Late November saw Nike kick off its 2014 World Cup Brazilian national team activation with its ‘Dare To Be Brazilian’ campaign and new national team shirt launch.
The initial ‘Dare to be Brazilian / Ouse Ser Brasileiro’ work, created by agency Wieden+Kennedy, is fronted by five of the Brazilian side’s star players: Neymar, Thiago Silva, Paulinho, David Luiz and Bernard.
Each player has his own stylised, colour-themed silhouette with a matching slogan referencing his own specific soccer skills.
David Luiz’s phrase is ‘Jump Over’ and the Nike boots he wore during the 16 November friendly against Honduras carried his own personal campaign slogan.
Neymar’s slogan is ‘Play Kid’ and Paulinho’s is ‘Draws Response’.
Further campaign elements are running across Nike Brazil’s website and Facebook page and on Twitter using the hashtag #OuseSerBrasileiro.
Perhaps the most interesting and interactive element of the campaign is a personalisation application, which sits on Nike’s Brazil website, that enables the users to create his or her their own silhouettes, colours and slogans – an individually customised version of those used in the campaign.
These personalised versions can they be shared by Brazil fans Nike consumers shared through social their networks.
Furthermore, they can also be made into a tee-shirt that can be purchased through Nike’s online retail platform.
‘This is the biggest Nike campaign in Brazil ever, in terms of amounts, creativity, the number of people involved and engagement opportunities,’ says Henry Rabello, Marketing VP at Nike Brasil.
The campaign has also launched a set of YouTube teaser films; both general clips such as
and individual player ambassador clips such as this Bernard example
These are essentially teasers for the campaigns central TV spot which launched on 1 December.
An explanatory Nike video (in Portuguese) discussing the campaign and the brand’s plans for Brazil 2014 is hosted on the sports equipment brand’s YouTube channel
The Nike work continued on 24 November when the kit which will be worn by the Brazilian team at the 2014 World Cup was unveiled.
The key product benefit in the campaign is based around the shirt’s ‘cooling technology’ and the launch campaign’s central tagline is ‘The Pride Of A Nation. Cool Under Pressure’.
Nike linked with the Brazilian FA on an unveiling event in Rio de Janeiro – fronted by former Brazilian great Ronaldo who spoke about his love for the national team and outlined the benefits and details of the new strip.
At the event, national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari warned Brazil’s rivals that the five-times champions aim to make an important alteration to the shirt by winning the competition for a record sixth time and thus adding a sixth star above the shirt badge.
The event was linked to an official unveiling photo shoot showing VfL Wolfsburg midfielder Luiz Gustavo modelling the new strip in Copacabana,
It was further supported by a shirt launch TV spot and online film.
The kit aims to combine performance innovation, cultural design cues and environmentally sustainable materials.
In addition to a funky new shirt colour, one genuinely fresh feature is that for the first time in a national team kit, the fabric is made from recycled plastic bottles: with shorts made from 100% recycled polyester, shirts from 96% recycled polyester and socks from 78% recycled polyester).
Each kit is made using an average of 18 recycled plastic bottles and since 2010 Nike has collected almost two billion bottles from landfills – enough to cover over 2800 full-sized football pitches.
During the kit development process, Nike designers used three dimensional body scans of the entire Brazilian National Team in order to collect data on the shape of the players to ensure a better body fit.
Behind the crest, on the inside of the shirt, Nike have printed a team slogan: ‘Nascido para jogar futebol / Born to Play Football’.
Comment
Will Brazil win the 2014 World Cup in this kit?
Perhaps!
After all, they are currently favourites with several bookies.
The Brazil team strip is Nike’s number one selling national jersey and the company aims to turnover US$1bn in Brazil during the next 12 months.
According to Nike vice president of communications Charlie Brooks, the company expects Brazil to be its third largest market in the world by 2017 (behind the USA and China).
The work is the beginning of what looks set to be another titanic marketing battle between the two big beasts of the football world – Nike & adidas.
Indeed, the new Nike campaign rolled out hot on the heels of rival adidas’ announcement that it had extended its official sponsorship deal with FIFA to 2030.
This deal will see adidas to supply match balls, kit for officials and volunteers and to advertise at World Cup venues.
Indeed, while Nike have the crucial partnership with the host nation, the top four teams in the FIFA rankings – Spain, Germany, Argentina and Colombia – all wear adidas.
Nike’s own long-term deal with the Brazilian Football Confederation has run since 1997 when it first signed the Brazilian team in what was then considered to be the biggest sports sponsorship deal ever (a reported US$400m, 10-year deal)
Links
Nike Brazil Website
Nike Brazil Facebook
Twitter Campaign Hashtag
#OuseSerBrasileiro
Nike Football Website
http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/football/ntk-cbf
Nike Twitter
https://twitter.com/nikefootball
Nike Football Brazil Kitg USA
Nike Football Brazil Kit Europe
Nike Global Website
