Created by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, the campaign features a mix of OOH, social and a bold TV commercial featuring a voiceover from Willem Dafoe. A slew of Nike athletes, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, LeBron James, Sha’Carri Richardson, Vini Jr, Serena Williams and A’ja Wilson appear in the ads.

Dafoe opens the TV spot by asking ‘Am I a bad person?’ before listing a series of character traits – single-minded, selfish, obsessive – that in many settings would be deemed as negative, but are nigh on essential to make it in elite sport. His words are accompanied by imagery of some of our favourite sportspeople looking, well, less than humble.

The spot is classic Nike (and is an echo of its controversial You Don’t Win Silver, You Lose Gold ad from 1996, which caused an outcry at the time), but does mark a shift away from the recent fashion in sports ads to be inclusive, and put an emphasis on how it’s the taking part that matters. Here it is all about winning, which considering it’s clearly timed for the Olympics, even if that event is not mentioned by name, makes perfect sense.

The campaign could also be viewed as something of a two finger salute to recent questioning of the brand since reporting its biggest stock drop in over 20 years last month. While critics are asking whether it’s losing its edge in a competitive market, if this ad is anything to go by, the brand is going to come out swinging in response.

Credits:
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy Portland
ECDs: Caleb Jensen, Blair Warren
Creative Directors: Kevin Steele, Pedro Izique
Senior Creative: Jacobi Mehringer
Copywriter: Andrew Chhour
Head of Social Creative, Bodega: Dan Viens
Production Company: Somesuch
Director: Kim Gehrig
Photography Production Company: Emilie Muller Production
Photographers: Anthony Blasko, Nico Therin, Christopher Anderson