Nike has "lent its brand" to the new motion picture "What Women Want" starring Mel Gibson, "as well as three of its" ad execs, according to Andy Dworkin of the Portland OREGONIAN, who reported that Nike execs Nancy Monsarrat, Rory Rubin and Jackie Thomas play themselves in the film. In the film, which opens tomorrow, Gibson stars as an ad exec who bids on an account "focused on women." Dworkin: "Enter Nike, which leapt at the producer's offer to be the film's women-focused company." The three Nike execs consider Gibson's ad pitch. Nike also paid its agency, Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, "to make the ad Gibson pitches," which ends with the tag, "No Games. Just Sports," instead of Nike's "Just Do It." Nike Senior Manager of Corporate Communications Scott Reames: "We said, 'Um, that's not our tag line. But they wouldn't change it" (OREGONIAN, 12/13). ACG HITS THE SLOPES: Nike ACG entered into a three-year partnership to become the official apparel supplier of the Canadian Snowboard Federation. Beginning this season, Nike ACG will outfit about 40 snowboarders on the National, Development and Junior teams (Nike ACG).
