Ahead of his 22nd fight (and win) in mid October, Honk Kong’s most famous boxer Rex Tso fronted a Nike campaign in Asia led by a striking spot that sees Tso violently knocked to the canvas as the referee stands over him counting down toward a knock out.
The video juxtaposes this heart-stopping boxing moment with others featuring local athletes (such as high jumper Cecilia Yeung) also facing similarly debilitating discouragement in their own sporting arenas.
Helmed by director Michael Mann, the 90-second spot ends with all the athletes finding the spirit to leep struggling and closes with the tagline “You can’t guarantee a win, but you can guarantee a fight.”
The hero commercial is supported by a set of powerfully dramatic black and white images shot from similar perspective angles spread across Hong Kong’s anchor out-of-home billboard sites.
Professional boxer Tso first won the WBC-ABCO super-flyweight title belt back in 2012 and he remains unbeaten: indeed the Hong Kong media calls him ‘The Wonder Kid’.
Yet, despite his unbeaten record, this Nike campaign doesn’t glory in his success, but focuses on what he shares in common with all athletes around the world – the ability to guarantee a fight (not necessarily a win).
“I am touched and honored to be featured in it,” said Tso about the campaign, “and hope I’ll be able to inspire other athletes to push boundaries they never thought possible.”
The campaign, developed by creative agency W+K Shanghai where the team was led by executive creative directors Ian Toombs and Vivian Yong, creative director Terence Leong, senior art director Justin Phang and senior copywriter Liu Wei.
The head of integrated production was Sanne Drogtrop, the executive producer Bernice Wong, the art producer Angela Liu and the editor Leon Yan.
The senior planner of the team was Leon Lin, the business director Dino Xu, the associate account director Jim Zhou and the senior account executive Xueer Ren. Head of project management was Nicole Bee, project manager Olivia Yuan, business affairs Jessica Deng and Kathy Zhan, head of designers Fish Ho and designers John Yao and He Fan.
The production manager was Vic Zhang, the digital imaging artist Changqing Lee, the FA artist Austin Hu, the marketing director Jessica Sinn and the PR manager: Evelyn Hsu.
On the print and Ooh work the production company was Bloc Productions, the photographer Paul Calver, the stylist Athena Wang, the executive producer Fran Lam and the producer Mandy Wu.
The film production company was RSA, the music composer wasNick Britell, editing was handled by Lost Planet, the colour by Company 3 and VFX by Jane Studios VFX.
“Hong Kong has been through a lot recently, and I feel deeply for my hometown,” says W+K Shanghai ECD Vivian Yong. “In this film, we envision the city as a group of athletes suffering setbacks and self-doubt, who believe the only way to make a comeback is to give it everything you’ve got, regardless of the outcome.”
Comment:
So many of the truly stand-out sports spots aren’t about winning, but rather about determination and commitment in the face of adversity.
Nike has long been a leader of leveraging this theme and this Asian campaign shows they can still successfully rive this point home through brilliant creative.
Links:
Nike
https://www.nike.com/cn/zh_cn/
Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai
http://www.wk.com/office/shanghai
