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| Advertising Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Co-Creative Directors: Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy Copywriter: Ebba Hult Art Directors: Pierre Janneau, Chris Thurman (W+K Portland) Print Producer: Sharon Kwiatkowski Account Management: Gene Willis, Jordi Pont, David Anson, Marco Palermo, Jason White (W+K Portland) Production Company: Happy Finish Published: May 2010 |
This is a Nike Sports advertisement. At first glance you see a frozen image from an intense soccer game. The blurred image of a large crowd in the background, as well as the dramatics of one player being on the ground and two flying through the air, show that this is an important event and the players are determined. In the ad there are three player that are in regular soccer attire and have been photographed playing. The fourth player it like a statue, his entire body is gold, and he looks frozen in position like a figurine that was picked up and placed into the photo. The slogan "Play to be remembered," is written in the midst of the image.
The bigger picture of this advertisement is its representation of the deadly sin pride. By having the one statue-like figure mixed in with the other players, it glorifies competition and more specifically victory. This ad is about being the best, the gold player, being colored differently and largely dominating the center, grabs the viewers attention immediately and constantly distracts from the other players. The slogan "Play to be remembered," encourages the concept that you must play great if you want to be remembered. I also enforces the idea that if you are remembered it must mean you were great. Both of these ideologies lead to excessive pride in the individual.
It is also important to consider the audience that this advertisement is targeting. The largest group that this is targeting is athletes. More specifically, middle and upper class people because of the prices of most Nike apparel and equipment. However the advertisement can also be targeting anyone that is a sports fan, but maybe not an athlete, with the intent to motivate them to become an athlete and buy Nike. Regardless, someone being targeted by this ad is aware of the intensity and competition to be on top in soccer or any other sport. Therefore their slogans promoting greatness will resonate with an audience that understands what it means to "be remembered" in the sports world.
