NIKE ROLLS OUT ITS FIRST WORLD CUP AD
Nike has launched the first part of its unofficial World Cup campaign with a spot directed by Jonathan Glazer.
“Risk Everything” features the usual suspects – Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Neymar. The spot focuses on the pressure placed on the players as they prepare to play on the world's stage. As Nike is not an official sponsor of the World Cup, there is no explicit mention of the tournament in the ad.
The film opens with Ronaldo on his way through an airport, first alone with his thoughts, then surrounded by raucous fans clamoring for a glimpse of their hero. The pandemonium continues on his way to the stadium with the streets of Lisbon mobbed with CR shirts and billboards. The previous night’s commentary plays on the radio: “Ronaldo scores! Who else but Ronaldo!?” The fanaticism around him is at a boiling point.
Meanwhile, Rooney dresses in his hotel room as commentators remind him what he already knows: his stellar career still lacks a goal scored for England on the greatest stage. Media hound him as he exits the hotel, vividly portraying the intense scrutiny Rooney faces in his home country and beyond.
And Neymar, who has recently started wearing the celebrated No.10 shirt for Brasil, watches fervent supporters from inside the team bus. At the stadium, he walks its halls toward the pitch but lets himself glimpse up at the great No.10 shirts of the team’s past. Neymar, confronting unmistakable pressure that would stun most men, instead allows a hint of a smile.
"The expectations—from a nation's hopes to the historic power of a shirt—are massive, but these are players who thrive on that responsibility," says Davide Grasso, Nike's chief marketing officer.
"These players play on the edge because they know great moments usually spring from attempts to try something out of the ordinary. Think about Zlatan's overhead kick last year. Those moments do not occur without fearless risk-taking."
The ad is clearly a preamble of more to come. Could another “Write the Future” follow?
Lürzer's Archive "One Place: Jonathan Glazer"
8 April 2014
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