- Nike unveiled its Olympics campaign, “Winning Isn’t for Everyone,” which examines the ruthless drive it takes to be a top athlete, based on a press release.
- Actor Willem Dafoe narrates ads that probe the qualities that motivate sporting greats, including an obsession with power, an inability to be satisfied and a scarcity of empathy. “Am I a Bad Person?” serves as a refrain in creative featuring legendary athletes like LeBron James and Serena Williams.
- Nike has positioned the Paris Olympics as a comeback moment. The company has contended with slumping sales and is vying to reclaim a status for daring, conversation-starting brand marketing.
Some Olympics sponsors have embraced a way of feel-good sportsmanship and comradery for his or her marketing across the games, which kick off July 26. Nike is taking a more subversive approach with a campaign digging into qualities which might be largely perceived as negative but are sometimes motivators for best-in-class athletes.
Dafoe, an actor often solid in villainous roles, provides an brisk voiceover questioning whether the drive to win makes one a nasty person. His narration complements footage of sports icons acting at their peak, including LeBron James, Serena Williams, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Qinwen Zheng, A’ja Wilson, Vini Jr., Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Sha’Carri Richardson.
“I’m irrational, I even have zero remorse, I haven’t any sense of compassion,” Dafoe cackles within the anthem spot. “I’m delusional, I’m maniacal. You think I’m a nasty person? Tell me.”
Social media content and out-of-home ads are also a part of the campaign. Billboards appearing in cities around the globe pair athlete ambassadors with copy like “If you don’t need to win, you’ve already lost” and “My dream is to finish theirs.”
The in-your-face concept, meant to embody what it takes to attain an elite athlete’s mindset, took direct inspiration by insights shared by a whole bunch of Nike’s own athlete partners, based on the announcement. Agency Wieden + Kennedy Portland led the campaign.
“Winning Isn’t for Everyone” is the most important marketing initiative undertaken by Nicole Hubbard Graham since she stepped into the CMO role firstly of the yr. Graham replaced Dirk-Jan “DJ” van Hameren, a longtime Nike veteran who served as its marketing chief for six years.
“This isn’t only a campaign — it’s about celebrating athletes and their winning mindset,” said Graham in an announcement shared over email. “It’s a story about what it takes to be one of the best. The sacrifices, determination and grit athletes commit to of their pursuit of greatness. The legacies which have yet to be shaped. And the dreams that shall be made real. It reminds the world that there’s nothing flawed with wanting to win.”
Nike has positioned the Olympics as the beginning of its journey rediscovering “sharper and bolder” marketing that leans on athletes and key sporting moments. The sportswear giant has admitted to over-focusing on its direct-to-consumer strategy in recent times and has contended with greater challenges from upstart brands in categories it once dominated like running.
Nike saw revenue slide 2% yr over yr to $12.6 billion in its most up-to-date financial quarter and slashed its guidance for the yr.
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