With the Olympics well underway, two of the worlds major sports brands are vying for the publics attention: Addidas and Nike. Both run campaigns centered around the heroism of sports in general and the Olympics in particular: the ups, the downs, the passion and the glory.
Adidas Take the Stage campaign is a pumped-up clip for the UK Olympic team, flashy and glamorous, much like their All in campaign from last year. Adidas is an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, ad the clip combines the hopes and expectations of the individual athletes with those of the country. Take the hopes of a nation, the weight of sixty million silent prayers, and the nights in cold sweat wondering why you ever signed up for this, the voice-over intones, while the images work up to a climax. Good stuff.
Nike, not an official sponsor, still finds a way to ride the Olympic in the Find Your Greatness campaign. It pays tribute to the sportsmen from all the other Londons all over the world: Jamaica, Ohio, Nigeria, Norway. Somehow we have come to believe that greatness is reserved for the chosen few, the superstars, Nike seems to sneer to Adidas. The truth is: greatness is for all of us. Of course, Nike has huge sponsor deals with professional athletes, so theyre not all that credible when they supposedly try to debunk the myth of the sportsman as a superstar, but still its a good clip. And a very creative way of associating their brand with the Games. What with the Olympics coming down hard on any brands not associated with the games, Nikes campaign may even be a bit risky.
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