28 years of awesome Nike ads

Nike – and their main agency Wieden + Kennedy, Portland – currently appear to be on quite a roll with their recent ads, print as well as film. This is something bound to translate into major awards in the next months. Dream Crazier our current Spot of the Week is just the latest example of outstanding work that now spans back almost 30 years.  Last year, we had that Colin Kaepernick poster and the “Dream Crazy” commercial (scroll all the way down this page to have a look) and now there is “Dream Crazier”, (VO by Serena Williams) and paying tribute to women athletes. Featuring gymnast Simone Biles, fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, the US women’s national soccer team, and other women athletes (including Serena herself), the spot questions women’s perceived weaknesses, hailing these as strengths that make women even bigger and better than the rest of the world.

But of course, Nike's ads have always been among the very best adland had to offer – at any time since they first started doing commercials 28 years ago now. The first Nike commercial I remember seeing, and selecting for the magazine (as well as the video cassette we used to have back then) was, in fact, Nike's very first TV commercial, the very aptly titled "Revolution" and the first ad to use the eponymous Beatles song (A song that appeared on The Beatles legendary "White Album" in 1968 and received a rather mixed reception at first. The New Left Review called it a “lamentable petty bourgeois cry of fear”, Black Dwarf, a political and cultural newspaper published between 1968 and 1972 by a collective of socialists in the United Kingdom called it "no more revolutionary than Mrs. Dale’s Diary.") The commercial, however, became a massive success. Nike's sales doubled in two years and their ads' themes of empowerment and transcendence with a personal philosophy of everyday life formed the basis of Nike’s branding for the years to come and allowed them to dominate the newly emerging “sign economy” of brand culture. As far as I know, Nike has since been the number one brand on the sportswear market.

Here are some gems from Nike's illustrious advertising history. There was so much to choose from that I limited myself to work that's come out since 2000. Enjoy!

First, a commercial from 2000 that is the favourite Nike spot of many I know. "Beautiful" features a series of people with sports injuries, from a wrestler with cauliflower ear to a surfer with a shark bite are shown off as Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" (a song written and first recorded by Billy Preston) plays in the background.

Client: Nike. Ad Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland. Art Director: Jeff Labbe. Copywriter: Mike Folino. Director: Frank Budgen. Production Company: Gorgeous.

The second one here was awarded the Cannes Film Grand Prix in 2002. "Tag" shows everyone is playing, just that, really everyone! The whole city is on the run from the unsuspecting young man who was tagged as he was not paying attention. (I never really warmed to this commercial back then but I guess I was just sulking. We had not been able to get hold of the spot for the magazine in time, i.e. before  it won big at Cannes.)

Client: Nike. Ad Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland. Art Directors: Monica Taylor, Andy Fackrell. Copywriters: Kash Sree, Mike Byrne. Director: Frank Budgen. Production Company: Gorgeous.

 Next up, one of my favourite Nike spots of the past ten years. It's titled "Find your greatness" and celebrates the "little" guy because “greatness is not some rare DNA strand …”– according to the narrative voiced by actor Tom Hardy.

Client: Nike. Ad Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland. Creative Directors: Ryan O'Rourke, Alberto Ponte. Art Directors: Sezay Altinok, Aramis Israel, Sara Phillips. Copywriters: Caleb Jensen, Brock Kirby. Director: Lance Acord. Production Company: Park Pictures.

In "Unlimited Courage" from 2016, we meet an 86-year-old nun who competed in the Ironman 45 times and Chris Mosier, the first transgender sportsperson in the US national team. Once again, the Nike spots feature some extraordinary personalities. This list could go on and on.

Client: Nike. Ad Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland. Creative Directors: Ryan O'Rourke, Alberto Ponte. Art Director: Sara Phillips. Copywriter: Adam Tetreault. Director: Max Malkin. Production Company: Prettybird.

And here, of course, the “Dream Crazy” spot that came out in early winter of last year and coincided with the famous poster featuring Colin Kaepernick which we also put on the cover of Vol. 5/2018 of Archive. Narrated by Colin Kaepernick, it encourages people to dream big and not to settle for less in their lives. It features superstar athletes like LeBron James, Serena Williams, and others addressing issues – amongst others – such as gender, disabilities, racism, obesity, etc.