Nike just got pwned

Here’s Beats by Dre’s World Cup ad:

I’ve already gone into my reasons for disliking Nike’s effort, but in a year when it was really their turn to knock it out of the park again, it’s interesting to see them get shown up by a high-end tech company.

Like Write The Future, it feels like they’ve thrown everything including the kitchen sink at it, sparing no expense until we’ve mouthed the name of the hundredth world-class star preparing for his game inside a pair of those ubiquitous headphones.

No, it’s not as good as Write the Future, but that’s because Nike has a natural connection to the World Cup, giving it a massive advantage. Connecting headphones to sport is more of a stretch, but they’ve got a good, solid idea represented by a great line (The Game Before The Game).

The other thing that gives this an edge over 2014 Nike is the fact that it doesn’t feel like it’s trying so hard. It’s quite a trick to film a gazillion dollars of talent and have it feel lo-fi and somewhat real.

If I were the kind of person who idolised footballers who don’t play for Arsenal, or wore Beats By Dre headphones (I’ve had a few pairs over the years but now I’m on Team Parrot Zik) I’d contribute to this ad’s social media footprint by tweeting to my mates and maybe putting it on my Facebook status.

But I’m not, so I retweeted it from someone else then wrote a blog post about it (#TGBTG).