Nike Just Does It (again)
Nike’s new Tiger ad is heavy. If you haven’t seen it, enjoy.
The remarkable thing about this commercial is its relevance:
On Father’s Day and US Open Sunday, the late Earl Woods tells a story of Tiger’s mental toughness while his son battles through knee-pain in search of his 3rd national title.
Wow. ESPN has a great article on the thinking behind the spot. The admakers discuss the opportunities and risks – and they’re the first to admit that they got “lucky” with the timing of his surgery against their ‘strength of mind’ message.
But you’ve got to be lucky to be good. And these guys are definitely good. As Murketing’s Rob Walker says “”Nike has always tried to have ads that have talk value the morning after”. They’ve obviously done that again.
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Afterthought:
The relationship between timing and relevance is much discussed of late. Along these lines, a friend (who just moved over to media) recently brought up the notion of examining brand speed by clocking the marketing process from Idea-To-Market (ITM). I think this might make for a very interesting investigation.
ITM Credit: Anthony Hello, Mediacom
HER NATURE HIS NURTURE 
they could make a million cool tiger ads, i still can’t stand the guy – of course he’s never met someone who’s as mentally tough; he’s a robot