Nike Football Campaign Research part 3 of 12: Airport (1998)

Nike Football Campaign Research part 3 of 12:

'Airport'

Agency:   Wieden+Kennedy (Amsterdam)

Date:        1998

Creative:  Glenn Cole (Copywriter) John Boiler (Art Director)

Director:  John Woo

The Airport television campaign was one of Nike’s most iconic and identifiable campaigns of the decade that solidified Wieden & Kennedy as the agency for the future Nike football adverts. It was the establishing platform for the future of what becomes Nike Football as a brand and was the first mainstream advert to establish Nike as a major player in the Football markets. ‘Airport’ was the final major campaign Nike would run without integrating the rapidly flourishing new media of the Internet.

The contemporary success would later be brought to question, as controversy appeared in the aftermath of Brazil’s defeat in the World Cup final. However, this was predominately contained within the industry and does not detract from the success and effectiveness the advert gained with the market whilst running the campaign.

Brazil is historically the most successful international team in the world and in 1998 had already won the FIFA World Cup a staggering four times. They had the best players led by the world’s best player Ronaldo, the new icon of a modern generation celebrating the skills, flicks and tricks he brought to the game. Nike were well aware of this and “In 1996 Nike signed a £100m contract with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) making it both the supplier of sports kit and co-sponsor of the Brazilian team - the largest deal ever involving a national side. (Bellos 2001) It was a step on from single contemporary players of excellence and moved onto gaining the association of Brazil’s glorious past and essentially their philosophy of the game. It was a successful attempt to create a history to rival that of the competitors.

The association it could now carry into the Airport campaign was the archetype of the values of Brazilian football. The samba flair that was internationally associated with Brazil and Rio alongside the world famous skills and trickery of their players. It created the perfect platform for a fun narrative underpinned by their products. The simplicity of the fun narrative meant the consumer was excited and engaged in the action whilst simultaneously presenting Nike as the gateway to the experience. This was paramount to the success of the campaign. This was one of the first adverts Nike had used in this manor to sell an idealistic lifestyle.

The creative team of John Boiler and, again, Glenn Cole continued the previous concept of telling a story, or in this case relying on a flowing narrative to deliver the communication. In contrast to Cole’s previous campaign of ‘Good vs. Evil’ in 1996 they move further toward fun and comedy. A new director for the advert was also commissioned to work this jaunty new concept. John Woo who was renowned for chaotic action scenes enlisted the help of Terry Gilliam, director of Monty Python to collaborate on the chaotic comedy that would ensue within the airport.

The cast of stars was staggering and allowed for the campaign to be used universally on an international platform. Meet Ronaldo, Romario, Lucio, Cafu, Carlos, Denilson, and Leonardo. Ronaldo had won world player of the year the previous two years, Romario just a year before that whilst Carlos had come runner-up. Denilson had became the most expensive player in the world for a relatively astronomical £22m transfer fee that summer. To add to this a brief cameo from Cantona meant again that football fans fantasies were exploited. In addition it was a base Nike would come use in many future campaigns, the music that would become synonymous with Brazilian football and Nike. For the first time the consumer can instantly identify the product and campaign without the visual.

This was a technique that Nike was able to truly utilize; music and branding. The second strength secretly here is that forever in the future people will reminisce about the campaign, something overlooked in the previous Wieden & Kennedy campaigns. “Mas que nada” by Sergio Mendes would carry on as a hit mainstream single. It carries the same association today as the classic samba tune that quickly identifies Brazil and the samba magic of their footballing culture. Wieden & Kennedy created a distinct combination of stars and music allowing a progression from being engaged to creating a potential reality the consumer could live out. This is the basis of creating the lifestyle entices the consumer to use or wear Nike products to achieve this aspiration. The fantasy of the fan is a mere stepping-stone away.

The advert begins with a pan around a hot busy airport with the use of yellow, blue and green on planes as a signifier of a Brazilian location. People are sat idle wearing T-shirts of blue and yellow representing the colours of the home and away strips with tracksuit bottoms in a medium shot. There are a few medium close ups of well-known players looking tired. The denotation coming from facial expressions and actions, leading to the football fans to connotations that they are ready for the World Cup in France. Then a close up of the board flipping up the sign saying delayed and Nike’s pin up boy, Ronaldo, reaches a ball out of his bag containing his kit and signature boots.

He chips the ball up and the camera rises up to signify an awakening, the other players stir in various shots as they discover Ronaldo has got a ball out. A unanimous grin spreads as famed party star Romario opens a security railing as a goal. The game begins. “The football players didn’t know much about the camera, so they always appeared to be natural and innocent” (Woo 1998) describes the characteristics of innocent joy the Brazil team bought the football fan.

The ball is kicked into the security guards hands but as he catches the ball the camera begins to pan down, a quick change of shot showing Carlos slide underneath kicking the ball lets the audience know. The quick change in camera angles reveal the true narrative and action has begun. This is a shot where the director’s input is clear, John Woo’s chaotic action with quick change of camera to create chaos and the cheeky comedy value of nipping the ball away show Terry Gilliam’s input.

It becomes a large game of ‘keep ball’ from the guards and offers simple connotations of fun and joy from the archetype of the Brazilian footballer. Quick changes of camera angles and an ever moving, surrounding crowd keep the audience engaged and receiving the simple communication that Nike is endorsing these stars are playing beating boredom with a kick about in an Airport. The branded products are the requirement to live this incredible dream.

The ad continues to show further medium long, cut to medium close up and variations between these as the players perform tricks and skills in and around the guards. Simply denoting the supremacy of the Brazilian team and by association Nike products. This still has fun, quirky moments as Leonardo heads the ball off a conveyor belt only to be sucked through the flaps after landing.

The ball eventually travels outside and is passed through a scanning machine and past security. It falls to Carlos who takes long shot across the airfield where the consumer can see the Nike football swerve. The ball is then controlled and volleyed in front of an oncoming plane, it passes in front of the window of Eric Cantona and he briefly looks bemused continuing to read his paper with a smile. The connotation derived is the rebel approves.

Via a series of extravagant passes connected by following a panning camera the ball is worked back into the terminal and to the feet of world-beater Ronaldo. He proceeds to dribble the ball through the airport followed by the excellent directing of Woo to build excitement through the chaos to reach the final goal Romario constructed earlier. The campaign finishes under the influence of Gilliam as Ronaldo shoots only to see his shot hit the post and comedic frustration of everyone else. It plays the joke that at least everyone is human.

The advert was effective and campaign was run from March of 1998 and through the World Cup in France 1998, ending in June. In this sense the advert was effective and achieved the goals of creating a perfect life style and footballing values that the consumer could engage and understand. The stage had been set for future campaigns and Nike was steadily building a positive recognition within the footballing community.

However this was rocked in the aftermath of the World Cup final as a superior French side beat Brazil. The major issue of controversy around this game was not the result but the manner in which it was played out. The superstar Ronaldo had suffered a fit a few hours prior to the final and it was later believed that due the team’s and his own personal sponsorship deals from Nike that they had forced him to play. His performance was obviously sub-par and he struggled throughout, a contrast to the dazzling displays earlier in the tournament. “In Brazil, Nike became a scapegoat for the defeat.” (Bellos 2001) but in the actual running time of the campaign there was no such issue so in a contemporary sense it can be deemed a success. The controversy did however continue rise again in 2001 with a leak showing a clause (separate directly to the airport campaign in relation the Brazilian sponsorship deal) A clause (that) stipulated Nike's right to organize five international games a year with at least eight first team regulars” (Bellos 2001) This did cast a negative shadow on Nike but did not tarnish directly the joy and fun the campaign held in the heart of the football fan.

Airport was fantastically original and groundbreaking in the approach to the football lifestyle in a way never used before and that would continue to be used into the future. It gave basis to the Nike campaign based on skill and flair that would become central to campaigns in the early 21st century and cemented the future accounts to Wieden & Kennedy.

Airport 1998

Bellos, A [2001] How Nike bought Brazil accessed from
Woo, J. [1998] Director John Woo and cinematographer Gale Tattersall add visual kick to a spot celebrating Brazil’s national soccer team accessed [November 2012]