As the year’s first major tournament, The Masters, approached Nike rolled out the latest instalment in its new ‘Play In The Now’ golf equipment campaign – Lunar Control.
Launched on 31 March and promoting the brand’s latest Nike Lunar Control II golf shoe, the creative juxtaposes an incredibly advanced golf product with a backward looking golfer.
In the USA, the commercial aired on ESPN’s masters coverage and other markets in which it ran include Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and Korea.
Accompanying this central 60-second ad are 15-second vignettes featuring characters who think the only place for Lunarlon technology is the moon.
Cranky characters travel through previous eras of footwear technology, seeking out and longing for the old days of ‘clunky saddle oxfords’ and ‘screw-ins’ while mocking the new lightweight Lunar technology.
The ads promote Nike using the year’s first Major tournament to introduce three limited edition Masters-inspired footwear styles – TW ’14, Lunar Control, Lunar Clayton and TWE ’14 – each worn by a different Nike-backed golfer at The Masters and available in selected retailers and at www.Nike.com.
‘For 2014, we wanted to expand that unique offering to include three of our most popular models – the TW ’14, Lunar Control and Lunar Clayton – featuring an infusion of colour in a trio of powerful yet understated designs,’ says Nike Golf footwear product director Lee Walker.
The Lunar work is part of a current Nike marketing initiative, developed with regular creative partner agency Wieden + Kennedy Portland, which is fresh, funny and poignant about traditional golf culture.
This campaign is built on the insight that so many golfers (and golf clubs) seem slow to adapt to changing times.
The Nike ad series spans the sport’s last 300 years and depicts stubborn (clichéd) golfers sceptical about new technologies.
The message is simple; every advance in golf equipment was initial met with reistsnace and reluctance.
The Lunar campaign strand is the third TV ad in Nike’s ‘Play in the Now’ series.
Earlier commercials in the campaign, which first broke earlier in the year, include work pushing its RZN ball range,
and its VR_S Covert 2.0
Comment
The approach aims to drive home Nike Golf’s passionate dedication to ushering in the future of the sport through ground-breaking innovation.
Furthermore, switching to a product focused approach around The Masters certainly seems a sensible idea when Nike’s number one golf ambassador Tiger Woods is absent from the tournament due to injury.
Blending humour and fun helps Nike position itself as a modernising brand full of character compared to the more usual (and more simplistic) ‘our technology helps your game’ approach so often taken by golfing brands such as Callaway and Titlest.
Play In The Now does seem to ensure Nike cuts through the golfing creative clutter.
Links
Nike Golf Website
http://nike.com/golf
Nike Golf Facebook
Nike Golf YouTube
www.youtube.com/nikegolf
Nike Golf Twitter
