Nike’s actual world cup ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XviR7esUvo&feature=youtu.be
It feels to me like a poor relation to Write The Future, chucking everything but the kitchen sink at a very slight idea.
And 4 minutes? Nothing new happens after the pitch turns into a stadium. It’s just the usual stepovers and tackles we’ve seen in every Nike ad since Good Versus Evil.
‘What do we do now?’
‘Chuck the Hulk in.’
‘What?’
‘Come on, there’s nowhere else for this to go and we need to fill 250 seconds.’
‘Oh. OK.’
I’m sure 12-year-olds will love it.
UPDATE: I think it’s worth saying that since Good vs Evil Nike (along with every sports brand on earth, along with several other brands) has been doing to death the ‘interesting variation on a football game’ plot. Pepsi had football with sumo wrestlers, Adidas had football with normal people picked by footballers, Nike had football with video game characters and on and on and on…
That’s why I liked Write the Future so much: it wasn’t just a game of football; it was a strong idea around a game of football.
This new ad is very dull and lacks any imagination whatsoever.
Jose +10 was much better.
Boooooooooooooring.
It is too long.
But there’s a good insight in to why people by Nike gear.
Maybe a little too critical Ben?
I can’t remember seeing an advert shared on my Facebook and Twitter as much as the ad in question. People seem to be loving it. Does that mean they’ll love Nike and therefore buy their boots for their next game playing centre back for Hungover Athletic in some Sunday league game in Dagenham? Yes. It most probably will.
I can see why ad people might question it. It doesn’t have a story like write the future. But I quite like the insight that people play as their favourite footballers. I can remember screaming ‘GERRRAAAAARDDD’ every time I hit a volley, regardless of which direction it ended up.
Too any ads get wanked over by the professionals when Gary the plumber couldn’t give a shit. Or worse, hasn’t even seen it.
Wow, Keith… such anger.
I apologise in advance if the below is too explanatory, but I infer from your words that you’ve missed the point about what I said and what Apple’s advertising does.
1. Different products need different kinds of work. I love the fact that much (all?) of Apple’s work is some kind of variation on the product demo (http://www.ben-kay.com/2012/11/advertising-rule-number-one-if-you-can-make-a-really-good-product-demo-do-that/). It means we’re in the unusual but brilliant position of having something to say about what we make and how it can benefit you. Nike clearly doesn’t, so it makes expensive ‘entertainments’ like this.
(But it doesn’t lead to crap ads. Maybe you’re unaware of the D&AD TV nomination Apple/MAL’s ‘Misunderstood’ ad has gained this year.)
2. I understand you may not be a longtime reader of this blog, but I’ve written many times about the fact that I don’t think the ‘idea’ (by its creative advertising definition) is a big deal at all. Check this post: http://www.ben-kay.com/2013/10/idea-vs-execution/
In the instance of this Nike ad, which does have an idea/insight that could have been quite interesting (kids pretend to be their heroes when they play football), the blah blah massive football game stuff Nike have been doing for years takes over and crushes the point they were making.
I don’t mean that ideas are intrinsically better but one big, solid idea is what set Write The Future apart and allowed it to be consistently entertaining off the pitch.
3. Useless, hubristic cunt? Hmmm… If I remove ‘useless’ as a pejorative exaggeration (strictly speaking I do have some uses) and ‘cunt’ as an indication that you dislike me (but kind of hard to address), I’m left with hubristic (overly arrogant). Is it overly arrogant to criticise something? Maybe; maybe not (the last sentence of the post is possibly a bit much, but I stand by its essence).
But has it occurred to you that by criticising me for criticising something you have demonstrated the very ‘hypocrisy’ you appear to deplore in my writing?
I mean this is the kindest possible way, but if you could give a little more thought to your comments before posting them they might reflect more positively on you, whoever you are.
(Smiley, winky face made out of punctuation).
For the record, I like Apple advertising and I like Nike advertising, both do two very different things very well.
However, what does strike me as odd in this ad is that Zlatan is there in his PSG shirt. A celebration of the World Cup by its major sponsor feels a bit forced when they shoehorn in a star because he’s a Nike name even though his country didn’t make it to the finals.
Having said that, I though the ad was fun. Bit too long, and not up to the Write the Future standard but still, works for me.
Possibly the biggest payday the Eagles of Death Metal have ever seen.
I agree with previous posters, really. Great insight (kids do pretend to be superstars) but slightly overblown in execution. Also, they get it slightly wrong in that the way you behave in the park/on the playground is you call out your OWN name, not the name of the player you’re passing to. If you ever pass, that is. However, I do like the line “Neymar would never do that.”
Has anyone actually done one of those finger snap things in the last 6 years?