A comment from one of my recent posts talked about The Tingle. The commenter’s simple criteria for a great sports ad is whether or not s/he gets a tingle when seeing it—or chill bumps, scalp fizz, however you describe it. OK. But I would argue that any and all Tingles would remain dormant if the ad you’re seeing is afflicted with fakeness. You’ll know it when you don’t feel it.
The last Tingle I got was from the Nike basketball TV commercial that aired during the Olympics, featuring Marvin Gaye singing the Star Spangled Banner intercut with images of the US Olympic basketball team.
Using that old footage was pure genius. The unique look of the film, Marvin’s pure and blissful expression as he sang, the funky arrangement of our national anthem, the sincere, animated hooting and hollering of the crowd behind him…it just made me smile. Gave me chill bumps.
The way they weaved in the mostly high speed (slowed down) footage of the current basketball players was artful and athletic. And the ending, with the players coming together and raising their intertwined arms and hands, was Knute Rockne, George Patton, and Mike Krzyzewski rolled into one, with Francis Scott Key providing the voiceover. Not too shabby.
It was one of those ads I’d look at when I was doing work for Gatorade and wish I’d done. Nike at it’s best. And every frame of it Authentic.
But…just for your consideration, here’s a question to consider as you watch the ad:
What was it selling?
The Nike brand? A specific Nike product? Nike Team USA gear? Team USA? The Olympics? Kobe Bryant (He is a Nike endorser and many people felt that he dominated the ad)? Marvin Gaye? Francis Scott Key? All of the above?
Does it matter? As a sports fan, it made me like Nike. Isn’t that good enough?
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2 comments:
That Nike commercial won over Bill Simmons:
"Dwyane Wade's 27 points off the bench. I forgot how much I missed him. When a Spaniard tripped Wade at the end of the first half it sent me (and whichever other Americans were still up) into full-fledged "Oh, you want a piece of us, Spain?!" mode. It was just the extra motivation I needed. Why? Rooting for Kobe and Coach K is like rooting for the house in blackjack. It never stops feeling wrong, and you never stop secretly wanting to turn on them. When Nike brilliantly used Marvin Gaye's rendition of the national anthem in its commercial, I was pretty much swayed; you could have talked me into caring about a team featuring Kevin Federline, Jimmy Fallon and Spencer Pratt after that. But some scrub from Spain nearly blowing out Wade's knee? It was on."
Bill Simmons is really smart and has great taste in commercials.
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