This new TVC by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam for Nike’s ‘Write the Future‘ campaign has only been around for a week or so, but it’s already closing in on nine million views on YouTube. And there’s a reason for that. And that reason is pure, unbridled awesomeness.
Big shot Hollywood director Alejandro González Iñárritu was in the chair and, not surprisingly, given Nike’s big-name endorsement arsenal, there are plenty of star turns, perhaps most notably from Homer Simpson (“Ronal-doh!”). The Fed also shows up playing table tennis against Wayne Rooney, Kobe Bryant also makes an appearance and Gael Garcia Bernal goes down the biopic road. Interestingly, Tiger Woods is nowhere to be seen.
The fact that Ronaldinho, who plays a big part in the ad, wasn’t actually selected for the Brazilian team is a little slap in the face for Nike (and proof to some that the sporting behemoth doesn’t actually decide who makes it into the Brazilian squad), but in the race for best World Cup ad, this is going to be very hard to beat. In fact, judging by some of the gushing online reactions, it could even be in the running for best ad in the history of mankind (here’s another less awesome Nike spot, this time a fairly self-helpy one for the Dutch team).
Check out a few of the other World Cup-inspired efforts from the likes of Pepsi, Adidas, Coca-Cola and, the pick of this bunch, the Carlsberg ‘Probably the Best Team Talk in the World’ spot.
- The FIFA World Cup opening ceremony kicks off on TV ONE at 1.10am Saturday 12 June and Radio’s Sport Broadcaster Of The Year, Martin Devlin, will be anchoring the coverage, joined in the studio by former players and football experts. For those who have a pesky job, there will be a live highlights package with action from every game played running into ONE News At 6pm and repeated at 11pm. “For the next month we get to watch the best players on earth going hard out to claim the greatest prize in world sport. I’m not sure that heaven will get better than that,” Devlin says.
