I’m sure by now many of you have already seen this - but it is still worth mentioning. Nike’s new ad for their “Fight the Future” campaign in conjunction with the World Cup 2010 is simply stunning. The three minute spot, directed by Oscar nominated director Alejandro González Iñárritu, is a finely crafted piece of visual storytelling - a different league than your typical advertisement. As a commercial director, I can only aspire to get the chance to do something like this someday . Enjoy.
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Stunning photography, amazing writing, and pacing as well. Excuse me as I whimper about not being there to shoot from the sidelines in South Africa…
Wouldn’t you love to know the production cost and write up? Crazy money.
Comment by Spencer 06.03.10 @ 3:52 pmSpencer - I’ve worked on Nike spots many times, I would say this spot is probably at minimum $3 million without post, talent, stock footage costs. I’d imagine they shot some of the players on green screen in and did a lot of compositing
Comment by jen berry 06.03.10 @ 4:14 pmBest TV ad I’ve seen all year - bar none! This is what world cup fever is all about.
Comment by Wayne Miller 06.03.10 @ 4:31 pmWe just LOVE visual presentations that take our breath away and make us go “WOW.” This one was no exception. Unbelievable creativity.
“Bravo - bravo - bravo”
Comment by Deke Cloyd 06.03.10 @ 4:32 pmAn amazing piece of work — perfectly edited and I’m thrilled to hear “Hocus Pocus” by Focus rocking in the background. The next challenge is who will use “Inna Godda DaVida” by Iron Butterfly as a 20+ minute soundtrack to their opus! Thanks for pointing this out — well worth three minutes of my time!
Comment by Sheldon Reich 06.03.10 @ 4:39 pmThanks for this. That does rock.. really well done. It’s a motivator to see stuff this well done.
Comment by Seth Schaeffer 06.03.10 @ 4:40 pmHad to watch it two times. Editing was brilliant. Noticed the range of camera angles that gave it edge.
Comment by Ima chimper 06.03.10 @ 8:51 pmJust goes to show what a huge budget can do, nothing really new or any creative breakthrough seen.
Comment by am_underground 06.04.10 @ 8:12 amI worked in Delhi with an Indian sound man recently who half jokingly attributed everything that was wrong with his country to cricket. With matches lasting several days, the entire country wasted so much time watching cricket that they didn’t have time to make better lives for themselves.
Football is global. We could trade football for unlimited energy, flying cars, global justice, sustainability, and end to corporate control of our governments, enveloping the planet in gigabit wifi 
Bring it on. I live in Johannesburg and all the teams have started arriving. The whole country has gone soccer crazy.
Brilliant footage and shots.
Comment by Max 06.04.10 @ 10:19 amNike always has great ads, but this one takes it to a higher level!
Comment by Harry Hilders 06.04.10 @ 11:02 amThanks for sharing this Vincent. I hadn’t seen the full version. Really cool cinematography! Fun plot and story-line too.
Comment by Ian Coble 06.04.10 @ 12:35 pmOMG, I hate football but watched this 5 times in a row, amazing work. Just brilliant.
Comment by Steve Deboo 06.05.10 @ 8:16 amAbsolutely EPIC commercial! Perhaps I’m a little biased as a soccer fan, but nonetheless, it’s phenomenal even from a cinematic perspective. Great story, hilarious moments with Rooney living in the trailer lining fields.. Awesome actions sequences. Props to Nike for throwing some $$ into Soccer advertising, Heineken is going to need to step it up.
Comment by sacramento wedding photographers 06.07.10 @ 11:43 pmThat video is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!!
I wish that soccer was filmed the same way and contained that much action throughout the entire game though!
Great find!
Comment by Buffalo Website Design 06.08.10 @ 2:36 pmSimply incredible. I love the fast pace, makes me think my cuts are snoozers.
Comment by Brian Feulner 06.09.10 @ 7:45 pmLeave a comment
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