That’s a Nike ad?

The new Nike ad, ‘Winning isn’t for everyone’, is a love letter to the killer instinct needed to become an elite athlete. Given Nike’s recent financial woes, the ad could be seen as a statement to the world and shareholders that reads ‘we’re back, we’re the best and we’re going to win.’  The big issue is regular people were unable to recall the brand when they see it in an ad break.

As Nike makes a return to the elite athletic focus of previous years, what implications does their latest campaign have for Nike and society more broadly? Samira Brophy, Senior Creative Excellence Director at Ipsos, and Fernando Desouches, Director of New Macho, explore this question using Ipsos Creative | Spark ad findings in the US and UK for The Drum. 

Read the analysis for The Drum

Tonally, this is a gear shift from Kaepernick to ‘Am I a Bad Person?’ and people did not recognise Nike in the ad. If the plan is to stick to this more edgy and competitive tone of voice going forward, that’s something. If not, then why sacrifice empathy over creativity when it’s not landing branding or impact? Ipsos data shows that advertising which demonstrates creativity in combination with empathy has a 20% stronger performance than average. In comparison, campaigns that do only fresh or familiar regress to the mean, to mediocrity.

Samira Brophy, Senior Creative Excellence Director, Ipsos

Technical Note:

Nike Winning Isn’t for Everyone Ad tested in the UK and US using Ipsos Creative | Spark Ad Assessment
n=150 respondents per market, Test date 25Th June, Time to results 16 Hours