The first time I came across it was on Facebook, where a friend had shared a link headlined, "Some People Call This 'The Best World Cup Ad Ever'. After Watching It, I Might Have to Agree." The bad punctuation, length and general Upworthy vibe of the headline had my eyes rolling so hard I almost sprained them. That and the short-skirted woman on the sidewalk with a soccer ball perched on the toe of one of her high heels. I mean, really. And with no mention of a marketer in the headline or summary, I doubted if it was even a real ad.
So I moved on.
But the damn thing kept showing up. It was unavoidable. So finally I clicked. I discovered a video that ran almost two minutes and didn't include space aliens, this year's hottest professional-soccer stars, movie tie-ins, the Incredible Hulk or someone screaming "GOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL!" No, what I found were some extremely talented kids and adults doing impossible tricks with soccer balls. There's a young boy celebrating his escalator-banks shots with a goofy dance. There's a young man kicking the ball high and hard enough to ring the bell of the local church. There's an old man in Rio showing off his moves -- and a pretty toothless smile -- to the kids on the beachfront. And, yes, there's a young woman in tight skirt and high heels wowing a crowd with some pretty amazing footwork.