World Cup spot of the now. (And possibly later)

I've been terribly disappointed with the lame batch of World Cup related commercials that are starting to dribble out. So far I've seen a lot of cheetahs, lions, elephants, tribesmen and other African related cliches. I've also seen a Budweiser commercial where people exchange their shirts???? Very feeble stuff.

Then Nike shows up. Wow! This three minute epic is pure rock n roll. And it's based on a simple premise to boot. Ha, boot!



I should add that the creative director on this spot is a good friend. So naturally I spent hours searching for all possible faults. Alas I couldn't find any, it's almost flawless.

And the choice of the brilliant Alejandro González Iñárritu to direct seems a particularly inspired one, given that the theme of "consequences of moments" is a central part to his recent movies.

The one small hiccup, and only a soccer fanatic would notice or care, is that Ronaldinho wasn't included in the Brazil squad and so is almost certain to miss the World Cup. No rosy future for him then.

Major kudos to my friend Eric Quennoy, Wieden & Kennedy/Amsterdam, Nike. And Alejandro González Iñárritu, who's new movie "Biutiful" is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival this week. It probably won't be the only time this year that his work is honored at Cannes.