough structure to keep a large international group connected, with enough space for runners to follow their own preparation.

Training sessions, product and recovery at the ADT Hub

Broadwick Studios became the working centre of the Nike experiential activation.

Canoe designed the Hub around Nike’s Train, Race and Recover pillars. Runners could move between run analysis, athlete preparation, nutrition, mindfulness, product and recovery depending on what they needed at that point in the day.

The programme included workshops and practical support but did not force every participant through the same experience. Some wanted advice and race discussion. Others needed space to work, reset or switch off.

That flexibility shaped our approach. The experience had to feel considered and well managed without becoming rigid or over-programmed.

Product sat within the wider experience. It was introduced alongside the advice, programming and support runners were already using to prepare.

Product and personalisation

A Nike By You workshop led by Tilda Mace gave guests the opportunity to customise their footwear ahead of race night.

The session brought a hands-on creative element into a performance-led programme. It also created a slower moment in the schedule, with the group able to sit together and work on their shoes.

Personalisation gave each runner something individual to carry into the race while creating a natural point for conversation, content and product discovery.

A joined-up running event activation

The Townhouse and Hub were planned together from the start, not treated as separate spaces.

Their proximity made it easy for guests to move between accommodation, meals, preparation and programming. Dedicated transport then connected the group to race night and back again.

For a running event activation involving guests from several markets, consistency was important. Timings, room drops, transport, talent, venue teams and partnerships all had to work together without the experience feeling over-managed.

Canoe’s role

Canoe led the creative development, venue sourcing, spatial design, programming, partnerships, talent and production. Our experiential and PR team managed the full guest journey across the three days, supporting the wider campaign while keeping the focus on what runners needed.

The project reflects Canoe’s work as a sports experiential marketing agency in London and an experiential agency for sports brands. Creative, guest experience and live production were treated as connected parts of the same brief, shaped by an understanding of running culture and the different ways athletes prepare.

Across the weekend, the spaces gave Nike’s guests useful support, meaningful product experiences and time together, while leaving room for the individual routines that mattered to them.