In response to Tylor MacDonald’s blog post Nike (https://blogs.ubc.ca/tylormacdonald/2011/09/19/nike/),Tylor discusses a Nike commercial which depicts amateur (or at least not famous) athletes showing amazing talents in numerous athletic arenas, from schoolyard basketball to extreme wheelchair riding to football to roller derby to marathon running. It is clearly targeting all people with any enjoyment of athletics, not just showing famous athletes perform in their sports. I just recently saw this commercial for Nike’s main worldwide competitor, Adidas, which is a very similar yet different commercial:

This Adidas commercial goes from the big athletes in their sports (Lionel Messi playing soccer, Derek Rose playing basketball) to celebrities performing (Katy Perry in the dance studio, and B.O.B. performing on stage). While the Nike commercial advertised in Tylor’s blog involves all no name athletes, both these commercials share a few things in common. They are both trying to position themselves as a multidimensional athletic-ware company that does more than just provide what to wear. They want consumers to see their brand as THE brand to help them be the best at whatever their sport or activity is; the brand to help them achieve that moment of amazing, the personal highlight reel moment. In contribution to this positioning the commercials invoke some emotion, specifically inspiration. Watching the videos makes me want to try a backflip. As if to say when you wear this logo (Nike or Adidas) amazing things happen. These commercials also build on the product concept. When you buy Nike or Adidas gear you are buying inspiration, a proven winner, the last piece of the puzzle to achieving amazing. Lastly, amongst all this is great competition between two athletic giants. Nike and Adidas clearly compete with each other, but either commercial could work as a commercial for the other. Maybe they need some differentiation?