The visual image is an advert of Nike’s campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. The football player in the image is Portuguese national, Cristiano Ronaldo. He is one of the biggest sports stars in the world and recently had recently completed a world record move of eighty million British pounds to Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009. Nike even though they were not official World Cup sponsors they sponsored many countries and top stars as we could see from their write the future commercial
This slogan” write the future” is Nike’s effort to emphasize on how massive an occasion this is that whatever you do will “write the future”. In the picture, Ronaldo is about to take what looks like a crucial free kick in at an important time. It can be seen that Ronaldo in the picture is a statue which shows that whatever you do good or bad is sculptured forever and this is your chance to “write the future”. The wall of defenders looks like they are wearing brazil’s national colors which might mean to show that this match is very late onto the tournament as both the nations are top footballing sides.
Another picture of the campaign is of England’s Wayne Rooney. He was at the time at Manchester United one of the biggest football clubs in the world and was one of the best players around. Ronaldo and Rooney were both at the time were Nike’s two biggest and most essential star names in their armory which is seen as in their ‘Write the future commercial’ they get the most screen time and the story revolves around them. In the picture he looks to be heading the ball towards goal after rising above the rest. The text says ‘Arise, Sir Wayne’ which is clever in the sense that Rooney is knighted as he is British and has just seized this important moment by scoring this header and has established this moment in history which results with him being knighted. It can be seen in the picture that Rooney is a statue himself as well emphasizing the point made on Ronaldo’s picture that this moment will go down in history and will be celebrated by it being sculptured.
Talking about the video commercial (https://youtu.be/lSggaxXUS8k) it shows all the top Nike stars from different footballing nations in the world turning it up on the big stage. Rooney and Ronaldo are both on the video and the video basically shows them after the World Cup after having both good and bad performances and how it changes their life afterwards. Rooney gives the ball away to another Nike star and French International Franck Ribery and he seems to be on his way to score a goal but then Rooney has a slight glimpse of the future where he goes away from football because of this mistake and is mowing a football field and has grown a beard and a belly and living in a trailer looking at a billboard of Ribery in front of him. He then tracks back and makes a crunching challenge on Ribery and then visualizes himself becoming an instant hero. Rooney gets knighted and becomes’ Sir Wayne’. He headlines all the papers and all the people in Britain are naming their newborns ‘Wayne’. When the video reaches Ronaldo’s part it shows him running with the ball with purpose where he pictures all the glory and love like a stadium being named after him in Portugal as well as him featuring in the Simpsons and after that he is at the premier of his own movie. He gets an important freekick in a dangerous situation and as he is getting in his stance to take it he can see a full body statue of him being unveiled to the world. He approaches to strike the ball and that’s it. ‘Write the Future’ the slogan for this campaign appears with the Nike logo and leaves fans tantalized and amazed.
This ad combines cinematography and advertising into one tenacious and top-quality mixture of slow motion sporting excellence.
From an advertising point of view this is absolutely brilliant, it is exhilarating and exciting but just enough to not give all the fun away. It keeps fans on the edge and was released strategically before the world cup to let itself grow on social media just enough to peak during the start of the world and not let the hype die. Even though Nike are not official World Cup sponsors, they were able to, without once mentioning the event, almost completely steal the spotlight from their biggest rivals in business Adidas who happen to be the official sponsors of the World Cup.
In its first week of release this ad broke World records crossing 7.8 million views (Axon, 2010), and reportedly “recruiting seventeen fans every second on Facebook whilst becoming the most shared [campaign] on the planet in 2010” (Mindshare, 2013). Nike used their lineup of mega stars perfectly using ethos (character credibility) to appeal to the worldwide audience of the sport as well as potential customers, connecting their sportswear to some of the World’s best players. They incorporate their gear, national pride, adrenaline and exotic moments of watching a big game, and the fame that all youngsters aspire to achieve. Nike launched their brand equity and global dominance to new heights whilst gaining millions of new customers and followers.
Nike has always been aware of popular culture and their own influence, but this ad reminded the world why they play the beautiful game. Its emotional connection to and love for this religion called football was the reason behind its success.
This campaign from Nike successfully achieves its sole purpose of building the hype around the World Cup and also their top stars and gives a different dimension to the celebration that is the FIFA World Cup.