Some new ads from Nike Inc. are about to hit TV screens and magazine pages, and the commercials are noteworthy not just because of what's in them (Stone Age men and Celtic queens, among other things) but because of who created them.
Earlier this year, in a move that caused a stir in the advertising industry, Nike decided to pull its running-gear ad account from Wieden + Kennedy and give it to Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The move came as a surprise, because Nike and Wieden had one of the tightest agency-client relationships in all of advertising.
The new ad campaign, which was launched on Thursday, has attracted significant buzz because it's Crispin's first major work for the athletic-gear company since the changeover. The ads are aimed at addressing one of Nike's Achilles' heels: Despite the company's formidable presence in the sneaker market, it has stumbled in capturing serious runners.
People are also reading…
The ads tout Nike's high-tech Nike Plus line of shoes, which help runners track their mileage via a chip in the shoe that transmits workout stats wirelessly to an iPod Nano music player. The shoes have been on the market for more than a year and also were the subject of Nike ads last year. Nike is doing the new campaign now because it believes the shoes have great sales potential over the holidays, when people tend to make New Year's resolutions.
The new ads chronicle the history of running. One TV spot starts with a bedraggled Stone Age man racing with a spear, cuts to a Celtic queen charging into battle, then to an American Indian chasing a deer and a 1970s cop chasing a criminal, among others. At the end, the commercial focuses on a present-day man on a treadmill, looking out a window onto an empty street. Suddenly a team of runners in Nike Plus shoes races past him, smashing through the windowpane.
The commercials will air on MTV, ESPN and Comedy Central, among other channels. Print ads are set to run in specialty magazines, including Runner's World and Shape.
Nike has a 57 percent share of the running market, said Matt Powell, an analyst at Sports One Source, a sports-market research firm. But Nike is particularly eager to grab more of the consumers who typically buy shoes in specialty running shops — it only has 10 percent of those customers. The company faces stiff competition from New Balance Athletic Shoe of Boston and Japan-based Asics, whose brands capture the loyalty of small running stores.
Part of the campaign also includes video testimonials from runners that will begin appearing on Nike's social-networking site this month. On the site, runners can post their times, challenge other participants and form marathon teams.