Seriously, another ad

July 29, 2005 11:14 PM

British Adidas commercial (warning QT direct link) featuring soccer players on a field made only of the chalk outlines, floating in a void. I'm guessing this won't get shown in the U.S. due to the relative low profile soccer has here, but it's a great spot. More on the "making of" here.
posted by jonson (56 comments total)

Sorry, but that's not a great spot. It's not even a good spot.
posted by peeping_Thomist at 11:45 PM on July 29, 2005

Sorry, but that's not a great spot. It's not even a good spot.

I beg to differ.
posted by Rubbstone at 12:31 AM on July 30, 2005

Tough to top this one. (more)
posted by sellout at 12:37 AM on July 30, 2005

That was sweet, sellout.
posted by maryh at 12:46 AM on July 30, 2005

I'd heard of this ad and very much wanted to see it but was unwilling to part with the necessary € at the time from the wonderful Adland Ad-rag site so appreciate your posting it. However, it was not as impressive as I had hoped (or had been lead to believe). Thanks for the others sellout!
posted by peacay at 12:53 AM on July 30, 2005

That Adidas was pretty sweet.
posted by oddman at 1:25 AM on July 30, 2005

I guess you mustn't like football, peeping_Thomist. Thanks, jonson.
posted by nthdegx at 1:59 AM on July 30, 2005

Thanks for this. I didn't see quite enough advertising today. Would you like to sell me anything else?
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:04 AM on July 30, 2005

That was middling to enjoyable. Odd cast of characters though, Beckham, Michael Ballack...Jermaine Defoe? Almost expected Lee Bowyer to jump up and thump someone.
posted by fire&wings at 2:32 AM on July 30, 2005

Mayor Curley writes "Would you like to sell me anything else?"
As a matter of fact have I got a deal for YOU..

But seriously, I hate most advertising but I'm very happy to see smart/quirky/amazing ads if they are pointed out to me. It's a fact that some 1 minute ads get incredibly outrageous production budgets and sometimes they deliver great entertainment. That said, I'd rather people note that it is a 'sporting goods' ad or 'paint' ad or some other appropriate generic term on the front page of the blue. The product still gets exposure of course but anyone who would then click on the link will be tacitly accepting of that. When the brand is named in the FPP, it does make us an advertising medium of sorts.
posted by peacay at 3:33 AM on July 30, 2005

If you had assign a nationality to this global ad which premiered 1st July in the halftime of the FIFA Confederations Cup, it should be Dutch, since it was made by 180 in Amsterdam. ;)
Editing was done by Cut & Run London, local production by Twentyfour-Seven, Madrid, film production by Kleinman Productions, London sound design by 740 Sound Design, Santa Monica, CA and post production finally, by the framestore which you link to. International effort as well! ;))
posted by dabitch at 4:27 AM on July 30, 2005

Welll I thought it was fab, and much better than the equivalent basketball one we get over here.
posted by jamesonandwater at 4:34 AM on July 30, 2005

Wow, that was very average. Maybe, when compared to the blizzard of arse that is USian TV commercials, it's not so bad but in the general scheme of things...

Playing a sport by sticking to the pitch markings? Naaah.

Also worth pointing out that everyone even remotely linked with advertising is a slimy toerag at best. I speak from experience.
posted by i_cola at 4:35 AM on July 30, 2005

Oh yes...and advertising an advert? Pass me another baby to chew on. I also have a third grandmother you may be interested in...
posted by i_cola at 4:40 AM on July 30, 2005

I've seen this on American television -- if you watch Fox Soccer Channel at all, it's on pretty regularly there.
posted by Zonker at 5:02 AM on July 30, 2005

I'm guessing this won't get shown in the U.S. due to the relative low profile soccer has here, but it's a great spot.

Maybe if it were shown, it would increase soccer's profile here...
posted by laz-e-boy at 5:08 AM on July 30, 2005

I'd love to live in the sugar-coated world some of you guys live in where advertising is the most evil thing on the planet. At least with adverts there's no false pretense about their aim. Have you signed out and looked at the front page lately? You should do that before we have a discussion about advertising at MetaFilter being offensive. Idiots.
posted by nthdegx at 5:22 AM on July 30, 2005

I can't speak for anyone else nthdegx, but for me it's the high quantity and low quality that gets on my tits. And, as I've already vaguely alluded to, the fact that the vast majority of the people involved are scum-sucking pig-fuckers.

Maybe I'm being arsey because I'm watching the Twenty20 cricket semi finals where every available surface is plastered with a jarring array of logos. With a hangover. (Passion fruit & chilli caiparinhas? Now what the hell was that about? *Shakes fist at Craig the Kiwi Cocktail Genius*)
posted by i_cola at 6:05 AM on July 30, 2005

I guess you mustn't like football, peeping_Thomist.

Hell, I don't like watching soccer and I thought it was a good ad.
posted by grouse at 6:09 AM on July 30, 2005

Gorgeous spot. I quite liked the nike secret games spot (also soccer.)

I think it's about the storytelling. That's right. I happen to find that commercials can be brilliant storytelling. And the fact that there's money involved? So what. Which do I find more evil? Corporate shilling? Or some music video from some narcassistic band who wants to see their faces along with all the bling bling values and girl's asses on MTV for cred?

Here's another spot (non sports) of briliance.

Bridgestone spot
posted by filmgeek at 6:55 AM on July 30, 2005

Folks, advertising is the artistic medium of our age. In the Renaissance, great artists and minds went to the great metropolises of Europe. Today, they go where the money is.

If you think our culture is too ad-saturated, try living in Tokyo.
posted by fungible at 7:00 AM on July 30, 2005

If you think our culture is too ad-saturated, try living in Tokyo.

If you think being stabbed in the eye with a fork is bad, just try being stabbed in both eyes with two forks!
;-)
posted by i_cola at 7:17 AM on July 30, 2005

filmgeek, that was absolutely stellar.

The rest of you haters, chill out. We're all whores on this bus. We've all sold out. The only remaining determination is to who and for how much. That's the nature of not being an island unto yourself — that part of you is not your own.

And Mayor Curley, you're fired!
posted by SteelyDuran at 7:30 AM on July 30, 2005

Sellout, that was fantastic, great link! Dabitch, I bow in deference to your wisdom, I mistakenly called it a British spot because the "making of" link referenced a UK premier airing.
posted by jonson at 7:55 AM on July 30, 2005

What's the deal with all these football-related adds trying to make 22 guys chasing a ball into some sort of life-threatening adventure? It's a sport, that's it.
That was exceedingly average, and I expect to see it at my local multiplex right before the dancing popcorn any day now.
posted by signal at 8:00 AM on July 30, 2005

They cut out the scene where the MCP says "finish the game," and jeff bridges shouts "NOOO!"
posted by TechnoLustLuddite at 8:05 AM on July 30, 2005

I'll just add my two cents that I thought it was pretty entertaining and worth a look ...
posted by RonZ at 8:23 AM on July 30, 2005

That was neither smart nor interesting, and entirely forgettable.
posted by furtive at 8:25 AM on July 30, 2005

Very tron, indeed, TLL.
posted by shoepal at 8:35 AM on July 30, 2005

Don't think of them as ads, think of them as very short films.
posted by euphorb at 8:38 AM on July 30, 2005

Boy, so many people are just too cool for school in this thread...
posted by BobFrapples at 9:12 AM on July 30, 2005

Wow, it's like a nightmarish version of The Adventure Game :



From a professionaly point of view, I think the Adidas spot has superb sound design.
posted by coach_mcguirk at 9:16 AM on July 30, 2005

coach_mcguirk wins!

To put it into context for the North Americans who may not know, this is yet another salvo in the football* adwar between Nike and Adidas.** There have been quite a few over the past five years set in locations as diverse as an airport departure lounge to a cage.

For me, in that context, this one ain't so great. Sorry.

* It's played with the feet you know.
** IIRC, Pepsi and Coke had their own one going too.
posted by i_cola at 9:49 AM on July 30, 2005

AWESOME coach mcguirk! I thought I was the only person on Earth who remembered The Adventure Game. Nice call, doggy rev!!
posted by jonson at 10:22 AM on July 30, 2005

Actually, that should be "doogy rev". Preview!
posted by jonson at 10:22 AM on July 30, 2005

I'm 99% sure Sellout's ad link was directed by HK/Hollywood celebrity John Woo.
posted by infowar at 11:03 AM on July 30, 2005

That looked cool, but it didn't really make any sense. In that respect it was, to put it in American terms, sort of like the governor of the state of California.
posted by sfenders at 11:16 AM on July 30, 2005

I love soccer, and I thought it was average. That airport one though - that's a classic.
posted by bitpart at 11:17 AM on July 30, 2005

I like it because it isn't overdone... it looks more like a sport than like a combat series that is made to look like a sport. Also, reading the "making of" bit, the athleticism shown in the spot is real. The athletes aren't playing soccer up in the air, but they are running and doing soccer moves on a rail, so I'm not so sure I'll ding them for missing the height element.
posted by loafingcactus at 11:25 AM on July 30, 2005

i_cola, did ya know that the guys who started 180 used to work on the Nike account over at w+k? Seriously there was a big hub-bub as they left and started thir own, having had pitched and won the adidas account while they were still in w+k's offices. If I recall it even went to court for a bit...

Infowar, you are correct - it was John Woo in 1998, in Rio de Janeiros airport right before christmas and had an outrageous budget. Cinematographer Gale Tattersall also worked on the ad, and right after he wrapped that up, he worked on Pushing Tin.
posted by dabitch at 11:31 AM on July 30, 2005

I remember that airport ad! That is pretty excellent. And look at how cleaned up Monsieur Cantona looks in it.
posted by jamesonandwater at 11:34 AM on July 30, 2005

I liked this ad, can't say I have seen it in Oz.
posted by Chimp at 1:44 PM on July 30, 2005

It just looked like a pretty standard ad to me. Maybe big budget but nothing special. Nothing that would make me notice it had I seen it on TV one night.
posted by delmoi at 1:53 PM on July 30, 2005

Dabitch: Wow. Usually it's taking clients with you when you set up on your own. I'm surprised Nike didn't have them shot...
posted by i_cola at 5:29 PM on July 30, 2005

Man, I hate soccer. It seems so wimpy. Last year my (foreign) brother in law and his FOB friends bought the Euro Cup (?) at my house and I occaisionally watched. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw a commercial of all the soccer stars riding around in their Vespas. I mean, why not just have the Queer Eye guys be broadcaster?

That said, I used to root against the United States in the World Cup for fear of soccer gaining popularity here. But now I'd really like to see the US win it all, because can you imaging how pissed the rest of the world would be? If we were the best at soccer?
posted by b_thinky at 11:16 PM on July 30, 2005

filmgeek: that was LOL.
posted by mosch at 12:44 AM on July 31, 2005

b_thinky: Your hilarious cultural ignorance aside, take it from someone who's seen and played the game a lot, that football is a lot tougher than basketball or baseball. You should try playing a game if you're the sort of tough guy who likes to get hurt during your sports.
posted by i_cola at 8:31 AM on July 31, 2005

b_thinky: “Man, I hate soccer. It seems so wimpy. Last year my (foreign) brotherin law...”
Isn’t it nice how he points out that his brother in law is “(foreign)”?
Cos all (foreigners) love “soccer”, right?
posted by signal at 9:25 AM on July 31, 2005

signal, i_cola, shame on both of you for not recognizing a desperate & obvious troll.
posted by jonson at 9:37 AM on July 31, 2005

I've always liked the old 1990s Nike commercial where the soccer team takes on Satan and his devilish minions in an unholy football (soccer) match. If anyone has a link to that, I'd be quite grateful. Thanks!
posted by ktoad at 10:47 AM on July 31, 2005

ktoad: This one? (.zip)
posted by sellout at 12:30 PM on July 31, 2005

That's it! Thank you very much, sellout.
posted by ktoad at 2:57 PM on July 31, 2005

Pepsi, surfing and soccer.
posted by tellurian at 11:23 PM on July 31, 2005

That surfing ad was supposed to run in January, but was pulled due to the Asian tsunami.

Didn't fancy that one too much. I guess because with Pepsi using the same players and all, it's just plain hard to tell if its Pepsi, Nike or Adidas advertising at this point. Or Gillette. ;9 After Pink, Beyonce and Britney rocked everyone in the "gladiator" advert, Beckham, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho kicked a ball around and drank Pepsi in part two. Lame. With all the ads these guys are making, one wonders when they have time to play ball.
Gladiator girls film available at Glassworks,.
posted by dabitch at 12:58 AM on August 1, 2005

Isn’t it nice how he points out that his brother in law is “(foreign)”?
Cos all (foreigners) love “soccer”, right?

Um, yeah, I don't really know any Americans who like soccer. Do you?
posted by b_thinky at 1:30 PM on August 1, 2005

Methinks that comment went *swoosh* right above your head b_thinky.
posted by dabitch at 7:45 AM on August 2, 2005