“This commercial is just 1 minute out of the 10 hours a day you spend glued to your screens,” opens the robotic voice at the beginning of W+K Portland’s new spot for Nike, with accompanying white text on a black background.
The spot continues the unvaried approach for the remainder of its 60 seconds, rattling off all the things people spend time on that amount to staring at a screen. There are specific references to reality shows like The Real Housewives series and fictional programs like Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, as well as more general attacks on the sheer amount of time people waste arguing or staring at pictures on social media. It’s undoubtedly a downbeat message, albeit one sprinkled with dry humor such as its description of “Deciding if a picture is a Labradoodle or fried chicken.”
At the end of the spot, it’s revealed the approach is in service of the message that “Time is Precious,” followed by the question “Are we running today?” as a clock ticks away. Viewers, clearly, are meant to realize that it might be in their best interest to put down the screen for a little while and go out for a run (which is in Nike’s best interest, obviously). As Adweek points out, Nike commercials are part of the problem of too much screen time as well, but the brand excuses itself for this right out of the gate with the “just 1 minute” line. Viewers will have to decide if this is enoguh to excuse the brand from accusations of hypocrisy.
It’s about as stark a departure as possible from Nike’s typical big-budget, celebrity athlete-fueled approach. As such, it’s at the very least a refreshing change of pace for the brand and category in general. Regardless of what you ultimately think of the approach, it at the very least sees W+K taking a risk on behalf of the client, which is admirable in the wake of countless nearly indistinguishable sports anthem ads. The campaing also includes a series of shorter spots taking on topics including “Celebrities,” “Zombies,” “Friends,” “Pictures” and “Opinions.”
Credits:
Client: Nike
Project: Time Is Precious
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Chris Groom & Antony Goldstein
Creative: Stefan van den Boogaard
Creative: Tim Arts
Executive Producer: Matt Hunnicutt
Producer: Amy Berriochoa
Account Team: Anna Boteva, Luiza Prata Carvalho, Alyssa Ramsey
Strategic Planning: Zack Kaplan, Henry Lambert
Media/Comms Planning: Lisa Feldhusen, John Furnari
Business Affairs: Anna Beth Nagel
Project Management: Andrea Nelsen
Studio Designer: Leslie Waara
Studio Manager: Leticia Barajas
Motion Designer: Alex Bernard
Editorial Company: Joint
Editor: Eric Hill
Assistant Editors:: JB Jacobs, Kevin Alfoldy, Mimi Bergen, Dylan Sylwester
Post Producer: Sarah Fink
Post Executive Producer: Leslie Carthy
Mix Company: Joint
Mixer: Noah Woodburn
Audio Assistant: Natalie Huizenga
Audio Producer: Sarah Fink