In the UK the sport is widely known as ‘American Football’ and, as the NFL’s 2018 London Series continues to boost the game’s growth overseas, Nike debuted a new NFL film in tribute to London’s ‘Crazy Dreamers’.
Launched to leverage October’s three NFL games played at the home of English football – Wembley Stadium – Nike’s campaign told the story of Efe Obada – the Nigerian-born, London-raised star of the Carolina Panthers.
The film was directed by Dirty Robber’s Nick Frew and features actor Eyram Avadzi playing an ambitious young football player inspired by Obada.
The spot sees Obada speak eloquently about his hometown: “When you’re one of nine million, it ain’t about fitting in.” We see him walking through the urban streets, working out and playing on the field at Wembley as he ruminates on hard graft and chasing your crazy dreams.
Comment:
The ad continues Nike’s ‘crazy’ theme: its anniversary update of its iconic ‘Just Do It’ tagline.
It also extends the brand’s storytelling around London athletes which began with the brilliant, award-winning (albeit legally controversial) ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’ campaign from Wieden & Kennedy London (see case study).
Nike also worked with Dirty Robber/Frew on other campaign such Breaking 2’ (see case study), ‘Shoe Therapy’ (see case study) and ’Unlimited’ (see case study).
Earlier in 2018 Nike and the NFL announced an eight year extension of their partnership which will see the sportswear giant continue to supply uniforms (and sideline apparel) for all 32 teams through 2028.
Through September and October, the Panthers themselves also leveraged their London born star with social content and appearances to generate buzz around the London games.
Efe Obada is back in Londonpic.twitter.com/8OeTAVG6zq
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) September 29, 2018
The campaign came despite the Panthers not actually playing in the 2018 London series games.
This year’s games were all played at Wembley Stadium and featured:
October 14: Seattle Seahawks vs. Oakland Raiders
October 21: Tennessee Titans vs. LA Chargers
October 28: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Jacksonville Jags
Links:
Nike
https://www.nike.com
https://www.instagram.com/nike/
https://twitter.com/nike
https://www.facebook.com/nike
https://www.youtube.com/user/nike
Wieden & Kennedy
https://www.wk.com/
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