NIKE | STICKMAN | 2003
A Stick Figure Outdoes a Superstar / NIKE "STICKMAN"
In 2003, a black stick figure stepped onto the pitch alongside Ronaldinho and started kicking a ball around. But it didn't stop there. It swallowed the ball whole, ripped off its own leg, and used it to take a shot. One wildly illegal-feeling move.
The problem
Made by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. The campaign ran across Europe and featured top names from different fields: Ronaldinho, freestyle football player Mr. Woo, and streetball player Larry "Bone Collector" Williams. Live-action freestyle footage shot in Paris was layered with a CG stick figure.
The insight
The idea is to take real superstars' incredible skills and have them copied by the simplest possible drawing, a figure made of nothing but black lines. That's the twist. By letting a single-line character go beyond the limits of a real human body, the ad brings "Just Do It" to life.
The idea
At first, the stick figure perfectly copies each player's trick. But partway through, things start to go wrong. It swallows the ball whole and carries it into the goal, or snaps off its own leg to take a shot. It doesn't just imitate, it betrays the rules in ways only animation could pull off.
What happened
The campaign won Gold at the Cannes Lions. The stick figure went on to live beyond the campaign itself, even appearing on NIKE apparel.
Afterthought
The moment the stick figure rips off its own leg to shoot, you can't help but laugh. There's no straight face here, just pure play. Ronaldinho's incredible skill and the stick figure's single-line freedom are, in the end, telling the same story: making the impossible possible. Even after 20 years, that simplicity hasn't aged a bit.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2003
