Nike's new TV spot from Wieden & Kennedy, which uses
Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" and features athletes
"showing off some nasty injuries," has left "many people ...
flabbergasted," according to Adam Bryant of NEWSWEEK, who
writes that "that's good news for Nike, whose constant
challenge is to sell itself as the maverick brand while
racking up mass-market sales." While Nike's advertising
"bore part of the blame" for the company's financial woes
last year, it is "getting back on its feet, with its profits
and stock price recovering," as "it has found a more
engaging groove" with its advertising. Bryant writes that
the new ad, titled "Beautiful," is "already a success" if
"measured by buzz alone." The spot's creators, Wieden &
Kennedy's Jeff Labbe and Mike Folino, "bantered about how
players ... wear their injuries like badges of honor" and
"refined" the concept to "show only athletes who ... came
back to play again after" recovering from their injuries.
U.S. Gold Medalist Picabo Street and former 49ers DB Ronnie
Lott were "easy" choices as featured athletes in the ad,
while "others came out of a mix of personal connections,
casting calls and a little research" (NEWSWEEK, 11/1 issue).
WILL THE AD HIT A NERVE? NEWSWEEK's Bryant writes,
"Part of the ad's latent power is that the rich underlying
narratives are left unspoken." Folino: "It's always better
if somebody can figure something out for themselves." But
Univ. of CA-Berkeley marketing professor David Aaker said
that "he felt the ad risked associating Nike's name with the
squeamishness many people feel when they see severe
injuries." Aaker: "Nike is all about emotion, and these are
the wrong emotions" (NEWSWEEK, 11/1 issue).
