Nike President Amy Montagne told SportsVerse how the brand's World Cup programming and the overall reboot of Nike Football aligns with its overall turnaround efforts ahead of a critical few months.
Insightful read DYM👌. I think what Nike have done better than any other this year is that they have reimagined this campaign as if it was a blockbuster movie release. From the national team kit announcements, each had a distinctive key visual, the athlete & icon Polaroid casting photos, thru to this hero film dropping 2 weeks out. This is theatrical release playbook 101.
What Nike do so well, is they make it fun for the athletes to be part of and the presence of other ambassadors from across entertainment culture 100% reflects the culture in which the World Cup is being hosted - I’ve read people hating on this approach, but they miss the point. It is a world-building marketing approach with ‘Easter eggs’ hidden everywhere for those bothered to look, something you would see across a GTA release. Greg Hoffman (ex CMO) was on a podcast a few years ago, and one thing has stuck with me, he used to always ask his teams ‘What’s the movie poster for the idea?’ - which is to say, if someone can understand your idea in movie poster format, then it’s a good idea. Because movie posters are a communication medium that has to instantly make sense with a few seconds. And In a world where consumer attention is in short supply, executing a brand marketing campaign as a movie studio would, is a smart strategy. Perhaps Nike’s leadership have tapped into some of that think laid down by Hoffman, all those years ago…
Great piece, you did a great job of capturing what is a stake for Nike at the moment. And while you were impressed by Nando's, I'm hyped that you were in Hungary of all places, the homeland of my dear grandfather and the reason for my last name.
The 65m-vs-6.7m view count is the number everyone's grabbing. Views are a moment metric though and can be manipulated by spend. The real tell is lower down and further along: the localized federation collabs (Jacquemus, Nocta, Patta, the Abloh Archive, etc.), the Toma events, the kit releases, and the reactive content that will come. That's the world-building that the spot lives within and is extended by — and as you note, flashy marketing is useless if there's nothing to turn to. Rip the Script wins the week. The rest is what will make inroads in football culture broadly and the narrower subcultures on the ground that will drive the brand forward.
"For reasons still unbeknownst to me, I had a seat at that table" First of all congrats on getting that seat! But totally not surprised at all. It was a smart, strategic move IMO
It's awesome to see that they are back to doing some localized, high-collaborations. I feel like we did that in my early days in Nike and it was awesome. I missed when they stopped doing it.
Well written and congrats on being invited to that great meal.
What the insight shows, is that Nike is changing back into the competitive fighter that Phil has always been. Phil and Nike are where they are, because of that spirit, that fight, every other brand competitor since 1979, blinked, thought they had won the race for good, or just got tired of the grind that it took to compete.
Phil does not just like to win, he thinks it is only result.
Regardless of where they are now, you saw Nike at War at that dinner. They are back. Is it a long way back, what does back look like in the uncertainty of Macro trends and the collapse of the EU and Europe when they are forced to completely fund their own Defense. I do not know.
But Nike is back in the game, not perfect, hell they had to "Rip up the script" to even get something on air.....right. The socially inspired Somnolence that infected the Brand seems to be over. Let the competition resume.
i can't underscore how much i despise FIFA and its turbo MAGA leader infantino. everything about this WC is going down - between accommodating the trumpist gestapo in the US who is letting in only white players to the insane ticket prices and price gouging on food/water, to the IP protections. just hate it all (and i love soccer.)
Insightful read DYM👌. I think what Nike have done better than any other this year is that they have reimagined this campaign as if it was a blockbuster movie release. From the national team kit announcements, each had a distinctive key visual, the athlete & icon Polaroid casting photos, thru to this hero film dropping 2 weeks out. This is theatrical release playbook 101.
What Nike do so well, is they make it fun for the athletes to be part of and the presence of other ambassadors from across entertainment culture 100% reflects the culture in which the World Cup is being hosted - I’ve read people hating on this approach, but they miss the point. It is a world-building marketing approach with ‘Easter eggs’ hidden everywhere for those bothered to look, something you would see across a GTA release. Greg Hoffman (ex CMO) was on a podcast a few years ago, and one thing has stuck with me, he used to always ask his teams ‘What’s the movie poster for the idea?’ - which is to say, if someone can understand your idea in movie poster format, then it’s a good idea. Because movie posters are a communication medium that has to instantly make sense with a few seconds. And In a world where consumer attention is in short supply, executing a brand marketing campaign as a movie studio would, is a smart strategy. Perhaps Nike’s leadership have tapped into some of that think laid down by Hoffman, all those years ago…
Great piece, you did a great job of capturing what is a stake for Nike at the moment. And while you were impressed by Nando's, I'm hyped that you were in Hungary of all places, the homeland of my dear grandfather and the reason for my last name.
Thank you so much! I absolutely loved my first time in Hungary. Will be going back for sure
The 65m-vs-6.7m view count is the number everyone's grabbing. Views are a moment metric though and can be manipulated by spend. The real tell is lower down and further along: the localized federation collabs (Jacquemus, Nocta, Patta, the Abloh Archive, etc.), the Toma events, the kit releases, and the reactive content that will come. That's the world-building that the spot lives within and is extended by — and as you note, flashy marketing is useless if there's nothing to turn to. Rip the Script wins the week. The rest is what will make inroads in football culture broadly and the narrower subcultures on the ground that will drive the brand forward.
the sovereign athlete
"For reasons still unbeknownst to me, I had a seat at that table" First of all congrats on getting that seat! But totally not surprised at all. It was a smart, strategic move IMO
It's awesome to see that they are back to doing some localized, high-collaborations. I feel like we did that in my early days in Nike and it was awesome. I missed when they stopped doing it.
Well written and congrats on being invited to that great meal.
What the insight shows, is that Nike is changing back into the competitive fighter that Phil has always been. Phil and Nike are where they are, because of that spirit, that fight, every other brand competitor since 1979, blinked, thought they had won the race for good, or just got tired of the grind that it took to compete.
Phil does not just like to win, he thinks it is only result.
Regardless of where they are now, you saw Nike at War at that dinner. They are back. Is it a long way back, what does back look like in the uncertainty of Macro trends and the collapse of the EU and Europe when they are forced to completely fund their own Defense. I do not know.
But Nike is back in the game, not perfect, hell they had to "Rip up the script" to even get something on air.....right. The socially inspired Somnolence that infected the Brand seems to be over. Let the competition resume.
i can't underscore how much i despise FIFA and its turbo MAGA leader infantino. everything about this WC is going down - between accommodating the trumpist gestapo in the US who is letting in only white players to the insane ticket prices and price gouging on food/water, to the IP protections. just hate it all (and i love soccer.)