“Am I a bad person? Tell me, am I?” actor Willem Dafoe asks within the voiceover for Nike‘s latest ad, as clips of elite athletes including basketball forward LeBron James, runner Sha’Carri Richardson, Italian fencer Bebe Vio and tennis icon Serena Williams flicker throughout the display screen.
“I have no empathy. I don’t respect you. I’m never satisfied. I have an obsession with power,” the narrator continues. “I’m irrational. I have zero remorse. I have no sense of compassion. I’m delusional. I’m maniacal. I think I’m better than everyone else. I want to take what’s yours and never give it back. What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine.”
Past the parameters of an area, stadium or courtroom, the reply to Dafoe’s query could be a agency sure. Nonetheless, for the sports activities stars spotlighted by Nike, these aren’t the traits of a villain, however the attributes that make a winner.
“Winning Isn’t for Everyone,” Nike reminds us, introducing its summer season marketing campaign, which is able to run in the course of the 2024 Summer season Olympic Video games and Paralympic Video games in Paris.
This primary unapologetic hero advert will type a part of the sportswear model’s biggest-ever deliberate media funding across the event, because it seems to be to return to its clear tone of voice, compete in opposition to rivals like Adidas and On, and revive sluggish gross sales.
Developed by longtime company Wieden+Kennedy, the insights for the marketing campaign got here instantly from Nike’s roster of athlete ambassadors, who shared that they aren’t simply motivated by the thought of successful—they’re relentlessly fueled by it.
“This is about celebrating the voice of the athlete,” mentioned Nicole Graham, who lately rejoined Nike as chief advertising and marketing officer. “It’s a story about what it takes to be the best, the legacies that have yet to be shaped and the dreams that will be made real. It reminds the world that there’s nothing wrong with wanting to win.”
“Nike’s story starts with the athlete story. It always has. And it always will,” she added. “‘Winning Isn’t for Everyone’ shows that anyone can be a winner if they are willing to do what it takes.”
The marketing campaign will embrace athlete extension movies, photographs, social media extensions and out-of-home advertisements in cities globally.
