Nike’s “Write the Future” was a commercial played before the 2010 World Cup. This wasn’t your typical 30 second commercial. The full commercial took three minutes and followed a number of the world’s greatest soccer players. Some main points of the commercial are the lack of any dialogue, the slow motion effects, the various stars (including non-soccer players) and the “storyline” of the various stars.
What the commercial lacks in standard dialogue, it makes up for with its use of crowd cheers and other sound effects. The first sequence consists of Drogba, a star on the Ivory Coast national team, dribbling the ball. You hear the roar of the crowd, cut by the silence whenever Drogba makes a move, the excitement of the announcer, and when the ball appears to be going in, the sound of parades and jubilance of the Ivory Coast citizens (Drogba writing the future for himself, scoring the winning goal and brining the World Cup trophy to his nation). However, right before the ball crosses the line, Italian star Cannavaro comes in and clears the ball off the line. We see the effect this has when Cannavaro has a whole song written about him and hundreds of women cheering for him (not too farfetched for a European soccer star).
The next sequence is probably my favorite in the commercial. England star Wayne Rooney tries a long pass which becomes intercepted by French player Ribery. In the aftermath of his bad pass, the stock market crashes, people hate him, there’s a small cameo by 3 American players who seem to be pleased with the result and worst of all, Ribery gets a giant billboard ad. Seeing what could happen, Rooney sprints back to save the play, and now rewrites the future. He is knighted by the Queen, 3 Spanish players bemoan his new success, the stock market shoots up, everyone is naming their kids Wayne and best of all, he easily beats tennis superstar Roger Federer in ping pong. (This is an interesting use of brining in another Nike sponsor, Roger Federer, and having him take part in the commercial)
Following this scene, we have Ronaldinho showing off some of his Brazilian flare with a few step overs of the ball. This signature move becomes an instant hit and is copied my hundreds and then posted to youtube. Even NBA star Kobe Bryant after hitting a last second shot celebrates by doing the dance. (Again, another Nike sponsor brought in to help). The ad ends with Portugese Christiano Ronaldo lined up to take a free kick, with the possibility of a stadium being named after him and a giant replica statue of him to be raised.
All of these stars’ writing their future is based off of the World Cup. The amazing thing, as ridiculous as it seems, it’s honestly pretty accurate. Granted you’re not going to get knighted for winning the World cup (though there is a soccer manager who has been knighted), if Wayne Rooney actually did bring England its first World Cup since 1966, he would be treated like royalty. The commercial captures the passion that fans around the world have for the nation during the World Cup (which sadly the USA cannot emulate) and got millions of fans around the world excited for the greatest sporting event ever created.
I think your emphasis on the lack of dialogue is an awesome point. In my Nike Commercial on "leave nothing to fate" there was the same effect where the lack of dialogue was replaced with the noise of moves the athlete makes and the cheering crowd. In some ways, I find this more effeective than dialogue because it really gives the audience a chance to feel as if they are a part of the action.
ReplyDeleteI love this commercial because it shows that even huge sports stars have dreams and fantasies of being the hero, just like fans do. Any athlete has dreamed of making that last second shot to win the game. This commercial humanizes the stars as well as creating drama for each athlete and play that is shown in the ad.
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