We are all well aware that Alejandro González Iñárritu’s specialty is connecting disjointed narratives to a central, worldly theme, with maximum drama (some may say melodrama.) What better than the adoration or failure motif in the wide world of sports? Nike seems to have discovered this as well. Here is the Mexican directors wonderfully dense World Cup advertisement for the shoe company (that constantly takes branding to the next level by throwing gobs and gobs of money around) that underscores, culturally, how much pressure is on these guys. Adoration or Failure? This thing is bombastic, glossy as hell, and well, still pretty wonderful. Look for the hilariously meta Gael Garcia Bernal moment.
The time has come for players to carve their name in history. One touch, tackle or free kick could crush a nation’s hopes or cause them to build a statue in your honour. Drogba, Rooney and Ronaldo are ready to Write The Future.
To be fair, Nike’s football commercials are legendary. All of them. I may be a bit biased but over the years, come both Euro and World cup, they go all out. I particularly love how they’ve tapped into the biggest rivalries though they didn’t put them together on the field. As for Bernal as Ronaldo… lol.
I hope they’re predicting the future with Portugal (and likely the world’s biggest football player) in that final shot – I’m not holding my breath but a girl can dream.
Only a few weeks to go!
The best sport commercial of all time has to be the Brazilian team doing the samba at the airport.
its hard to go by the secret tournament ads with Eric Cantona, directed by Eric Cantona, but this is the most cinematic ad anyone has done for footy and Bernal is my fav actor, just cool.
I agree Darcy, and hey Eric Cantona is in movies now(looking for eric)? Who knew he could be this great as an actor rather than an athlete?
Awesome advert, I love the Rooney-England stuff, it’s so true, but I just had to add that I watched We Are What We Are sat a row in front of Gael Garcia Bernal last week! Sorry I couldn’t resist a gloat – I was pretty starstruck