Nike Football’s ‘Phantoms of London’ Campaign Stars Ronnell Humes & The New Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Mid January saw Nike launch a new UK campaign for the latest iteration of its Phantom football boot that features both Tottenham Hotspur Ladies’ Ronnell Humes, the club’s England striker Harry Kane and its new (as yet unopened) stadium.

Running under the London thread of Nike’s umbrella key city focus strategy, the campaign’s hero commercial takes viewers from the shadows to the floodlights of North London football and features

It is fronted by 19-year-old Spurs star Ronnell Humes and her team wearing new Phantom Venom boots during an epic game inside the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

As well as giving Spurs fans a glimpse of their long-delayed, new stadium, the spot also stars the club’s talismanic forward and England captain Harry Kane.

Created by agency AKQA, the spot’s narrative tells the story of how 19-year-old Humes got into football and shows her kicking a football around her childhood home pitches and parks in Edmonton (north London) before featuring her playing at Tottenham’s much anticipated new ground (which has yet to open to the public).

The spot is promoted by both the brand’s football digital and social platforms

View this post on Instagram

"At first I was speechless. Never in my life did I expect to play on that pitch” – Ronnell Humes, 19.⠀ ⠀ ⠀ From the shadows to the floodlights. Watch the Phantoms of London take their game to new levels of precision at the new @spursofficial stadium. ⠀ — #Nike #Football #NikeFootball #NikeSoccer #Soccer #Tottenham #Spurs #PhantomVNM @nikelondon @spursofficial @harrykane

A post shared by Nike Football (Soccer) (@nikefootball) on Jan 15, 2019 at 7:46am PST

and by the agency too.

The campaign was created by Matt Bennett and Will Battersby and directed by Dan Emmerson through SomeSuch.

Humes’ voiceover tells how she was the only girl on the team when she was younger and the spot starts with her saying: “No, never in my life would I have expected to play on the pitch.”

Comment:

Spurs men’s team players are probably now thinking similar things after yet more delays to the stadium’s official opening.

Tottenham had hoped to be in the new stadium from the start of the 2018/19 season, but no home games will now be played there until at least March.

This campaign follows on from Nike’s February 2018’s award winning ‘Nothing Beats A Londoner’ (see case study) and its August 2018 ‘Awaken The Phantom’ campaign (see case study).

Links:

Nike Londoner

https://www.nike.com/gb/football/t/londoner-changing-the-game

Nike Football / Phantom

http://www.nike.com/phantom

https://www.nike.com/gb/en_gb/c/football

https://www.youtube.com/user/NikeFootball

https://twitter.com/nikefootball

https://www.instagram.com/nikefootball/

Nike

https://www.nike.com

https://www.instagram.com/nike/