Could this win the next Grand Prix at Cannes?

Probably not, because it’ll be such old news by next June. But oddly enough, it’s made possible by the little race going on just up the road in France, the Tour de Lance.

For most Americans, it might as well be called that. When he’s in it, we’re interested. When he’s off galavanting with the latest Hollywood Hottie du jour, he’s fun fodder for People magazine, but it doesn’t do a whole lot for Americans turning their attention to guys riding bikes in France.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather watch Manny Ramirez than NOCENTINI Rinaldo. That’s how they roll with the surnames across the pond; last name first IN CAPS, first name last. NOCENTINI wears the yellow jersey right now by virtue of his performance in yesterday’s seventh stage, 224 kilometers through the Pyranees, covered in about 6 hours.

And you thought baseball games took too long.

Anyway.

The Americans who are probably most interested in Lance riding in the Tour are the fine folks in Beaverton, OR with the swooshes on their clothes. They’re also the people who now bring you Chalkbot.

You may have seen it already, but if not, take a look.

Saying it’s simple, smart, and a great way of promoting Nike as the thought leader in sports and causes would be stating the obvious. It also engages real people and pulls them in, gets them involved with very little effort (other than the time and brainwork needed to build the damn machine).

It may or may not win any huge awards next year in the South of France, but at least it'll help motivate more folks in our great land to watttchh mmmore bikknngng...

Oops, woah, fell asleep for a sec there while I was watching the bike race thing. Sorry. Won't happen again. Promise.

In awe of Lance

Once again, Nike and Lance Armstrong have found a way to inspire us.



Powerful. Gripping. The images are singular and relentless in their ability to make you feel sympathy for these courageous people; the music grabs your heart and twists and wrenches it, as it climaxes with pounding drumbeats. The ending is surprising and compelling.

It provides a fascinating contrast to a thematically similar commercial done several years earlier, also featuring Lance and with Nike as it’s sponsor.



No music that builds to a climax, no images of anyone battling a terrible disease. Just a very vulnerable, very determined young athlete.

But so powerful. So inspiring.

The twist here, of course, is that he did exactly what he promised, despite cancer in his testicles, abdomen, lungs, and brain. He beat the disease, he rode again as a professional cyclist, and he did pretty well.

More inspiring than the new spot? Who’s to say. They’re both amazing. But I will say this:

In the new spot, the tone in his voice feels different. His attitude towards humanity feels different. He just seems tired.

In each of the spots, Lance is at the center of what inspires us. And he does inspire us.

But in the new spot, his voice seems affected by his years of being chased by paparazzi, accused of doping, and living the life of a true rock-star-dating, tabloid-filling celebrity, who has left cycling behind and transcended the world of sports to become a bigger than life figure, for better or worse.

And it comes off as just slightly less sincere. To me, it doesn’t seem as fresh as this spot, done as part of the same campaign.



Now, don’t get me wrong. I am awed by Lance Armstrong and the things he has accomplished since his cancer announcement of October, 1996: he won the Tour de France seven times, and he raised both awareness and enormous sums of money for cancer and cancer research. He ran the New York and Boston Marathons.

And perhaps most incredible, he fathered a son, Max, through natural conception, just under a month ago, even though it was assumed that it could never happen.

This guy is incredible. He is truly special.

But being the sportsguy that I am, the Lance Armstrong I like most is the less famous, pre-Sheryl, more hard-core athlete. The guy who did a This is Sportscenter commercial that’s arguably one of the best ever made.



Not in the same class as the ads above, but for people who create great sports marketing, work this good is pretty damn inspiring.

Just Das It

When it comes to sports brand icons and their TV commercials, more often than not, I’m impressed by Nike, perplexed by Gatorade, and fascinated by Adidas.

While Nike continues to blast down the road of consistently strategic and surprising work, and Gatorade rambles along a twisty turny highway in search of the Holy Grail of millenial connection, Adidas keeps crossing the street and trying different routes.

They tell the story of Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas, and the true origins of the company, to stake a claim as an authentic original. And they do it via a 3 minute film. In claymation.

And they make a House Party spot with David Beckham, Missy Elliott, and other funky friends, to celebrate 60 years of Adidas originals.

Adidas does a lot of really interesting, entertaining work. I usually like it quite a bit. Case in point: Two new shoe ads featuring Derrick Rose (he of the phantom SAT test)…



…and Dwight Howard (he of the perhaps-overthrowing King James tonight)…



They look and sound different, which is good (voiced by Chali 2na from Jurassic 5). And they do a pretty clever thing: They talk about the power and efficacy of the clothes and shoes in the context of the power and efficacy of the athlete. I thought this was a smart way to surround the info they so desperately want to convey.

So in terms of breaking through the insanely crowded communications clutter, I’d say they’re successful.

But they’re not as strong as the new Nike work.

For me, the Adidas work doesn’t resonate as much as the new Nike puppets with Kobe and LeBron, for a simple reason: Even the most sports-astute marketers often forget how great it is to just watch amazing athletes do amazing things. It's why I love this spot so much.



You get humor, you get personality, and you get authenticity. While Adidas has cool technique, Nike 180’s that and goes anti-cool; you can’t get much more low tech than felt puppets.

I’m not saying the Adidas work isn’t good. It’s pretty darn cool. It just doesn’t feel as spot-on authentic as the Nike work. Am I wrong? Am I too Old School? Am I on the Nike payroll?

Maybe, probably, and definitely not. But you tell me.

A meandering continuum

Of Kobe, LeBron, Willie Tyler and Lester, $20 Chinese food, and the great Circle of Life in sports and marketing.

Let’s start in the present.

Apparently, Nike is assuming that the Laker and the Cavs are going to meet in the NBA finals. At least that was their best guess when they made this spot, which had to have been produced before the playoffs began (and before the Rockets took LA to tomorrow’s Game 7).



I am highly amused by this premise: LeBron and Kobe are roommates. Kobe is the Rat Pack-like elder statesman, wearing shades and sweater right out of Ocean’s 11 (the original). LeBron is the kid playing video games with the hip hop styling. Love the puppet representations, love the apartment in which they live. This all makes sense, because Kobe has won three titles over a long career and LeBron is still looking for his first.

Fun stuff.

I also love the voices. It was amazing to see how many people beefed about not getting the real voices, including Darren Rovell’s SportsBiz blog. I say it’s much funnier with the actors who do the VO—I’m sure the scripts were great but you can hear the improvisation. Plus, puppet mouths don’t match real words, so they can say just about anything they want. Rumor has it David Allan Grier and Kenan Thompson were Kobe and LeBron, but that’s not confirmed.

But I digress.

Watching this ad, I was immediately reminded of the great Lil Penny ads Nike did at the height of Anfernee (Penny) Hardaway’s fame in the mid-‘90’s.



Yes, that’s Chris Rock as Lil Penny. And yes, he is very very funny. Too bad Big Penny’s knees crapped out on him. He could’ve been one of the greats. His ads were great and part of it was due to his understated comedic performance. Not easy being straight man to a puppet.

Unless you’re Willie Tyler and you’ve got Lester on your lap.



But again, I digress.

Penny Hardaway was a terrific basketball player. All-Star games, NBA Finals alongside Shaq for the Magic, Olympic Gold Medal…if he could have avoided injury, he could’ve been a legend…much like, say, LeBron.

Too much of a stretch? Maybe. But at a time when Michael was playing baseball and just returning to basketball, Penny filled a superstar void.

In addition to his basketball skills, he was good in front of the camera, as evidenced by the Lil Penny ads. Who knows how high his star could have risen? In fact, he could’ve been making commercials like this.



One of my favorite spots of the past several years. The music, the magic, the hero and the real people, all coming together. LeBron’s signature, iconic move. It’ll go down as an all-time Nike classic. It’s already spawned dozens of Youtube parodies. And enabled Nike to parody itself.



Ah, so we’re full circle on our meandering continuum. I like this spot even better than the “Three Rings” spot above (although it did seem like it could have been a :30 or at most a :45). What the hell does “$20 Chinese food!” mean? I don’t know, but it’s funny.

So there you have it. Proof that everything that goes around comes around. And if nothing else, you found out that Willie Tyler and Lester are still ventriloquizing, online! Who knew?

Be Like Nike (Cont)

At this rate, Gatorade can soon start putting G’s and bolts on hi-tops and compression shorts. They continue to successfully blur the lines between themselves and Nike with this ad featuring John Wooden and great college basketball stars of the past. It ran the night before the NCAA basketball championship.



It’s a terrific ad; John Wooden is an inspired choice. You’d be hard pressed to find a more credible and respected spokesperson. Out of a very small handful of coaching legends, he stands alone, having won 10 championships in 12 years (and seven in a row) at UCLA in the 60’s and ‘70’s.

He is the Yoda of basketball and coaching, having taught countless players and coaches, not just about basketball, but about life.

Which explains why he makes so much sense to be doing this ad.

And his delivery of the poem is breathtaking, especially considering that he’ll be turning 99 in a few months (that means he was only 17 years old when Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs). Coming out of the mouth of an eighth grader the poem might have sounded juvenile, but it seems like just another homespun lesson from the great coach when it comes from John Wooden.

The archival footage of Walton and Jordan mixed with more current film of Dwade and Candace Parker dunking shows great respect to the game and even more credibility to the brand.

And the music immediately made me think of Heritage, one of the original great Nike spots, with a solitary man running against the musical backdrop of a simple poignant piano track.

Add in those great Nike athletes like MJ and Kevin Durant and D Wade, and you have another fantastic Nike ad.

Except that it’s for Gatorade. It’s tied up by a G bottle and “Then. Now. Forever.” Which is a very cool sentiment and makes a ton of sense for the brand. Smart to put a stamp on their heritage and authenticity and try to ensure they stay current.

It’s the latest installment in Gatorade’s continued efforts to sell a brand, not a product. It's building buzz. Lots of people are talking about it, and liking it. It’s a valid way to go for brands that aspire to sell themselves as a lifestyle. Nike has done it, Adidas is working on it. Gatorade is dreaming of it.

They are clearly, consciously walking away from making hydration the reason to buy this product, which is the reason why people have aligned themselves with the brand in the past. They’re making a big bet that you’re going to want to join them because they’re cool. Are you?

Is that a shark Gatorade just jumped over?

I’m trying to find the right words here.

This new Nike spot—I mean, Gatorade spot—is one of those that makes you scratch your head so hard you find dried blood under your fingernails.



You can see the other spots in the campaign here.

The folks at Nike— sorry, I mean Gatorade, I got confused by all of the Nike logos and Nike imagery—have created a fun spot. I'm just not sure who it’s for. Or what it's selling. It’s about “dehydration for concentration.” So when and where am I supposed to use it? And what’s it called again?

To be sure, it’s a buzzworthy spot, and it’s received buzz. With cool celebrity voiceovers including Samuel L. Jackson, and an original track created by Funkmaster Bootsy Collins. And Tiger Woods, for heaven’s sake, animated or not. Plus, it arrives just in time for his hopeful recoronation at the Masters.

People will like it. They already do, especially 13-24 year olds. It has its detractors, too. So it's being talked about.

The question is, will a commercial that borrows from Pulp Fiction, the Jungle Book, classic Nike advertising, and the Keebler Elves help Gatorade sell an already confusing product and promote the overall brand?

Chiat Day has done a terrific job of making people sit up and take notice of a powerful brand that always could have been bigger and shinier in the public eye. Thing is, the business was always big and shiny.

Hopefully little Eldrick Woods will put on another green jacket this year and help the business be as shiny as the advertising.

The silver lining is, I learned something.

Hmmm...



A man is running. He seems to know where he’s going…but he seems lost. He’s disoriented. Confused. But wait.! Hark! What’s that he sees? There, above those 18-wheelers! It’s a metaphor!

Yes, it’s a place he might like, a place far above...making your way in the world these days, takes everything you got…taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot! Wouldn’t you like to get away…

Well of course, the guys who went to Cheers used beer as their getaway, and it makes sense that runners use…well…running. It feels like you escape to another world. A white, fluffy, goopy world where you run on marshmallows. Duh!

OK, I admit, I’m not a runner, and I don’t get running. I’ll run up and down a basketball court til my hammies almost rip, but as soon as I hit 8:00 on the treadmill, my shin splints freak out and remind me what it feels like to get strafed by machine gun fire.

So as a non-runner, I apologize to Asics when I say, you nailed the metaphor, but I fear that your runner may not be as lost as the brand that made the ad. Interesting to look at, yes, and I got the metaphor, but I just wasn’t sure how you got to “Sound mind, sound body.”

But then I Googled your tagline and I actually learned something!

The first letters from your tagline, “Anima Sana in Corpore Sana,” come together to form the word “Asics,” which of course, in Latin, stands for...you guessed it…”Sound mind, sound body.”

So if you’ve ever wondered what Asics means—and I really did, being a human being and possessing the curiosity that goes with it—you now know. They can hang with Nike (victory), Reebok (antelope), and Adidas (Mr. Adi Das).

Hey Saucony, you got some ‘splainin to do…

Two Reasons Why I Hate This Ad

One: it’s silly. You’d have to be Usain Bolt on the greatest steroids on earth to be able to steal two bases on one pitch. Maybe “Dash” from The Incredibles was the stand-in. Whoever it was, I clocked him at about 63 MPH.

Two: Even though it’s one of the most authentically inaccurate ads I’ve seen in a long time, it will still work. It follows the Under Armour formula: dark, grainy, super slo-mo film, ominous music, tough-as-nails athlete, which combined make for the heart pounding intensity of which UA devotees can’t get enough.

There’s nothing wrong with a formula. For Under Armour, there’s everything right about a formula. They don’t have the cash that Big Boys like Nike have for marketing, so the more consistent their communications looks, the better their branding and brand meaning.

And make no mistake, they’re up against the Big Boys. They’re selling shoes here. Nike’s turf. It’s a huge step for them and if they’re going to kick Nike’s butts the way they did with clothes, they may need to stretch themselves beyond their formula. The same UA just may not be enough.

Imitation is the sincerest form of copying

Last year’s Adidas House Party film turned a lot of heads, including those of us at Sportscentric. We thought it was pretty smart. And very cool. So did lots of lots of hipsters.

The folks at Sky One in London did as well. So much so that they almost frame-by-frame (respectfuly) ripped it off. The original:



The homage:



You can also go to Adidas Originals’ page on Facebook and check out the comparisons. It’s a nice simple page and 1.5 million fans agree (PS, about 150,000 more fans than Nike).

It makes sense that one of the most original shows in the history of television, which got that way by hilariously lampooning just about every film, music and tv genre known to man, would faithfully copy an instantly classic film that touts originality. There’s a hornets nest of logic there, but it all makes sense because the Simpsons is at the heart of it.

And the biggest beneficiary is Adidas, whose coolness level gets a boost without spending a dime.

That is, until Nike makes “Bart Knows.”

You had me at "Pavement"

Sometimes things that are awesome in small doses don’t translate so well to the longer format. Just ask The Ladies man, Stuart Smalley, Pat, and the guys at the Roxbury.

In that same vein, this new Nike spot is proof that a great print ad doesn’t automatically turn into a great TV ad just by turning on a moving film camera.

As much as I love language, and stand and cheer for smart, inspiring, compelling headlines, I wince when people try to turn a great headline into more than what it is. The headline “The road to State is paved with Pavement” is genius. When you have words that so beautifully nail a strategy, it’s tempting to want to build a campaign around them. To the very talented people at Nike and Weiden, I’d suggest more self-discipline and less self-love.

Puma sticks to its knitting, wins

Why do I like this commercial? Well, it’s not a new theme.

We’ve seen many many iterations of the passage of time told through the eyes of a sexy young couple. Often, it’s for a fashion related product. This classic for Levi’s, for example. Directed by an up and coming young director (at the time) named Michael Bay.



And a different way in, and surprise, again, for Levi’s.




So it’s been done before. Benjamin Button kind of does it in reverse (and three hours and forty five minutes) and was, oddly enough, directed by another former commercial wunderkind in David Fincher.

So here, Puma gives it a shot. And I like it. Extremely fresh telling of the story. Everything is just so different. In a good way.

A story told through modern dance, done by two dancers who aren’t the archetypical gorgeous, model bodied Broadway hoofers. He’s skinny and lanky, she’s muscular and sexy.

A wonderfully odd music track with the lyrics “A pretty girl/boy in his/her underwear...”

The mix of post effects and real staging to create many different fantasy worlds that combine with the dancers’ movements to tell the story.

And a great ending with the tag “light injected airness” and the product featured in an understated way that one-ups Nike, by showing the trademark jumping Puma as well as a pretty cool looking shoe.

And that’s what they’re selling, right? Coolness. Cool track, story, movements, backdrop. Not performance. Not show features. Have you ever worn Pumas? They're not real big on support. I think “light injected airness” is a cooler way of saying “Fashion over function.” A smarter way.

Puma isn’t trying to be anything but exactly who they are: a fashion brand for hipsters. Sell the shoe to them and the rest of the world will follow, from the time you meet til the day you die. Or at least until you need better arch support.

Puma vs. Nike, Pt 1

Sports and marketing never slows down, even as blog writers get busy. I've been a bit overwhelmed to write lately, but here's something worth watching. They're not trying to be Nike. Nor is their brand. Well done, Puma.

Do you think it'll sell shoes (assuming light injected footwear actually is shoes)? I do. I'll tell you why tomorrow.

Be Like Nike?

As hard as it must be to be Nike because of the demands for them to be excellent every time they make something, it’s harder to not be Nike. Trust me. We felt it on Gatorade.

But Gatorade is a functional beverage. And while we had opportunities to major in emotion and minor in function, we mostly had to find ways to give people the functional reasons why they should drink it, and still make it cool (thank you, Keith Jackson).

On TV, Nike basically just does pure brand advertising. They sell coolness and authenticity. Anyone who tried to go down that route has to live up to their standards. And they quickly find out how hard that is.

So here comes Dick’s with a need to sell a shoe that helps you perform.



They don’t talk a whole lot about the shoe or the properties that help you perform. They just make a point that this shoe may feel good, but it performs like a champ. And that baseball’s not about feeling good, it’s about performance.

Huh?

OK. Strange logic gap aside, I give them credit for not making another oversaturated high speed film about shoes that help you terrorize the ball and dramatically slide into third with a triple every time you come up to bat.

It’s a funny spot. But it falls short when it comes to the coolness and authenticity that Nike chasers crave.

They use Jimmy Rollins, which is a nice surprise. Especially since he has nice comedic timing. He makes the spot good. And do you know how I knew it was Jimmy Rollins? Because one of the guys says, loudly and clearly, “JIMMY ROLLINS!!”

YES IT IS. AND THERE ARE FOUR GIANT DICK’S SIGNS AND A NIKE SWOOSH IN THE BACKGROUND TOO. And there are a lot of Nike shoes, too. And today is Thursday.

Listen. If you’re a baseball fan, you know that’s Jimmy Rollins. If you don’t know it, you’ll find out. Too bad Weiden & Kennedy, the agency that’s done so much great Nike work, often featuring athletes who you don’t know (yet), couldn’t convince Dick’s to stop taking their obvious pills. They felt the need to make sure everyone knew who this potentially anonymous looking baseball player is, since they were paying the former MVP a lot of money to stand in their store and get hit by baseballs.

Wait… are those really baseballs? Could’t be, right? They wouldn’t really do that. But the way I saw it, they looked fake. If I’m wrong, tell me. But they look like foamy rubber balls bouncing off his chest, and Nike would’ve found a way to make sure they didn’t look fake.

Hey Dicks, are you sure you want to Be Like Nike?

Tiger returns. Golf happy. Golfers sad.

You could argue that when Michael Jordan retired (each time he retired), he opened up a world of possibilities for other NBA players. But MJ did have Scottie, and there were even times when he needed the spot up jump shooters like Bobby Hansen and John Paxson to win a game.

But Tiger Woods IS golf. Golf fanatics will watch the sport regardless of who’s playing. For the rest of the world, he’s what makes golf interesting. He’s what makes it popular.

And now he’s back, after almost a year away from the game rehabbing his injured knee.

I would argue that Tiger Woods is the single most dominant athlete in the history of a sport almost completely waged by individual competitors. There’s probably never been a sport whose fans and managers missed one of its own so much, and there’s probably never been a sport where the competitors were so glad to see one of its own go missing.

This ad from Nike captures that feeling perfectly.



Sometimes, the assignments you think are going to be easiest can be excruciatingly difficult. I don’t know if that was the case for this ad, but the pressure of having the greatest athlete in the world raises the bar quite a bit. It’s a nice, fairly understated TV spot, with quality performances from the other golfers, and most important…

…they remembered one of the most important tenets of a successful ad: end strong. The first 50 seconds are nice to watch, but the ending is laugh out loud funny.

Toger is such a huge asset for sports marketing. It’s nice to see such a great property used so well.

Welcome back, Tiger. The other golfers may not be so glad, but Nike sure is.

Adidas: Close, but not really

Adidas.tv is here.

In their decades long attempt to catch up to Nike, Adidas is launching an online TV channel. According to Advertising Age online, “The player is designed to encourage Hulu-style sharing and can be embedded in blogs and other social-networking sites via an Adidas-branded video-player module.”

For now, it just feels like they’re selling stuff.

Sure, they need to get it up and running, so they’ve loaded it up with some slick videos starring Dwight Howard and Gilbert Arenas and featuring Adidas products, with the hope that soon, others will join in and post their own videos.

But for now, it just feels like they’re selling stuff.

The secret to Nike’s success over the years was that they made marketing materials, especially TV commercials, that connected you to the Nike name vs any one certain thing.

They sold coolness. They got you to want to be on their team. That’s what sports is all about, right? Be on the best team. Or at least be a part of it. Who wouldn’t want to be with these guys?



They grew their brand by creating emotional bonds with consumers. And grow their brand, they did.

When I worked on Gatorade, we wanted the same ending, but we couldn’t do it the same way. Gatorade is a functional product that we not only needed to sell, but we also had to explain why you should use it. It’s obvious that you need shoes to play sports. You can’t go barefoot. But you could drink anything.

So even when we made almost purely emotional spots, we still needed to make sure the functional message came through. Hence, colored sweat, even if it’s just for one second. Like in this spot.



As much as we tried on Gatorade, we could never be like Nike, because we had a story to tell, and it made sense for us to tell that story, because people wanted to know why they should drink Gatorade over something else.

So while Gatorade had “Be Like Mike,” “I like Nike” was good enough for the guys out in Beaverton.

Adidas has never fully appreciated the fact that in their category, you’re not selling products, you’re selling a brand. They've made some very nice ads over the years, and clearly have forward thinking ideas. But they haven't been consistent enough.

They should stick to capturing people’s hearts, and letting their brains follow.

No laughing matter, MJ

Brand Jordan is a funny brand.

Funny, like, it makes me laugh? No, more like, it ‘s funny how it has so much potential but is still struggling to find it’s way.

There's a group of athletes that represent Brand Jordan. The athletes they’ve chosen for Team Jordan are an interesting lot. In the NBA, they have big stars like Ray Allen and Carmelo Anthony, but also aging players like Michael Finley. Most of the athletes are basketball players, with a couple of football (Ahman Green and Marvin Harrison) and baseball (Andruw Jones) players thrown in.

They have one female athlete: April Holmes, a paralympian sprinter.

The website makes clear that each of the athletes is valued for not just sports achievements, but for being active in community and charitable causes as well.

But it still seems like a fairly random collection to me. Even Nike always seemed to have a method to the way they picked athletes. Usually, it was the best and only best athletes at their jobs.

For what it's worth, Andruw Jones is still trying to find a job.

Then there’s the advertising. Some very good work, but not consistently great. Again, hard to figure out what ties it all together. Where’s the vision? What would the manifesto say?

I think above all else, it’s about inspiration. At least, I think that’s what it should be. It makes sense to me. If MJ isn’t on the court anymore, he can’t lead by example, so he’s trying to lead by metaphysical example. His spirit was always one of leadership and determination, and that’s what comes through in a lot of the BJ ads. Like this one.



The players are right. The message is right. What does it say about the brand overall? How does it connect to the rest of the brand communication? I’m just not sure. MJ, please help.

Puma is a Lose-a

By Sportscentric contributor Ben Schuman-Stoler

Note: this is also posted at The Building JJ Collective.



Puma has a history of audacious projects that, for one reason or another, always end up falling short of expectations. Remember those ridiculous one-piece soccer kits they proposed? (Look right.)

Their most recent collaboration with fashion icon Alexander McQueen is another project that seems destined to fall woefully short of their goals.

Dig the "movie"--to call such a project an "ad" would be positively beneath them, ha--above.

Directed by the sooo-hot-right-now Saam Farhamand, this, erm, collection of moving pictures is supposed to impress us with Puma's artistic vision? Their sophisticated attempts at unifying athletic wear with cosmopolitan notions of style and dance?

I can't speak for others, but the lasting sentiment I get from the piece is not inspiration; it's more in the realm of the weird and off-putting. The music is cool, I'll give them that. I would love to partake in an epic, rainy duel with that music in the background. But that's about all this has going for it.

Two words keep coming to mind when I watch this: impersonal and farfetched. Like the "Until Then" ads (below), this piece is impossible to relate to and therefore unattached to my own experience. I am not impressed with the choppy images we get of what might well be impressive human movements.

This does not make we want to buy Puma gear.

We know that Puma is not Nike, or Adidas. They should be saluted for thinking outside the box in their attempts to gain entry into the sportswear circle of gods. And maybe the concept of McQueen's "ManCat" as a "creative reference" (whatever that means) will bring a cadre of fashionistas to Puma. But this piece is, literally, too narrow to grab and incorporate potential customers--it does more to turn them away.

When does LeBron play basketball?

Nike, NBA, State Farm, Vitaminwater, Bubblicious., Tampax…what’s this guy not pitching these days? It’s hard to turn on the TV without seeing him in an ad. He was the top non-golf endorser a year ago and he’s only turned it up since then.

The problem isn’t in the way it’s affected his performance on the court. The Cavs are a game behind the Celtics in the East, and Lebron is second in scoring in the league behind D-Wade. So he must be getting some practice in somewhere.

The problem isn’t in sponsors’ ability to do very good ads with the King. You’ve seen the NBA ads. You’ve seen the Nike ads. And you’ve probably seen this new State Farm ad.



Fun. Some terrific moments (I especially like him rejecting the field goal). But I’m not so sure about the wrap-up and how it works for State Farm. What exactly are they selling? The NFL? State farm? Sundays?

Therein lies the problem: I’m not sure he’s figured out how to develop and nurture his value for each specific brand he endorses.

Or his ability to effectively deliver a message that helps to sell and promote each specific brand.

Sounds too marketing-ese and over-analytical? Should we just watch an ad and if we enjoy it be happy with it?

Not so fast. I’d argue that you swapped out the Nike logo for the State Farm logo for the NBA logo in those ads above, the ads would still work. None of those brands has developed an insight about Lebron and connected it to the brand to make it completely ownable. I’m not the only one who thinks so.

So maybe it’s not that he’s being overused; it’s in the way he’s being used. Wonderful ads, to be sure, but better insights would create better value.

The first "Year Of..." of 2009

So far, 2009 is the year of the teaser ad in sports. First, G. Now, this:



The rumors are flying: LeBron is leaving to play basketball; Lebron is going to the Knicks/Lakers/Maccabi Tel Aviv Electra; LeBron is co-starring with Hugh Hefner in a reality show called "The Girls Next Door to Lebron..."

I like it. It gives me just enough information to care and wonder, and not enough to give anything away. Hail Nike.

It is Nike, isn't it...?

One for the futballers

Even though I played soccer from 1st through 10th grades, I’ve never been a rabid fan of the Beautiful Game. But I appreciate a lot about it: the stamina, the athleticism, the amazing goals…and maybe most of all, the fans.

One of the best sporting events I ever attended was at Highbury a few years ago to see Arsenal play. The energy in that stadium rivaled the old Chicago Stadium during the playoffs…and this was an early, regular season game. The drum beats made my heart pound, and the chanting made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, even though I couldn’t understand what they hell they were saying.

But what I could understand was the passion, the commitment, the involvement of those fans with their team. I may not concede that soccer is the best sport in the world, but it’s hard to argue that the fans rule.

Nike has taken advantage of that incomparable fan passion to create a soccer spot that I not only understand, but love. It features lovers and haters of futbol phenom Ronaldo.



Could they have done this with any single American athlete? Doubtful. To engender a massive amount of heartfelt passion, you need to start with something that a lot of people are very passionate about, and I’m not sure any American athlete would qualify. Except maybe David Beckham.

Waitasec. He’s not…ah, never mind.