Hasta La Ideas

Nike has today launched the first part of its football 2014 campaign (aka its unofficial World Cup campaign), created by Wieden + Kennedy and directed by Jonathan Glazer.

Titled Risk Everything, the ad features Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, and focuses on the pressure placed on the players as they prepare to play on the world’s stage. It is set to a rhythmic beat, which serves to represent the tension for the players but also as a ticking clock counting down to the excitement of the event. Nike has yet to announce what else is to come in the campaign, but this film definitely has the feel of a preamble to something bigger.

As Nike is not an official sponsor of the World Cup, there is no explicit mention of the tournament in the ad, but we are left in no doubt as to what the spot is about. With its focus on the players, and what they may (or may not) achieve at the event, the spot has echoes of Write The Future, Nike’s phenomenally successful ad for the 2010 World Cup, which was largely seen as having stolen the advertising glory from official sponsors Adidas.