My favorite soccer advertising campaign of all time

I'm a huge soccer fan and love advertising. So, needless to say, the World Cup is my favorite event. Every four years, I not only get awesome soccer but I also get awesome ads connected to the game. This year we got the amazing Nike campaign, Write the Future. While I'm energized by this campaign (I do think it is one of the top ones), I have to admit that I do not think it is the "best" soccer campaign ever created despite all the coverage claiming that it is.

The best soccer advertising campaign I've seen is the Adidas +10 campaign. This campaign was created for the 2006 World Cup, before the idea of social media and audience engagement were as popular within the advertising/marketing community. What makes this campaign great are two specific things. First, it is inspirational. Everyone can relate to the two kids who are playing a game and imagining their heroes are playing along with them. They get to choose their team, not just see these stars playing on a TV screen. They are the captains, not the followers. The stars of this ad are Jose and Pedro and the stars these ads usually focus on are the sidekicks. The +10 campaign taps into the imagination of the "everyman," unlike the Nike "Write Your Future" campaign which focuses on the dreams/aspirations and outcomes of the superstars. To quote 180 Amsterdam's co-executive creative director, Andy Fackrell:
“The Adidas commercial for the FIFA World Cup is based on our own childhood memory… After watching a football game, we used to run outside, recreate our own teams and re-play the match we had just seen. We tried to make every little kid’s dream come alive – getting to pick your own team and being able to choose from the world’s biggest football stars!”

Second, it was the first campaign I remember tapping into the now popular idea of audience engagement. The +10 idea was open-ended enough to function well in the new media space in 2006: video shot exclusively for web, asset downloads, UGC video sweepstakes, blogs, integrating meaningfully with the MySpace community (definitely still a huge player in 2006). They truly maximized on content distribution and user-generated content to enhance the grassroot aspects of the campaign.

Here are some quick screenshots of the interactive site (courtesy of The World of Advertising blog) as well as one of the TV spots. The +10 Adidas campaign was an integrated global advertising campaign including global and local versions for TV, cinema, print, outdoor, point-of-sale, public relations and online.

I've always loved a good competition

I've always loved a good competition. So, it's not surprising that the new Nike ad for Nike Plus strongly appeals to me. The commercial is part of the Men vs. Women virtual running campaign. The race, which started March 13 and ends on April 20, will add up all the kilometers run by men and women across the globe to see who’s the winner, men or women. You can join the virtual running race at www.nikeplus.com, something I'm strongly considering. The ad features Eva Longoria, her husband, NBA player Tony Parker, tennis ace Rodger Federer, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, long distance runner Paula Radcliffe, hip hop dancer Sofia Boutella and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres (a favorite of mine).



What's interesting is the each celebrity's own point of view on the Men vs. Women rivalry. "Women are generally better organized and more consistent," said marathon world record holder, Paula Radcliffe. "You might see the guys start off a bit faster and probably running at a quicker pace, but they're fair weather runners. If the rain or snow comes in, the guys are going to bottle out!"

Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic countered with, "Men are better competitors. We're more powerful and, mentally, we're tougher ..."

The champion will be determined by winning two of the three categories: total kilometers, average kilometers per runner and the most kilometers run by an individual in a 24-hour period. Throughout the competition, participants will be encouraged to create individual consequences and rewards against their friends and partners, based on the overall gender winner.

The Men vs. Women campaign was created by 72andSunny. The TV ad was directed by Tim Godsall and the music track is Gnarls Barkley's "Run (I am a Natural Disaster)." 72andSunny is also responsible for other creative elements such as print, out-of-home, online films and retail. AKQA created the digital aspects of the campaign.

A unique use of social media in advertising

The Nike soccer ad for the Spanish Euro 08 team took a really interesting approach to explain the motivation behind the team. The ad, Nike: Los 5 Magnificos, asked people around the nation to tell the heroes of their national team how to take their game to the Next Level. The Big Five of Torres, Iniesta, Ramos, Puyol and Fábregas internalize the comments through taking them directly to their bodies. Overall, its a really interesting way of incorporating people's beliefs directly into the power of a brand. The commercial was created by Barcelona-based advertising agency, Villarrosas and was directed by Erik Morales.