Nike TV Spots, Billboards to Target Female Customers

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A new Nike ad campaign, via Wieden & Kennedy, featuring 18 female athletes breaks Saturday night, according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES.  In the lead ad, the athletes take turns ad-libbing personal statements through a 15-foot megaphone. In the spot, former pro volleyball player Gabrielle Reece says, “Are boys bigger, stronger, faster? Yes. Is that all that has to do with being an athlete? No.” Olympic snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler follows, saying, “The halfpipe doesn’t care that I’m a girl.”  The ad is set to run on ESPN, MTV, and elsewhere.  It will be supplemented by individual ads from Bleiler, streetballer Alvina Carroll, Olympic Gold medalist Picabo Street, retired soccer star Mia Hamm and high school girls’ basketball coach Bill Ressler, with eleven more spots to follow on the Web and TV. Street’s commercial “evokes Dove’s Real Beauty campaign,” as she celebrates her figure: “When I look in the mirror, I see an athlete.  Mass is an advantage. And I’m proud of that athlete.”  The campaign is timed to the WNBA playoffs, U.S. Open, and Women’s World Cup in China.  In an interview, Reece said, “It’s time to nudge the conversation. Women’s professional sports have plateaued.”  Sandomir adds a Nike billboard will be unveiled in midtown Manhattan next Tuesday featuring Serena Williams from the waist up accompanied by the text, “Are you looking at my titles?” Sandomir: “A campaign aimed at teenage girls is a strategy that helps Nike maintain its hold on female customers, and comes shortly after Under Armour began a marketing push aimed at the team girls niche” (N.Y. TIMES, 8/24).

GIRL POWER: Reece discussed the campaign during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” this morning, saying she has been involved with Nike for 15 years.  Reece said the company is "always looking for ways to support sport on any level and they have this ‘Let Me Play For Girls’” program. Reece: “They’ve already donated $400,000 that will go to different non-profits in different cities (that will promote sports for girls).” Reece gave the female co-hosts T-shirts that said “Athlete” (“Today,” NBC, 8/24).