Nike has been widely known as the “Just Do It” advertiser and the world leader of sports apparel and equipment — but soon not in golf equipment.
In the past, it was also an “ambush marketer” (not an official sponsor, but one who tried to appear as one) at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Noel Young reported then that:
“It was one of the most prominent non-sponsors of the Olympics – yet Nike managed to hi-jack the greatest show on earth with an amazing yellow-green neon shoe. The man behind the Volt Shoe was Martin Lotti. The shoe is described in an Ad Age cover story: ‘The beautifully crafted, incandescent kicks that whizzed by on the feet of 400 Olympic athletes, including USA’s Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee, Great Britain’s Mo Farah, and France’s Renaud Lavillenie.'”
For the 2016 Rio Summer Games, Nike is an official sponsor — paying millions of dollars for this privilege. And to kick off its Olympics advertising, Nike is running the extended-length “Unlimited You” ad shown below during the Opening Ceremonies on August 5.
“Nike goes way beyond ‘Just Do It’ in a new spot airing during the Rio Olympics opening ceremony that depicts athletes both unknown and famous in a real-meets-unreal spectacular. The Olympics spot, ‘Unlimited You,’ picks up in the crib of a baby and then onto scenes of athletes struggling on the small stage — an amateur golfer, a young tennis player, a toddler playing basketball in his living room. ‘Star Wars: Force Awakens’ actor Oscar Isaac provides the voice-over, predicting that these folks aren’t going to be newbies forever. ‘All of these athletes are terrible now, but they’ll all do big things one day,’ he says.”