The 90-second video delivers a powerful story of perseverance and inspires hope in the face of adversity. It talks about race, gender and the idea that we are all in this together. It is also a rare example of how split screens can work.
The ad, narrated by Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe, features a compilation of sports-diverse footage stitched together into one streamlined narrative. It is quite beautifully done.
We evaluated it with an online survey of Australians to understand how it makes them feel and why it is so effective.
The ad performs above both our effectiveness and emotional benchmarks and three-quarters of viewers like the ad. Overall it is amongst the top 25% of ads evaluated in Australia.
Below are some results from our analysis - all are scored out of 10, with a benchmark of 6.0.
One of the strongest components is the casting, scoring 7.5. The wide representation across disabilities, races and gender, makes everyone feel included. These images are captured side-by-side using a split screen and this reinforces a collective sense of togetherness - people are yearning for a connection and sense of community at the moment.
The ad also has a mix of both high-profile athletes (Serena Williams, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo and Naomi Osaka) and everyday athletes. This balance provides sufficient celebrity credibility (7.4) while also remaining relatable for consumers (6.5).
The execution is quite impressive and uses a seamless stream of images from over 4000 hours of footage. However, with a long format ad and lots of cuts, one negative of the ad is that some people are a bit confused by the number of images and how it all fits together (Simplicity rating of 5.3).
Overall, this ad is quite amazing and shows how Nike can Just Do It. They are one of the world's best advertisers as they are able to cleverly pick up on community sentiment and reflect this back to the community with such an emotive tone. This ad is extremely effective, and Nike is reaping the benefits across the globe.
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