Nike hits trifecta with women’s soccer ad

I’m not generally one to love up on a Nike ad, mostly because they could afford to show Charlton Heston wrestling a greased gibbon if they really wanted to. But every once in a while, the Swooshinator knocks out a spot that fires on all cylinders. Case in point: the above Nike Soccer ad that’s been in circulation the past month or so. It’s truly a triple threat from the folks at Wieden + Kennedy. First, it stars The Office’s Rainn Wilson as over-the-top PR man Jim Mike (also featured here and here). Second, it highlights the U.S. women’s soccer team’s badassness (diminished only a bit by their loss in the World Cup) without having to sell them as sex symbols. And third, it features the creepy and wonderful track “10 lb. Moustache” by one of my new favorite bands, Man Man. I’ll try to remember this ad’s subtle charms next time I see a $4 million CGI spot where an overpaid basketball player morphs into a skyscraper and dunks the moon into Lake Michigan or whatever.

—Posted by David Griner

October 23, 2007 in Griner | Permalink