Nike is often quoted as a brand with it focus firmly on the youth market. One of the UK’s marketing pundits joked that if the company’s tag line “just do it” was adapted for older people it should be “just watch it”, on the basis that older people are not likely to be involved in active sport.
It is ironic that during the past year, one of Nike’s most talked about advertisements, is an excellent example of age neutral creative. It is also an example of brilliant creative by any measure.
For those who are not baseball fans it is useful to have a little background to the advertisement. In 1918 the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs in the baseball World Series. They have not won the series since; until 2004.
Just watch it.
If for any reason you cannot view the ad this is what it is about.
The advertisement is staged in the stands of Fenway Park with two young boys and their parents watching the game. A clock shows the passing years and as it races along the characters and their costumes age. The two boys become teenagers, their girlfriends replace their parents and then their own children join them watching the game. As the fashions and styles change there is a constant swell of a violin punctuated by outburst of disappointment as the Red Sox fail to win. The ad goes through the anticipation, excitement, disappointment and glory and then the clock reaches 2004. In the last frame of the ad you hear the crack of ball on bat, the family rises to their feet in anticipation and the screen goes black. As the music stops the “Just Do It” words appear followed by the Nike logo.
In 60s seconds the ad shows the passing of 84 years pass, children becoming old men, with their own grandchildren, all sharing a passionate desire for the same thing: The Red Sox to win again, as they did when they beat the St. Louis Cardinals.
Dick Stroud www.20plus30.com
No comments:
Post a Comment