The first time I heard about the Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II Safari Elite (pretty long name for a shoe if you ask me) was when my 18 year old cousin, who currently lives in Hungary, asked me if I could find out how much they are being sold for in Canada. Since I’m not really up to date with Nike’s newest products, I quickly searched what the long name was referring to, only to find that it was a pair of soccer cleats. A $400 pair of soccer cleats that is. According to Nike’s design team, they worked closely with players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexandre Pato to create the perfect pair of cleats. In the video below Ronaldo claims that these are his favourite boots to play in.
Upon further research I came across the fact that the “Safari” part in the name came as a result of the shoe being part of Cristiano Ronaldo’s new Safari line, marketed with the slogan “designed to the exact specifications of Cristiano Ronaldo”. It would probably be pretty hard to find any young soccer player who wouldn’t want to play or be like Ronaldo. This is something that Nike is well aware of, and therefore is able to charge a ridiculously high price for them. Finding the right person to promote this product and the right way to communicate it to customers was crucial, and Nike nailed it. Not only is Ronaldo (arguably) one of the best soccer players in the world, he is a celebrity who is always in the public eye.
To me, these are just a pair of animal print shoes, but when I asked my cousin why he wanted such expensive cleats he answered “these are my dream cleats”.
