Tracey Stern

Nike’s “Winner Stays” Video – Content Or Advertising?

30 April 2014, Tracey Stern


I like football. Although, as an Arsenal fan, I haven’t been too keen on the last 3 months of the football season. But with the World Cup arriving, it’s a time to not only celebrate the best football talent that the world has to offer, but some of the best ads. Or should I say content?

Content or advertising?

There was an interesting debate within the media community across a variety of social media platforms since the release of Nike’s “Winner Stays” ad. Is it content? Is it advertising?

According to the latest statistics, which are probably already out of date, the video has been viewed approximately 22 million times. It will be released as a 3 minute ad, with various cut-downs for the World Cup, which will add a global audience of a billion. Maybe a bit more if England progress past the first stage!

To me, it is just plan brilliance. I am guessing that Nike didn’t sit down and write a brief for a 30 second TV ad to their agency, as so many before them have done when a big opportunity arises. Instead, they asked their partners to create content which perfectly reflected the passion of the game featuring the best in the game, with the undeniable sense of Nike humour. Once they had the content, they decided to share it in a number of ways, using a number of revisions to capture the mood pre-tournament and during it as well.

Content wins

Whether shown as a paid for advertising during commercial TV or online for fans globally to share, is kind of irrelevant. It started and ended with simple, compelling, relevant content which can be accessed on a mobile device, a widescreen TV or any number of tablets and desktops.

So hats off to Nike and their agency partners in producing this. Not only is it great content which will endure, it reflects what we want – content that matters that we can see where and when we want.