With the World Cup almost here we are witnessing an almost equally huge competition on our screens as Adidas and Nike vie for our attention in the sportswear arena and Carlsberg and Bud try to persuade us that their suds are best.
Trevor Beattie, former creative director of TBWA\London, and best known for the FCUK campaigns had this to say on the subject:
"I think football ads have descended into globetrotting showboating. It has been brought about people like Nike and Pepsi – and has tragically been followed by Adidas. The fact that you can’t tell the difference between brands means it is a waste of money. You can’t tell a Nike from an Adidas from a beer from a pizza."
Well Trevor, showboating it may be, but a waste of money? I beg to differ. Every time Nike puts out another of its Joga Bonita spots I watch with fascination to see what incredible trick I’ll be trying to mimic in the park on Saturday. I’ll visit the website so that I can forward it on to my mates and I’ll probably remember that I need to pop into Niketown to pick up a new pair of boots. Differentiation? Well featuring the world’s first and second greatest footballers, Ronaldinho and Rooney, would give any campaign salience.
These ads are absolutely relevant. The equipment used by the athletes to make these ads is on full view the whole time. The message is something that any budding footballer or seasoned spectator would want to see – Joga bonita means play beautiful.
You can almost picture it. Beattie – he’s not exactly target audience. Anyone under 30 and remotely interested in football will be downloading the ads from the Nike website, YouTube or Google Video and watching time after time as they attempt to do it themselves.
Oh yeah. In case you were genuinely interested in effectiveness, Nike has grown its footballing market share from $45 million to over $1 billion. Whilst in Europe Nike has overtaken Adidas’ football market share with 35% vs 31%.
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