W+K pulls a blockbuster campaign out of the hat for under pressure Nike

Nike is coming under pressure from Under Armour and its agency Droga5 in the US, and, maybe, across the world. Which must have been a poser for Nike agency Wieden+Kennedy too. Nike has been a 30-year foundation client for W+K, one of the key reasons it’s been able to remain independent all this time.

Something new was needed then and we have a new global campaign taking over (temporarily at least) from the celebrated ‘Just Do It,’ ‘Nike Unlimited.’

Here’s tough guy actor Bobby Cannavale exhorting a roomful of babies to make the most of their lives:

And transgender ‘duathlete’ Chris Mosier in ‘Unlimited Courage.’

We remarked earlier today on the way media agencies seem to be encroaching on creative agency territory by boosting their own creative credentials. In a world where marketers are obsessed by cost, buying their creative cheaper on the back of a media agency relationship may indeed be attractive.

But can any of the wannabees do this?

It’s what advertising’s supposed to be: it interrupts you but in a good way. W+K HQ at its best. The business should be safe for a few more years.

MAA creative scale: 9.25 (the year’s best score to date).