Coca-Cola spent hundreds of millions of dollars sponsoring Euro 2020. It spent years preparing for one of the world’s most watched soccer tournaments after the Summer Olympics and FIFA World Cup. Coke’s iconic logo sat among European soccer’s brightest stars; it even had bottles of its flagship cola on the postgame podium. Then, the unexpected…
If selfies are the ultimate expression of digital narcissism, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is doing it all wrong.
Ronaldo’s new smartphone app, CR7Selfie, seems appropriately vapid on first blush—it lets you fake a selfie with the chiseled athlete by dropping in shots of him in various states of attire or undress.
But the app is actually a charity push, with a portion of proceeds from the $1.99 purchase price on iTunes and Google Play going to Save the Children. Future photos and filters will be sold in-app for 99 cents, and an unspecified portion of that revenue will also go to the charity.
W+K launched a spot for Nike Football (soccer) ahead of the 2016 UEFA European Championship opener tomorrow that is the brand’s largest effort ever.
The spot, entitled “The Switch,” was directed by Ringan Ledwidge and clocks in at nearly six minutes. In addition to Cristiano Ronaldo, who stars in “The Switch,” the ad also includes professional soccer players Raheem Sterling, Joe Hart, Harry Kane, Chris Smalling, John Stones, Ross Barkley, Ricardo Quaresma, Andre Gomes, Jose Fonte, Cedric Soares, Vieirinha, Raphael Varane, Anthony Martial and Javier Mascherano. Did you get all that?
“The Switch” implied in the title occurs when Ronaldo crashes into a young fan and they switch bodies, Freaky Friday-style. Not the most original premise, granted, but it works. After the collision, Ronaldo, as the boy, works his way back up to becoming a superstar until they eventually meet for the inevitable conclusion.
All told it makes for a pretty entertaining spot, even if the story could have been told in about half the time. The premise allows for the loads of on field footage to have emotional significance beyond the match itself and everything is presented with the stylish flair we’ve come to expect from these types of big budget Nike spots. Avid fans might not even mind the extended runtime, as, while there are plenty of flashes of Nike sportswear, it manages to find a nice balance of promoting the brand without being in your face about it. With the excitement of the upcoming tournament and the sheer star power involved, this spot would be guaranteed a ton of views even if it was a complete creative failure, so it’s especially refreshing that W+K was able to pull off something of this caliber instead.
Hunky football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is immediately recognizable around the world (That gorgeous face!). But stuff him into a padded suit, add scruffy facial hair and ratty clothes and he can hang out undetected even in his bustling hometown. Even a soccer ball and fancy footwork can’t give him away.
That’s the setup of a just-launched video to announce the athlete’s foray into consumer electronics, namely headphones and portable speakers. Posted on Facebook, with no paid media push around it, the video has racked up 33 million views in two days. It also has nearly 900,000 shares, 1.4 million “likes” and 100,000 comments. At one point on Monday, the digital piece was attracting nearly 1 million views every half-hour, outpacing even YouTube’s “Ad of the Decade” with Lionel Messi and Kobe Bryant.
The four-minute video, shot in a busy plaza in Madrid, comes from Los Angeles-based Shareability, which is a co-owner with Ronaldo and Incubrand of the new ROC Live Life Loud brand. Execs there said a prank-style approach made sense for the famous Real Madrid forward.
“He’s a very serious guy who plays and trains 98 percent of the time, so we wanted to show him in a way he’s never been seen before,” said Tim Staples, one of Shareability’s founders. “We thought it would be really fun to take the biggest athlete in the world and hide him in plain sight.”
Ronaldo, like many U.S. entertainers before him, is wading into the hot tech and audio market. The new company has a partnership with manufacturer Monster, which is presently embroiled in a lawsuit against celebrity headphone pioneer Beats by Dre over Monster’s role in the design of Beats products—a fight that’s now also soured Monster’s relationship with Apple, Beats’ new owner.
In other words, Monster is chasing market share by pairing with another huge name, and all the cachet that brings. Though the U.S. may be flooded with gadgets like the one Ronaldo is now hawking, global territories where the soccer star is hugely popular have plenty of room for growth, Staples said. And Ronaldo’s 105 million Facebook followers have gotten the ball rolling, so to speak, proving that his nascent brand can make a name for itself without traditional advertising.
The headphones themselves, at $200 and up, aren’t exactly an impulse buy, so time will tell if the video’s popularity converts to sales. But the short film, even if it weren’t a commercial on the down-low, would have its own charm. One passing pedestrian refuses to give Ronaldo her phone number—she must really regret that now—and in the end, a beaming kid gets to unexpectedly meet an idol—not to mention the priceless look of confusion on his face when a bearded rando starts autographing a ball for him.
Check out a behind the scenes clip below.
Continuing a rather ambitious storyline that kicked off late last year, Samsung, with the aid of Cheil Worldwide and Psyop, has unveiled the next installment of its soccer stars vs. aliens saga to promote the Galaxy. While not technically a World Cup tie-in, “The Training” (nearly 42 million views and counting–yeah, we know it’s been out for a bit) features two of the event’s biggest (and best) participants, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who have also been making the rounds in spots for Nike and Adidas, respectively, that are officially attached to the event. In this campaign, though, real-life Ken doll Ronaldo and his archrival Messi, along with other notable footballers like Wayne Rooney, join forces and evolve from mere athletes to sci-fi superheroes in order to combat an alien invasion…with their Galaxy S5s in tow, of course.
Psyop director Laurent Ledru, who shot this four-minute short in two months across cities including London, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Prague and Manchester, explains the process of working with the stars. “Because of the athlete’s varying schedules we had to shoot each player separately. It was very important that each performance felt authentic to that athlete yet interacted seamlessly with the others.” Ledru, who met the players in the varying aforementioned locales, where they would execute the acrobatic stunts and moves for the real shot, adds, “Each player was given instructions and guidance but we needed to capture them acting as naturally as possible in front of the green screen despite the CG elements that were to come later.”
Like the previous clips that have encompassed this campaign, the Samsung Galaxy branding is kept to a minimum, save for the occasional highlighting of a feature (heat sensor! fast auto focus!). It’s the stars, story and special effects that take center stage here, and now, with training said and done, we’ve only the big final showdown to look forward to. Consider us involved. Game on.
Credits after the jump.
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Voici le nouveau film de Nike « Winner Stays », deuxième partie de la campagne football 2014 Risk Everything avec Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar et Wayne Rooney. Tous sont rejoints par une équipe de superstars du football ainsi que par des invités de marque. Plus de détails et la vidéo dans la suite.
W+K Portland went all out in getting celebrity talent for “Winner Stays” the latest iteration of their “Risk Everything”campaign for Nike.
The 4:12 film plays off the idea of pretending to be your favorite star players while playing a pickup game with friends. “Winner stays” says one side of one such pickup game, and soon players are claiming to be famous soccer stars and taking on their unique skill sets. It’s a fun idea, although it’s stretched a bit thin at over four minutes long. W+K is betting that with World Cup fever spreading people will stay around for the star power, which includes the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and Wayne Rooney, a host of other soccer stars from around the world, and a few unexpected cameos. During the action, the spot offers the first glimpses of Nike’s new Magista and Mercurial Superfly.
“We connect to players’ passion for the game, whether it is the world’s best in Brasil or players in the park or street, explains Davide Grasso, chief marketing officer for Nike. “‘Winner Stays’ taps into an experience that every young player around the world will recognize – competition with friends and the idea of playing with your heroes or pretending to be them.”
While it may be fun and expertly crafted, it’s pretty hard to get over the run time for the full-length “Winner Stays.” Four minutes is just a really long time to expect people to sit through an advertisement and the new product reveals are relatively deep into the spot. Thankfully, there are abridged versions, with run times of 3 minutes (still pretty long), 90 seconds, 60 seconds, and 30 seconds. Stick around for full credits after the jump. continued…
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It’s time to start getting excited about the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. With the opening game about six months away, ESPN is set to debut their first spot in their campaign promoting the event during tomorrow’s telecast of the 2014 Rose Bowl.
Set to “Festival” by Icelandic maestros, Sigur Rós, the spot is, somewhat predictably, a mixture of footage of Brazil and historical World Cup moments. But then, what more could you want to begin stoking anticipation for the world’s biggest sporting event? The spot ends with the crop of current superstars who seek to win thier place in the ranks of World Cup history this summer: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mario Balotelli, Robin van Persie, and Neymar.
For those of you super World Cup buffs, here’s a partial list of the historical moments featured in the spot:
ESPN’s full World Cup campaign will roll out gradually over the next couple of months. Stick around for the extended, 90 second online version of the ad, along with credits, after the jump. continued…
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