Nike - Write the Future

This summer's World Cup provided Nike with the opportunity to show that every four years the world's best footballers have the chance to achieve legendary status and write their own future by giving the performance of their lives on the ultimate stage.

In its three-minute Write the Future TV spot, top footballers play out their potential World Cup experiences in epic fashion.

The ad shows how one moment on the pitch can be the catalyst for ripple effects felt around the world as well as the difference between fame and infamy for the players.

The spot, set to a remix of Hocus Pocus by Dutch band Focus, stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho, Fabio Cannavaro and Didier Drogba.

Enrico Balleri, Global Football Advertising Director at Nike, said the TV ad had amplified Nike's social media presence.

'The campaign generated an unprecedented level of engagement from football fans around the world [with] more than 35 million views on YouTube, and our social media fan base has swelled to over 9 million.

Capturing the scale, emotion and impact of moments in a game on players, fans and nations has captured the imagination of all who love football,' he added.

Nike topped a shortlist of ads that were transmitted in May and June, and voted on by members of Thinkbox's Creative Academy of advertising industry experts.

John Smith's Diner commercial was runner-up; third place went to Hovis' Miss Chief.

The campaign generated an unprecedented level of engagement from football fans around the world

Enrico Balleri
Global Football Advertising Director
Nike

• Client Enrico Balleri, Global Football Advertising Director; Colin Leary, Global Football Ad Manager
• Brief Challenge every athlete to be the one who makes the difference
• Ad Agency Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam
• Creative Team Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy, Stu Harkness, Freddie Powell
• Director Alejandro Inarritu

Other ads on the podium

John Smith's - Diner

John Smith's reckoned it was time, after several years off-air, for the return of the archetypal John Smith - the No Nonsense Man, as brought to life by Peter Kay. There are two executions in this campaign. One lampoons the valuation scene that's the mainstay of TV formats such as the Antiques Roadshow; while this one draws cringe-making comedy from the dream date game. During dinner with friends, No Nonsense Man's wife, played by Alison Darling, urges him to tell them who his fantasy woman is. "There's only one woman in my life," he reassures her. But she persists, offering him the likes of Kelly Brook and Tess Daly, saying: "I won't get upset, it's only a game." But you can hear a pin drop as he reveals that he fantasises about "Claire at work". The brief was simple - bring people back round to a No Nonsense way of thinking by showing Kay's irreverent character in action.

Hovis - Miss Chief

This ad supporting the launch of Hovis' new Hearty Oats loaf shows the antics of a mischievous school-girl running amok back in the summer of 1978 - then cuts to the present and shows us the girl grown up. Set to Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand, we see her causing a flour fight in home economics class, turning a ballet class into a wrestling match and releasing a pig into the school corridor. She puts too much powder into a washing machine, which explodes with foam; she races shopping trolleys with her friends; she bounces maniacally on her bed at home. Then, as we see her putting Hovis into the toaster, we cut to her as a grown-up… still making toast with Hovis. This reinforces the long-running "as good as it's always been" positioning and, as the pay-off line puts it: "Sometimes it's good to be good. New Hovis Hearty Oats, the only bread baked with 50 per cent oats."

Also shortlisted for May/June 2010

Carling - World Cup Live Scores

The brief was to create an unusual and entertaining idea relevant to the World Cup that could make Carling stand out at a time when there was bound to be a lot of competitive activity from rival brewers. Thus the "live edit" aspect of this campaign, which featured a return of the Carling group of mates and was scheduled into breaks just after the final whistle of England games on ITV. One of the gang, who's just trekked across the desert on a camel to get in a round, returns not just with the drinks but also with the result of the England match just aired. His mates seize on the information gratefully but then ask him the result of another match. He has to admit he doesn't know (not surprising because, comically, in the early part of the campaign, they ask about Belgium - a team not actually at the World Cup) and, dismayed by their disappointment, he heads back across the desert to find out for them.

Umbro - Anthem

In a campaign devised to coincide with the World Cup, Umbro wanted to celebrate England as a nation and as a football team, and show its continuing unconditional support for both. It also sought to reflect the modern reality that, though England is a melting pot of cultures, we all stand together in support of the same team. This ad shows a cast of ordinary people from a spectrum of cultures and backgrounds, each in their own private moment, standing in their Umbro shirts (the company has been responsible for the team strip for almost a century now) and singing the national anthem - an echo of the line-up of England players singing God Save The Queen before each game. The brief was to evoke the moment that generates so many emotions for players and fans - and is a rare point where there's a genuine sense of national unity. As the pay-off line has it: "Tailored by England."