By Malay Desai
From: USA, by Wieden + Kennedy
The second film of Nike’s ‘unofficial’ FIFA 2014 campaign kicks off in a park. When young boys of opposing teams name themselves by football icons before playing, they magically turn into them as the game proceeds. Focused around superstars Ronaldo, Neymar and Rooney, the film goes on to feature many contemporary football heroes such as Ibrahimovic, Pique, Higuain, Iniesta and even personalities such as basketball’s Kobe Bryant and the animated Hulk. The film narrates a 2-2 scoreline before a commoner takes a penalty meant for Ronaldo, going on to win the game.
Why we like
With less than 40 days to go for the world’s largest sporting spectacle, being a marketer of an MNC shoe brand means more pressure than that on the defending champions. But as Nike had mentioned in its film preceding this, ‘pressure shapes legends’, and it has surely shaped a neat ad film.
Let’s get this straight – Nike isn’t the official sponsor of the World Cup, it’s Adidas. But that was the case in 2010 too, and despite the latter’s time in the sun, Nike’s phenomenal ‘Write the future’ ad stole immense attention. This attempt isn’t as legendary in its narrative but as for scale, it’s perhaps the biggest in its history.
Just as Adidas had put the fan’s aspirations amidst the glory of football icons in its ‘Jose+10’ campaign in 2006, Nike too has put the teen in the picture. The ‘I’ll be Ronaldo, I’ll be Neymar’ feeling is something every young sportsman knows, and the agency has simply treated them with a four-minute-long daydream.
It’s a daydream like none other, there are stars from every footballcrazy country, and they’re all on the top of their popularity curves. The film has expectedly slick editing, going back and forth from the neighbourhood heroes to those in the stadium and later using fan shots to build up the drama. But this would still be like any ad for a TV channel or an energy drink.
Nike then throws in amusing, almost absurd characters and moments to defuse tension and bring in hilarity. There’s a basketball icon, a postman.. even The Hulk in the midst of the drama. Also, lines such as ‘You don’t look like David Luiz, that’s an ugly wig!’ are necessity more than indulgence when the film is this long. The second half (yes, this column has for the first time used the Bolly critic phrase) game play might seem exhausting, but not if you’re a football fan.
All this said, a brand has more chances of getting it right with this budget, run time and celebs at disposal. For a campaign which says ‘risk everything’, this is a safe bet.
(To watch this film, go to Vimeo. com/92977957 and to know of Nike’s social media campaign around it, look up the hashtag #riskeverything)
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