Did Nike Fail To 'Write The Future'?

Daniel Neville

The World Cup has come to an end and suddenly there seems much less to do in the evenings compared to the previous six weeks of evening football action. Congratulations to Spain, getting to lift that trophy for the first time in your countries history must be quite a thing. But enough about the sport and onto the creative stuff….

If you remember right at the beginning of the tournament we featured some of our favorite television spots from global brands who were attempting to leverage the popularity of the tournament. One of our favorites was the Nike 'Write the Future' spot which, looking back on the tournament, some people are saying is jinxed. Considering that the Dutch lost last night there might be something to the claim… at the very least there is as much validity in it as clamming that an octopus named Paul can predict the games outcome. To remind you here is the ad again:

Ok now lets take a closer look - Of the players featured in the ad The Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba broke his arm pre-tournament, Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro managed to concede five goals in three games before his team was eliminated in the group stage. Never mind Franck Ribéry's role in the French off-pitch mutiny and eventual elimination of his team, Wayne Rooney and his failure to find the back of the net (trailer park for him then!) and Cristiano Ronaldo 'the most glorified sportsman of all time' who seemed to care more about how good he looked on the pitch rather than actually kicking a ball. After that it would seem like the ad is jinxed - not a single featured player or team made it to the final.

Now this is where is gets interesting - after the Netherlands and Spain cemented their place for a shot at the trophy Nike released a new 'All Dutch" ad in the 'Write the Future' style titled "Orange is the colour of Insanity" no prizes as to whom Nike were supporting in the final…

Guess what! The Dutch lost… ok so Paul the octopus called that one too and the Spanish were the favorites but you cant but help ask questions about the possible jinx the ad may carry. As beautiful as they are it seems Nike just did not pick the right players to write the future with. I wonder if it will do any harm to their brand? For more on 'Nikes curse of the world cup' as some are calling it take a look at the spoof ad below.