Nike recreated 1500 pairs of replicas of the shoes made famous by Marty McFly in Back to the Future. Nike put 150 pairs a day for 10 days up for auction on Ebay and raised millions for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. They also raised much-needed awareness for Parkinson’s. The YouTube video is still at the top of viral video charts, so the campaign continues to work hard and be just as fun even after the shoes were auctioned off to die-hard McFly fans and Parkinson’s supporters.
In addition to being a super-smart campaign combining a great brand, a great cause and one of the most iconic movies of all time, it was also a treat to see Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett Brown after all these years. The auction ended this past Monday and the auction sales reached into the millions. Donations will continue to be accepted here.
When Nike implores one to Write the Future, they’re not kidding around. Pending the future can be encapsulated in 57 characters.
On May 20th, we featured the beautiful 3 minute epic spot Nike made for the Write the Future campaign – just as we were all catching a case of World Cup Fever. Now, Nike has taken that message social and given fellow Feverists a chance to speak their minds on a massive scale. Think “Will you Marry Me” or “Congrats Brownie Troop 34 from Ronkonkoma” at Yankee Stadium, only on one of Johannesburg’s largest skyscrapers. Nike invites World Cup fanatics to submit 57-character messages through Facebook, Twitter or a number of international social networks. Each night, 100 of these messages are displayed, along with a pic of each author’s favorite soccer player, on a 44 m x 42 m screen on the Life Center in the heart of the city. Not only do these messages get viewed by the entire city, each fan receives a personalized note recognizing their participation along with a photo of their message being displayed. We love this extension of the traditional campaign because it goes beyond the concept and sentiment of writing the future and tangibly puts it into the hands of consumers through the social technologies they’re already using. It’s no longer reserved to the exclusive realm of hero-worship toward established soccer stars and instead empowers the fans to make it their own and become part of the campaign in a meaningful way.
Here’s hoping someone is writing Team USA into the round of 16.
At Sawtooth, we like each other. That doesn’t mean we always agree. As you might expect, the new Tiger Woods Nike Golf commercial has provoked opposing reactions within our walls. Here’s what copywriter Mike Draper and art director Tim Parrott have to say:
Mike:
Let’s get one thing straight: I am not a Tiger Woods fan. The personal decisions he has admitted making in his life made me lose respect for the man. But, to be completely honest, I really don’t care much either. Since I got an autograph from Kevin McHale in Cape Cod when I was 13 and realized how much of a dork he was, I stopped holding famous folks in high regard. Having said that, I love the new Tiger Woods Nike Golf commercial. I love it because it is ridiculously smart for the Nike brand. Nike understands that athletes are simply humans with athletic gifts and conversely (and lucky for us weekend warriors) that humans can be athletes. Nike has understood this for longer than any other athletic brand. In 1993, Nike ran a commercial written by Charles Barkley himself. Barkley states,
“I am not a role model. I’m not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”
To me, this Tiger Woods spot is not a message from Nike asking the world to forgive Tiger Woods. The use of his father’s voice actually supports that fact. It shows how imperfectly real he is that he requires a “sit-down” with his father. To me, Nike is saying, “Tiger Woods is a messed up human being. He’s fallible, he’s not a deity. He’s flesh and blood and he’s never been closer to you than right now. So maybe you’re not as far off from him as you think.” Which, to me, is a very smart play for a very smart company.
Tim:
First off, let me just say, I do not care about Tiger’s infidelity. I do not care about his text messages. I do not believe that as a dominant figure in sports, he owes me or anyone else an elevated lifestyle worthy of angels’ wings. What he owes his family is another matter. But I’m not his family. Frankly, I’m glad he’s playing well.
That said, I’m not coming into the new Nike spot with any great sense of disappointment or judgment. I don’t feel let down by a hero who needs to beg for forgiveness. And I don’t need one of his sponsors to do it for him. And maybe that’s part of what infuriates me about the spot. It feels like a quiet cry for redemption. Not by Tiger himself, but by the brand that is betting a lot on his continued relevance as a golf hero. The manipulation begins first and foremost with the voiceover featuring Tiger’s father, Earl, an influential voice in his life, and apparently ever more influential in his death (he passed in 2006). Taken completely out of the context in which they were originally spoken and overlaying a mopey and contemplative version of the Tiger we know and love, these words, we’re meant to believe, are circling in the head of the conflicted and contrite Mr. Woods. Through this we are meant to relate to how difficult this must be for Tiger, how deeply he’s reflecting on the disappointment he’s caused his family, his fans, and perhaps most importantly, his dead father. And then we should forgive him? And then believe in him? And then buy golf spikes and a driver? A respectable sentiment, but one that would ring true for me much more if it were coming from Tiger himself rather than a highly stylized, branded message from Nike. The power of a brand like Nike somehow makes the cry for forgiveness, understanding and redemption all that more strong, but the role of intercessor is not one I feel comfortable with a brand playing. It just feels like a misuse of their influence. And creepy. Sell me on the quality of the play of your sponsored athletes…
or the quality of your products and not on the perceived contrition of one of your sponsored athletes. Many will say this is a brilliant move in which Nike stands strong next to their beleaguered Tiger while everyone else turns their back on him – to me, it reads as an opportunistic overstepping of the role of a brand in the lives of consumers. Particularly when the end goal is to sell me something. If you feel so strongly about reviving Tiger’s reputation, make it an unbranded message. Nike, stick to making shoes. Leave the manipulation to the media who blew this story out of proportion in the first place.
