25 years young – and celebrating with some rather famous friends…
Nike is marking the 25th birthday of its iconic “Just Do It” campaign this week, and has released a sports celebrity-packed video advert to celebrate.
The company has called in sporting legends including NBA’s Most Vaulable Player LeBron James, world number one tennis player Serena Williams, Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique, and boxing sensation Andre Ward.
The video is narrated by The Hangover’s Bradley Cooper, and also features a guest appearance by actor Chris Pine, recently seen playing Captain James T. Kirk in the recent Star Trek series of films.
The new video, directed by the acclaimed Nicolai Fuglsig (known for his Sony Bravia commercial featuring 250,000 bouncing balls let loose on the largest hill in San Francisco) hopes to inspire viewers to push their physical limits – by challenging the sporting world’s greatest athletes.
The film opens with Bradley Cooper saying: ‘If you can run a mile, run a race, run a marathon, outrun a movie star…’ followed by snapshots of regular people challenging the acclaimed athletes in sporting feats.
In one shot, Chris Pine can be seen running against a fan on the street with action movie explosions in the background, while in another sequence a high school student faces boxing sensation Andre Ward in the ring.
The scene then switches to an everyday table tennis player who faces Serena Williams in the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadow New York, and an amateur footballer is also seen being set up for a goal by Gerard Pique.
We then flashes to 6ft 8 LeBron James proving why he’s one of the most famous players in the NBA as he takes on a basketball fan and beats him with an almighty dunk.
The film challenges the audience to virtually compete against the athletes featured using Nike+ FuelBand – an athletic bracelet that tracks your daily activity and calories burned and awards you ‘fuel’.
Using their Nike+ Running app, which maps users’ runs, distance and calories burned, and FuelBand, budding athletes can judge how they fare against the famous athletes in the film, as well as their friends and other ordinary participants
From August and into September Nike will be challenging you to #justdoit – ‘Run The Distance’ will task you and your friends to run a marathon in a week and sporting challenges against Nike stars will also be thrown into the mix, which will be tracked on a live leader board.
‘For 25 years, we’ve been inspiring people to Just Do It,’ said Davide Grasso, Nike Global Chief Marketing Officer.
‘With “Possibilities” we’re evolving that concept and actually enabling people to realise new heights, work towards new goals, and to physically Just Do It through Nike+.’
[Via Daily Mail]
Tech Runner 