GRAND CENTRAL RECORDING STUDIOS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 4
MASSIVEMUSIC Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production 5
THE MILL London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name
Company
Position
Eric Quennoy, Mark Bernath
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Executive Creative Director
Craig Williams, Evgeny Primachenko
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Creative Directors
Riccardo Rachello
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Art Director
Jake Barnes
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Copywriter
Joe Togneri
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Head of Broadcast Production
Elissa Singstock
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Broadcast Producer
Sanne Van Hattum (Freelance)
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Assistant Producer
Stephane Missier
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Planning Director
Hillary Heath
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Communications Planning Director
Kathryn Addo, Alyssa Ramsey
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Group Account Director
Amber Martin
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Account Director
Fulvio Itagiba
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Account Manager
Joe Burrin
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Head of Design
Lizzie Murray
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Studio Director
Gustav von Platen
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Designer
Loes Poot, Saskia Van Zwieten
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Project Manager
Emilie Douqué, Belen Jerez
Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam
Business Affairs
Matthew Vaughn
Black Label Productions
Director
George Richmond
Black Label Productions
Director of Photography
Tim Wild
Black Label Productions
Producer
Dom Freeman
Black Label Productions
Executive Producer
Paul Watts
The Quarry
Editor
Patrick Walsh
The Quarry
Editor Assistant
Patrick Walsh
The Quarry
Editor Assistant
Tor Adams
The Quarry
Producer
Raja Sehgal
Grand Central Studios
Sound Designer/Mixer
Adam Droy
The Mill
3D Lead Artist
Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?
Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman, Kick-Ass, Layer Cake), this 2 ½ minute cinematic epic, was produced to entertain a wide variety of audiences. It features fun and surprising appearances from famous footballers Neymar, Philippe Coutinho, Kevin De Bruyne and Mal Pugh, as well as football icons Ronaldinho, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo. Nigerian rap star WizKid and his posse Legendury Beatz, and Tiwa Savage also make a cameo.
Background
In the wake of the 2018 World Cup, Nike Football set out to launch a new boot: the PhantomVSN. As young footballers around the world prepared for their upcoming season, we wanted to make this boot the must-have for the pitch, using Nike’s stable of amazing athletes, influencers and footballing talent to spread the message of this new boot and its benefits. And make Phantom the top selling premium football boot of the season.
Describe the creative idea
We unleashed upon the world a mysterious character called THE PHANTOM - a demonic football freak capable of wreaking havoc on all those who cross its path.
The film itself spread dark and mysterious rumours among footballers everywhere, leaving everyone wondering WHO or WHAT the PHANTOM was…
Describe the strategy
Our target audience (12-18 year old football fanatics) want to be the type of player that can do it all. Create havoc in midfield. Nutmeg the opposition. Run with the ball glued to their boot or square defenders up before striking an incredible goal. The fanatics want to be deceptive by nature and extremely precise - so they can become unpredictable to the opposition & a constant threat. The positioning of the PhantomVSN boot plays directly into the idea of unpredictability and threat - two key motivators for our target audience. And the execution dramatized and elevated those messages within the film via the menacing character of the Phantom.
Describe the execution
24-hours before our film went public, we used top footballers’ Instagram Stories to “leak” the film to their millions of followers via a "secret" Whatsapp Phantom number - that shared the the un-released film.
The film was then officially released on Nike’s YouTube channel and paid media kicked in to support the campaign.
All the athletes and influencers within the film also shared teasers and swipe ups that pushed our target audience to view the main film. Each social asset was customized for where an athlete posted it - we created cinematic in-feed trailers for IG/FB feeds and full-screen vertical content shot on mobile for IG Stories.
Describe the outcome
The film drove 200M views globally, and delivered the highest completion rate of a long-form film in paid media on YouTube (in North America) - indicating the power of the mysterious story of the Phantom. It also drove positive uplifts in all metrics globally (brand awareness, favourability, and consideration) in a YouTube brand lift study.