Nike Suggests You Risk Everything For The Love Of The Game

2008 – The entertaining and voguish director of successful English contemporary movies – “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” takes a go at a commercial for Nike. Creates a masterpiece.

You know – the ad, which somehow built a distant image of that faceless person in the commercial shaking hands with Dutch star Sneijder, is you. The POV story (a two minute illustration called The Next Level) was a very nice contemplation of both Nike and Richie’s artistic taste: rendered pragmatism along with a cast of stars just enough to make it look real.

The naturally lunging, quick-cutting camera work from Ritchie garnered raves among the global footballing fraternity. The brand exploded. That was then.

Nike recently launched the first of their many football campaigns this year with a slogan of #riskeverything.

Directed by Jonathan Glazer (the man who did a breathtaking job for Nike with his purified thoughts on Michael Jordan and the game as a whole via “Frozen Moments”), this time decided to focus on the pressure of a being Ronaldo, Rooney and Neymar and more importantly, the pressure of shouldering the hopes of millions.

The ad though not as entertaining as Ritchie’s spectacle keeps you intrigued to find out the end result. The film opens with Ronaldo on his way through an airport and end with all three players.

The captivating bit about the ad was how Glazer managed to apprehend the essence of the campaign from the beginning with the sound of Cristiano Ronaldo walking (which resembled the beating of a heart) to the end where you see the three take on to the pitch. The beat remained consistent throughout. Identical to which can be heard internally while one is under pressure.

Nike had created some pretty fair TV spots in the past. The last commercial gave us every reason to expect the succeeding would take the brand to the next level.

This one does not. Though it was on the anticipated side; it gives us an opportunity to see the three in one commercial. And the opportunity to see the gear without it being particularly shoved on us is pretty cool.

I do find it hard to visualize the “Risk Everything” logo, which is a skull with the swoosh carved into its forehead and a flaming die and ball on either side. Any takes?