NIKE 'AWAKEN THE PHANTOM'

Gold Eurobest

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleNIKE 'AWAKEN THE PHANTOM'
BrandNIKE FOOTBALL
Product/ServiceNIKE PHANTOMVSN FOOTBALL BOOT
Category D01. Sports: Film, Series & Audio
Entrant WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Production BLACK LABEL PRODUCTIONS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 THE QUARRY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 3 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.