A funny and slick three-minute production capped by creative brilliance and Wayne Rooney’s ‘beard’
Sports apparel giant Nike recently unveiled their ‘Write The Future’ global advertising campaign for June’s upcoming FIFA World Cup, illustrating the transformation of sports brand marketing. The three-minute long advert, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, previously responsible for films Babel and 21 Grams, points the fine line between glory and heartache showing flash-forwards of players’ future lives based on how well they perform in a fictional tournament. It features a host of star names such as Portuguese glamour boy Cristiano Ronaldo, England’s shining light Wayne Rooney, and cameo performances from Homer Simpson and Roger Federer.
The multi-million dollar production, debuted during ITV’s Champions League final coverage, showed originality, light-heartedness, and was particularly very engrossing to watch. ITV’s broadcast of the advert, however, did not satisfy viewers south of England as well as Wales – the advert was accidentally cut short by six seconds due to a transmission fault.
Rooney is the main figurehead in this commercial. After a costly mistake, the Manchester United and England striker finds himself in lowly surroundings, including living in an isolated caravan with a bushy beard grown on his chin. Seemingly distraught, he picks himself up on the pitch to tackle his main protagonist, France’s Franck Ribéry. This launches Rooney to stardom – being knighted by The Queen, seeing stock markets escalating and babies named after him, and obliterating a starstruck Roger Federer at table tennis.
Ronaldo, as he usually does on the football field, steals the limelight. The highlight of his role was to nutmeg a surprised Homer during a guest appearance on The Simpsons. Nike’s ability to poke fun at football players’ lifestyles makes the advert endearing. Some might say it is hyperbolised and perhaps pretentious, but this is surely the exact purpose that Nike are trying to achieve. Long gone are the days of David Beckham advertising an Adidas trainer just by kicking a ball. Where is the excitement in that? I would rather see 60 seconds of Ronaldo gloating at how good he really is. Or Rooney with a beard.
Director Iñárritu talks about the concept of the advert. “All these players’ futures will flash ahead. It is the actions that they take in that moment which will have a consequence in their future, by failure or by success.
“The three-minute version is just unstoppable, kind of an absurd, action-packed commercial that I hope people will enjoy.”
The commercial also contained World Cup-bound star players such as Chelsea’s Didier Drogba, Italy’s tournament winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, and Ribéry. However, it features a number of celebrities that will not be gracing the main stage in South Africa, particularly Ronaldinho of Brazil and AC Milan, showing how problematic an advert is when a sport fails to co-operate with a product. Early on, we witness Cannavaro’s ‘highlight’ when he is seen in an Italian variety show, with a middle-aged Italian serenading him surrounded by scantily-clad female dancers, something which personally drew my attention. It was the flashy dressed middle-aged man, not the female dancers.
And we witnessed Ronaldinho’s ‘Samba’ skills on the ball: great technique, skill, and ingenuity. Even fans, and notably basketball star Kobe Bryant, tried to replicate his magic. A shame that Ronaldinho’s ‘future’ will not be in South Africa lifting the World Cup, but in his apartment in Milan watching the football.
It is natural. Approaching the World Cup, there will be many sports-related ads. From Puma’s advertisement of British supporters singing Savage Garden’s ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ song in a pub, Umbro’s ‘Tailored by England’ shirt campaign, Mars’s recreation of John Barnes’ rap segment in New Order’s 1990 World Cup anthem, and Sony’s 3D television promotion, viewers will be overloaded with all things football. The most memorable ones? Ones where you won’t be tempted to switch the channel, and I think Nike’s commercial will leave many glued to the screens over the coming weeks.
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