Nike's first-ever esports ad casts League of Legends superstar 'Uzi' as manager of a gamer training camp

Spot from Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai has all the thrills of the brand's classic ads—but now, in a whole new category

Published On
Oct 02, 2020

Editor's Pick

While live sports took a big hit due to the pandemic, it’s been business as usual for esports. For years, global esports events have been pulling in more viewers than many pro sports championships. In 2019, 100 million people watched the League of Legends World Championship.

The 2020 tournament is under way now, and a new spot from Nike—its first-ever esports ad—posits that even gamers will perform better with physical training. Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai imagines for them an elaborate training camp, led by pro gamer Jian Zihao, better known as “Uzi.” He manifests as a giant hologram and directs would-be champions through a gauntlet of grueling exercises, like gaming with weights attached to their arms.

He also puts them through mental paces, training them to handle internet trolls and reminding them that healthful food and a good night’s sleep are important, too. It’s an important part of Nike’s messaging. The brand doesn’t sell gaming accessories; it sells athletic gear, which typically require bodies in motion to use.

It’s also a personal message from Uzi, who retired earlier this year at the age of 23 due to complications for diabetes and chronic joint injuries.

The spot feels all the high-octane bells and whistles of Nike's classic sports advertising, but applied to a whole new category. It debuted in China just before the beginning of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, hosted in Shanghai.

Credits

Date
Oct 02, 2020
2D Supervisor :
David Rouxel
Compositor :
Iman Javaherypour
Client :
Nike (China)
Executive Creative Director :
Ian Toombs
Executive Creative Director :
Vivian Yong
Creative Director :
Jeff Fang
Creative Director :
Matt Meszaros
Copywriter / Art Director :
Gem Xu
Copywriter / Art Director :
Jing Qiu
Copywriter / Art Director :
Josh King
Producer :
Raymond Lau
Account Team Member :
Chuck Xu
Account Team Member :
Xueer Ren
Account Team Member :
Elaine Weng
Head of Strategy Planning :
Renee Zhang
Senior Planner :
Chris Kirkup
Junior Planner :
Bart An
Business Affairs :
Jessica Deng
Production Company :
The Loft Films
Director :
Adam Lau
DP :
Allen Lv
Executive Producer :
Geok Lem
Editor :
Song Yang
VFX :
MPC
Creative Director :
Barry Greaves
CG Supervisor :
Paolo Gnoni
CG Supervisor :
Jacob T. Oommen
2D Supervisor :
Barry Greaves
Producer :
Chris Li
Line Producer :
Chanakya Chander
Production Coordinator :
Sririthika Iyer
Production Coordinator :
Taruna Sehgal
Lead Compositor :
Marielle Santens
Compositor :
Yao Zhang
Compositor :
Minnie Chen
Compositor :
Chloe Gao
Compositor :
Balakrishnan Ramadoss
Compositor :
Shalwin Shaiju
Compositor :
Vipin Tripathi
Motion Graphics :
Neo Chu
FX Team :
John Svenson
FX Team :
Imen Zhu
FX Team :
Kyle Wang
FX Team :
Alok Dwivedi
Asset Team :
Aram Hakze
Asset Team :
Cherish Zhou
Asset Team :
Cathy Xi
Asset Team :
Jaspreet Kaur Dua
DMP Team :
Taylor He
DMP Team :
Shanmugavel V
DMP Team :
Winnie Sharma
Animator :
Alexey Petryaev
Animator :
Ambalika Nandy
Lighting Lead :
Yao Zhang
MatchMove :
Elangovan G
MatchMove :
Trace-VFX
Roto and Cleanup :
Robin Liu
Roto and Cleanup :
Arulanandhan P
Roto and Cleanup :
Bijeesh K U
Roto and Cleanup :
Prasanth Palaparthi
Roto and Cleanup :
Karthikeyan M D
Colorist :
Nikola Stefanovic
Assistant Colorist :
Agua Jiang
Assistant Colorist :
Christine Wang
Assistant Colorist :
Eric Ju
Sound Design Company :
Lime Studios
VO Company :
Ker Sound Studios
VO Coordinator :
Lena Zhou
VO Recording Engineer :
Lynn Lai
Re-recording Mixing Engineer :
Benjamin L'hôtellier
Sound Editor :
Lynn Lai
Music Editor :
Greg Yu
Music Editor :
Akira Terao
Project Manager :
Akira Terao

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Project Type