Hasta La Creative!

While last Friday’s “Unlimited Will” spot was the final entry in W+K Portland’s contribution to Nike’s “Unlimited” campaign, it appears the brand had one more final effort in the campaign. Nike worked with production company Dirty Robber (who worked on last month’s “Unlimited Serena Williams“) on “Unlimited Pursuit,” which, to its benefit, doesn’t attempt the meta voiceover approach of its W+K-crafted predecessors.

Instead, the spot relies on the actions of its impressive athletes: Scout Bassett, Simone Biles, Elena Delle Donne, Gabby Douglas, Allyson Felix, Dafne Schippers, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, English Gardner, Alex Morgan and Serena Williams. Set to Lissie‘s cover of Kid Cudi‘s “Pursuit of Happiness,” the spot documents each of its athletes in training. Needless to say, these women pull of some impressive feats while preparing for competition, with “Pursuit of Happiness” providing appropriate accompaniment and the actions resonating more absent the schticky voiceover gimmick.

It’s the kind of spot that could only really be pulled off at the conclusion of games, as viewers are now familiar with all these athletes and their stories. The spot functions as a reminder of the kind of hard work and determination that got these impressive athletes to where they are, with no need to deliberate on individual narratives.

Its focus on celebrating women athletes is an admirable one, particularly at a time when the different ways in which female and male athletes are covered is under scrutiny. Plus, Biles’ glance after sticking a perfect landing is a pretty ideal way to conclude the campaign.

Credits:
Nike Creative Director: Tad Greenough
Production Company/Agency: Dirty Robber
Exec Prod: Jason Puris
Exec Prod: Chris Uettwiller
Creative director: Martin Desmond Roe & Nick Frew
Post production Company: Coyote Post
Post production supervisor: Carlos Gonzalez
Editor: Celeste Diamos

With the 2016 Rio Olympics opening today, W+K Portland launched a new spot for Nike as the latest in its “Unlimited” campaign for the brand.

The spot, entitled “Unlimited You” starts out familiarly enough, with a voiceover introducing a baby who will “win a state championship one day.” Things get unusual fairly quickly, however, as the voiceover’s next subject asks, “Who will? Me?” when he hears that he’ll run a marathon. “All of these athletes are terrible now,” he continues, over footage of a father lifting a young toddler to slam dunk a basket, “but they’ll all do great things one day.” Aside from the voiceover interacting with its subjects, this is still a pretty standard message for a sports brand. But things take an unexpected turn when the voiceover’s subjects ambition’s eclipse what he’s comfortable with. While the voiceover keeps trying to wrap things up, athletes keep pushing boundaries.

Directed by The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), the spot features celebrity athletes including Kevin Durant, Neymar Jr., Mo Farah, Aaron Gordon, Nyjah Huston, Serena Williams and Giancarlo Stanton. Williams and Stanton can be seen swatting tennis balls back and forth at ridiculous speeds with their chosen equipment (racket and baseball bat) as the voiceover asks “What kind of training is that!?” as he’s in the middle of losing composure over the various ridiculous stunts athletes are pulling off.

Clearly the idea is to illustrate the “Unlimited” possibilities of both professional and amateur athletes, with the spot taking the idea to comic extremes. In addition to the full-length online spot (above), “Unlimited You” will also run as a 60-second broadcast spot, debuting during NBC’s coverage of the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremonies tonight. 

Credits:
Client: Nike
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Global Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke
Interactive Director: Dan Viens
Copywriter: Edward Harrison
Art Director: Susan Land
Global Executive Producer: Matt Hunnicutt
Senior Agency Producer: Ross Plummer
Agency Post Producer: Shelley Eisner
Agency Production Assistant: Emily Knight
Digital Producer: Keith Rice
Art Production: Amy Berriochoa, Krystle Mortimore, Jennifer Spillers
Project Management: Christina Kim
Studio Design Manager: Alicia Kuna
Studio Designer: Edgar Morales
Retoucher: Frazer Goodbody
Motion Production, Design: Tori Herbst, Carlos Enciso
Strategic Planning: Andy Lindblade, Nathan Goldberg, Brandon Thornton, Reid Schilperoort
Media, Communications Planning: Danny Sheniak, John Furnari, Brian Goldstein, Jocelyn Reist
Account Team: Chris Willingham, Alyssa Ramsey, Corey Woodson, Anna Boteva, Carly Williamson
Production Company: Prettybird
Director: The Daniels
Executive Producers: Ali Brown, Suzanne Hargrove
Line Producer: Jonathan Wang
Director of Photography: Larkin Seiple
Production Designer: Mark Snelgrove
Editing Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Angus Wall
Assistant Editor: Lauren Dellara
Post Producer: Chris Noviello
Executive Post Producer: Helena Lee
Visual Effects, Color: Mill, Los Angeles
2-D Lead Artist: John Leonti
2-D Artists: Brad Scott, Alex Candish, Peter Sidoriak, Rob Winfield, Joseph Zaki, Tommy Smith, Daniel Thurreson, Glyn Tebbutt, Greg VanZyl, Tim Bird, Jake Albers, Sam Evenson, Don Kim, Jake Albers, Adam Lambert
Matte Painting: Andy Wheater, Jie Zhou
Art Support: Dylan Streiff, Gary Marschka
Visual Effects Supervisor: Will Lemmon
Colorists: Greg Reese, Adam Scott
Color Producer: Thatcher Peterson
Music
Artist: FNDTY
Track Title: “Never Die”
Music, Sound, Mix: Lime Studios
Audio Mixers: Rohan Young, Jeff Malen
Audio Assistants: Ben Tomastik, Lisa Mermelstein
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan