Nike's Electrifying Women's World Cup Ad Celebrates the Soccer Stars of Today and Tomorrow

The Women's World Cup starts this week as the host country, France, opens the tournament in Paris against South Korea. Nike is not an official sponsor (that honor goes to Adidas), but the brand has made its usual splash leading up to the tournament with a breathtaking and inspiring ad featuring some of the sport's global stars. While most Americans may be familiar with the likes of Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, the three-minute anthem from Wieden + Kennedy Portland continues the brand's "Dream Crazy" positioning (the title of the spot is "Dream Further") and features a slew of top athletes from other Nike-sponsored soccer federations that more fans will get to know during the tournament. [kickout id="1"] Opening in the stadium tunnel before a match between the Netherlands and Nigeria, the ad introduces us to 10-year-old California soccer player Makena Cooke, who is led to the field by Dutch phenom Lieke Martens, only to be told that she's "not done" when the ceremonial introduction is over. From there, Cooke hangs on for a wild ride of scenarios (set to the upbeat song "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) where, most of the time, she's running hand-in-hand with the players as a metaphor for how the current crop of stars will lead the next generation into the future. Like many Nike soccer ads of this type, the feel is cinematic, and there are plenty of cameos including former England captain Alex Scott in the role of FC Barcelona's men's team manager, with Cooke on the sidelines helping coach players Philippe Coutinho and Gerard Piqué. The inspiring ending of the ad—somewhat ironically—pits Cooke against the defending champion U.S. Women's National Team and forward Crystal Dunn, as the younger player serves Australian mega-star Sam Kerr up with a perfect assist for a goal. While the spot is certainly an exciting and pointed celebration of the sport and tournament, it's great to see so many players that may not be household names in this country get a bigger spotlight. The brand is also promoting its limited-edition “Dream Further” jerseys, the first kids soccer shirt created specifically for girls that, as part of its design, includes the powerful mantra: “Don’t change your dream. Change the world." Stars in the “Dream Further” spot include: Sam Kerr, Forward (Australia) Andressa Alves, Forward (Brazil) Neymar Jr., Forward (Brazil) Philippe Coutinho, Midfielder (Brazil) Wang Shuang, Midfielder (China) Fran Kirby, Forward (England) Amandine Henry, Midfielder (France) Grace Geyoro, Midfielder (France) Marie-Antoinette Katoto (France) Sara Däbritz, Midfielder (Germany) Lieke Martens, Midfielder (Netherlands) Daniëlle van de Donk, Midfielder (Netherlands) Asisat Oshoala, Forward (Nigeria) Ji So-Yun, Midfielder (South Korea) Gerard Piqué, Defender (Spain) Crystal Dunn, Forward (United States) CREDITS: Client: Nike Campaign: "Dream Further" Client Contact: Steph Derham + Andy Whiteside Executive Creative Directors: Eric Baldwin, Jason Bagley Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke Art Directors: Emma Barnett, Pedro Izique Copywriter: Josh Bogdan Art Director - Social: Naoki Ga Copywriter - Social: Gus Solis Head of Production: Matt Hunnicutt Executive Producers: Jake Grand, Krystle Mortimore Lead Producer: Katie McCain Integrated Producer: Bob Guerrero Producer: Amy Leach Associate Producer: Candice Harbour Production Coordinator: Shani Storey Brand Management: Andre Gustavo, Kate Rutkowski, Steve Smith, Paanii Annan Strategy: Andy Lindblade, Nathan Goldberg Media Comms: Daniel Sheniak, Emily Graham, Stephanie Campbell Sr. Business Affairs Manager: Maureen Doyle Traffic: Maggie Harasyn, Sabrina Reddy Executive Design Producer: Alicia Kuna Design Producer: Michael Rosenau Studio Designers: Jim Ward, Mitch Wilson Retouching: Frazer Goodbody, Kyle Pero, Amy Ellars Creative Operations Manager: Saba Spencer Copyediting: James Yu Production Company Production Company: PRETTYBIRD Director: Francois Rousselet DP: Matias Boucard Vice President, Executive Producer: Ali Brown EP/Supervising Producer: Suzanne Hargrove Director of Production: Tracy Hauser Line Producer: Julie Sawyer Production Designer: Nora Takacs (US), Laura Sabat (Barcelona) Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors Editors: Lauren Dellara (Anthem), Jamie Foord (Social) Assistant Editors: Thomas Rickert, Patrick Tuck, Erin McCaffrey Post Producer: Adam Parker, Catherine Liu Post Executive Producer: Raná Martin Head of Production: Dre Krichevsky Managing Director: Eve Kornblum VFX VFX Company: The Mill Creative Director: John Shirley Chief Creative Officer: Phil Crowe 2D Lead Artist: John Shirley, James Allen, Andrew ‘Wood’ Barnsely, Roxy Zuckerman Shoot Supervisor: John Shirly, Phil Crowe, Philip Maddock, Andrew ‘Barnsley’ Wood Executive Producer: Anastasia Von Rahl Senior Producer: Jacklyn Ramirez, Colin Oaten, Alexandra Paton Producer: Mia Saunders, Goutham Hampankatta Production Coordinator: Sean Tomek, Fyn Foo, Will Tyler 2D Artists: Evan Langley, Katerina Arroyo, Lenz Kol, Jeannie ‘Remedy” Hyungh, Tim Crabtree, Dag Ivarsoy, Abby Riegel, KaiChun Tsai, Kyle Maclachlan, Brett Lopinsky, Chris Hunsberger, Rodrigo Jimenez, Cris Kong, Stephen Holbrook, Venuprsath D, Badhrinath Chinimilli, Chanakya C, Inthuri Chandra Shekar, Jyoti Tiwari, Mayank Shekar Tiwari, Nehal Desai, Ramanjaneyulu Thota, Uday V, Yatin Tamhane, Mahesh Ravila, Rahul Bharadwaj, Sandeep Kumar Singh, Subodh Kumar, Rob Winfield, Nick Tayler 3D Artists: Freddy Parra, Lanli Su, Lalida Karnjanasirirat, Victor Duncan, Luis Sanchez, Matthew Choy, Matthew Bell, Melanie Okamura, Michael Lori, Danny Garcia, Elizabeth Hammer, Alice Panek, Nicola Gilbert, Ivor Griffin, Margaux Huneau, Ed Hicks, Andrew Bartholomew, Muralikrishna Reddy, Senthil Murugan Balasundaram, Dhanesh Sudhakaran, Lokesh Maddela, Loganathan P, Sanjey Arvindh, Yalamarthy Ganga Raju, Venugopal A, Abdul Rehman, Amit Patil, Arun Shah, Milan Dey, Asit Midya, Abhishek Kumar, Amritha Raajendher, Ayush Bajoria, Bharat Ediga, Bhavani Shankar, Ganesh Lamkhade, Giri Prasad S, Manoj Ravi, Rajan Ramakrishnan, Kapil Rana, Asit Midya, KiranPrabhu, Kanishk Chauhan, Ramesh Bandi, Shashi Kumar Dakoju Matte Painting: Gillian George, Rasha Shalaby Design: Justin Mays, Greg Rubner Color Color Company: The Mill Colorist: Adam Scott Color Executive Producer: Linda Jackson Color Producer: Liza Kerlin Production Coordinator: Jessica Amburgey Color Assist: Logan Hghlen, Gemma Parr, Nate Seymour Music Artist: Joan Jett Song: Bad Reputation Artist: Jack White Song: 7 Nation Army Artist: CLiQ f/ Ms Banks and Alika Song: Anything I Do Music Supervision by Human Senior Producer and Music Supervisor: Kamela Anderson Executive Producer: Carol Dunn Creative Lead: Craig DeLeon Sound Design + Mix Sound Design Company: Joint Sound Designer: Noah Woodburn Audio Assistant: Natalie Huizenga Executive Producer: Leslie Carthy Behind The Scenes Content Production Company: Stadium/Auditorium Director: Monroe Alvarez Executive Producer: Michael Bergin Line Producer: Carlye Burke Associate Producer: Diana Hidalgo Román Cinematography: Samy Mosher & Eric Maldin Photographers: Thierry Des Fontaines, Maria Montilla Assistant Camera: Kiara Ramirez & Ksusha Genefeld Production Sound: Daniela Fermín & Victoria Carrillo Post production Sound: Dallas Taylor @ Defacto Sound Production Assistants: Peter Hou & Christian Spencer Editorial Company: Spotwelders Editor: Paul Sabater Post Producer: Jessica Davis Color: Apache Colorist: Arianna Shining Star

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Nike's Electrifying Women's World Cup Ad Celebrates the Soccer Stars of Today and Tomorrow

'Don’t change your dream. Change the world.'

Doug Zanger

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