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
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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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