Nike | Take It To The Next Level | 2008
Rising to the Top, Shot From a Camera Strapped to Your Head / Nike "Take It To The Next Level"
This film traces a soccer player's path from amateur beginnings all the way to the national team, all seen through his own eyes. Honestly, the idea of doing it in first-person view is something you might think of on your own. But the scale here is different, and so is the money behind it. The sheer luxury of lining up Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fàbregas, Zlatan Ibrahimović, and even manager Arsène Wenger. Of course it was directed by Guy Ritchie. Just picturing it is fun.
The problem
Right before the 2008 European Championship (Euro 2008) kicked off, Nike released this two-minute film worldwide. It's said the goal was to answer the wish of players at every level who want to get better, and to express "Nike football" as something that combines skill and substance, battle and flair. Nike's director of brand communications said that 72andSunny translated Nike's football mission into a fresh, exciting campaign that "speaks to the hearts of soccer-obsessed teens in their 10s."
The insight
The concept was to show, up close and personally, the entire process required to keep improving — how skill gets used, how you push through practice, through goals, through a whole season. The idea was to let viewers experience it from the player's own point of view, including the wins and losses, the grit and the glamour, and even the costs along the way: concussions, broken teeth, brutal training. The creative director said the aim was to be "intense, aggressive, and real — an equal mix of ballet and train wreck." That's apparently how Guy Ritchie's name came up. Which, of course, makes total sense.
The idea
It opens on a pickup soccer match, where our guy gets fouled and a teammate helps him up. He gets to his feet, buries a free kick, and the whole view shakes with his joy. Next, he's in a locker room with Arsène Wenger watching as someone hands him an Arsenal jersey, and he's straight out onto the pitch. In a match against Manchester United, Rooney and Ronaldo knock him down and the grass rushes up at him. He scores off a pass from Fàbregas, gets swarmed for autographs and surrounded by media cameras, and catches glimpses of women passing by off the pitch. Against Inter, Ibrahimović blocks his way; against Barcelona, it's Ronaldinho standing right in front of him. A stadium stair sprint pushes him until he throws up. Eventually he's facing Portugal as a member of the Dutch national team, and just as he starts his run-up for a free kick he's won, the words "TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL" appear along with the Nike logo. The whole thing was shot in HD using the SI-2K MINI, the smallest camera in the world at the time, mounted on the players' heads. Records show the shoot took a month across London, Manchester, and Barcelona, with post-production handled by The Mill, and international cooperation across offices to achieve the high-speed energy Guy Ritchie was after.
What happened
Besides the two-minute film, 90-second, 60-second, and 30-second spin-off versions aired around the world. The film reportedly went viral upon release and left a strong impression on soccer fans. To this day it's considered one of Nike's best commercials, and it was also featured in Communication Arts.
Afterthought
Part of the fun of this one is imagining that, since these are all Nike-sponsored athletes, maybe it didn't actually cost as much as you'd think. The idea itself — telling a rags-to-riches story in first-person view — is something someone else might have thought up too, honestly. But having Guy Ritchie direct it, lining up Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rooney, Fàbregas, Ibrahimović, and Wenger, strapping an SI-2K to people's heads and shooting for a month — that kind of follow-through is exactly what our industry needs. Seriously impressive.
