How Nike Turned a Park Kick-About into an All Star Football Match

Today, Nike launched the second part of its ‘Risk Everything’ Football campaign for 2014 with a film called “Winner Stays”.   While Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and Wayne Rooney are back, they are now joined by a host of other football superstars and a few special guests.

The film, created by Wieden+Kennedy Portland and shot by Rattling Stick's Ringan Ledwidge, opens on a park with two teams challenging each other in a pick-up game where the winner stays on. Straight away as the challenge is set, the stakes are raised: “Guess I’m Cristiano Ronaldo then,” says one. His opponent responds saying, “Yeah? Well I’m Neymar.”

In a split second a seemingly simple game between friends has become a grudge match of sorts, aided by the unique skills of some of the world’s greatest footballing talent. As the match develops, players call out the names of players to possess their specific skill, and before we know it Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eden Hazard and Gonzalo Higuain have joined the game. 

Ronaldo scores a screamer to send his team 1-0 up and taunts one of his opponents, saying “The crowd goes wild,” upon which a crowd is revealed cheering behind him. His rival is not deflated and points out that 50,000 are screaming his name. As they banter the young player changes his shoes in to the Magista, a boot that’s not even out yet. Ronaldo counters to give us the world’s first glimpse of the new Mercurial Superfly.

The match continues and more players join the action: Gerard Pique makes a last-ditch tackle, David Luiz appears to be cloned, and a mix-up sees one boy’s dream of becoming Andrés Iniesta shattered in a fun moment of mistaken identity. This is a match for the ages.  

Neymar breaks free to lob the keeper to make it 1-1 and the real Iniesta adds to his team’s tally by scoring a volley to make it 2-1. Rooney responds with a long-range effort to make it 2-2 and the Jumbotron announces “Next Goal Wins!”

As time is running out and both teams cautiously try to avoid any mistakes, the last remaining player yet to transform is brought down inside the box by David Luiz. Ronaldo steps up to take the penalty but is pushed aside by the brave youngster, who seizes his moment to risk everything and take responsibility for the game-defining moment.

Davide Grasso, Chief Marketing Officer for Nike, comments: “We connect to players’ passion for the game, whether it is the world’s best in Brasil or players in the park or street. ‘Winner Stays’ taps into an experience that every young player around the world will recognize – competition with friends and the idea of playing with your heroes or pretending to be them.”

The full list of players featured in the film is: Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Wayne Rooney, Zlatan  Ibrahimović, Gonzalo Higuaín, Eden Hazard, Andrea Pirlo, Gerard Piqué, Andrés Iniesta, Mario Götze, Thiago Silva, Thibaut Courtois, Tim Howard, David Luiz and… David Luiz.

“Winner Stays” also features a host of other athletes and special guests including Kobe Bryant, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Irina Shayk and The Incredible Hulk.

Credits

CLIENT: Nike

Agency: W+K PORTLAND

Creative Directors Alberto Ponte / Ryan O’Rourke

Interactive Director Dan Viens

Copywriter Jeff Salomonsson

Art Director Sezay Altinok

Agency Producer Endy Hedman

Production Assistant Julie Gursha

Agency Executive Producer Matt Hunnicutt 

Head of Production Ben Grylewicz

Account Team Karrelle Dixon / Alyssa Ramsey / Ricardo Hieber

Business Affairs Laura Caldwell

Executive Creative Directors Mark Fitzloff / Susan Hoffman / Joe Staples

Production Company Rattling Stick

Director Ringan Ledwidge

Executive Producer Jen Barrons

Head of production Joe Biggins

Line Producer Sally Humphries

Director of Photography Ben Seresin

Editorial Company Work

Editor Rich Orrick

Post Producer Sari Resnick

Assistant Editor Eleanor McNaughtan

VFX Company The Mill

VFX Personnel Senior Executive Producer: Sue Troyan

Executive Producer: Gemma Humprhies

Executive Color Producer: LaRue Anderson

Producer: Christina Thompson 

Color Producer: Natalie Westerfield

Project Lead/Creative Director: Tom Bussell

Production Coordinator: Benjamin Sposato and Clare Melia

Shoot Supervisor: Tom Bussell, Austen Humphries and Andrew Wood

Lead Senior 2D Artist: John Shirley

Colonel Muster/CD: Andrew (Barnsley) Wood

Colorist: Adam Scott

Design: Kyle Moore and Greg Park

2D Artists: Grant Connor, Peter Hodsman, Siro Valente, Jonathan Westley, Zoe Cassey, Frank Hanna, Gary Driver, Joseph Tang, Tim Davies, Adam Labert, Brad Scott, Olivia O’Neil, Patrick Heinen, Patrick Munoz, Eleanor Risdon, Ben Smith, Daniel Thursesson, Jake Maymudes, Martin Karlsson, Cameron Smither, Gianluca Di Marco, Andy Godwin, Zoe Cassey-Hayes, Paul Downes, Georgina Ford, Scott Wilson  

3D Artists: Tom Raynor, Adam Droy, Adam Darrah, Phillip Maddock, Edward Hicks, Paul Donnellan, Charlotte Akehurst, Arthur Larsen, Sergio Xisto, Rebecca Ferguson, Tom Graham, Mathew Fuller, Anthony Northman, Jake Flint, Hartwell Durfor, Danny Yoon, Michael O’Donoghue, Marta Carbonell, Fabrice Le Nezet, Margaux Huneau, Vasilis Pazionis, Lucy Luong, Jake Flint, Anthony Northman, Andy Wheater, 

Hulk VFX Company Luma Pictures

Luma Pictures Personnel Executive Supervisor: Payam Shohadai

VFX Supervisor: Vince Cirelli

Senior VFX Producer: Steven Swanson

Commercial Executive Producer: Vicki Mayer

VFX Producer: Michael Perdew

Animation Supervisor: Raphael Pimentel

CG Supervisor: Richard Sutherland

CG Supervisor: Pavel Pranevsky

Digital FX Supervisor: Justin Johnson

Design Supervisor: Loic Zimmerman

Look Development Lead: Jared Simeth

Character TD Supervisor: Thana Siripopungul

Senior FX TD: John Cassella

Lead Digital Coordinator: Catherine Hughes

Technical Coordinator: Daniel Kepler

Model / Texture: Dulshan Keragala / Cosmin Hrincu/ Safari Sosebee / Oded Raz

Animator: Alon Helman / Marcos Romero

Lighter / Compositor: Satoshi Harada / James Waterson / Alex Cancado / Joey Sila / Joe Censoplano

Roto / Paint Supervisor: Glenn Morris

Lead Roto / Paint: Jessica Bakke

Roto / Paint: Cameron Sorgi / Marcel Caue Martins / Prin Nimmannitya / Garrett Wycoff

MUSIC + SOUND DESIGN

Sound Company Formosa Group

Sound Designer Julian Slater

Sound Producer Branwen Prestwood Smith

Song (if applicable) “Miss Alissa” Eagles of Death Metal

Mix Company Lime Studios

Mixer Rohan Young / Loren Silber

Producer Susie Boyajan