The new Nike Euro 2024 ad is a visual spectacle. It gathered the world’s best young football talent to give us a cinematic take on “awakening the madness.” Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappé, and Erling Haaland give awesome performances and there’s a surprise appearance of one more football megastar.
Nike Euro 2024 ad celebrates football madness
Nike hits straight 10 with their new campaign. The video keeps you engaged from start to finish. With a running time of 2:22, the commercial is among the best visual works the company produced in recent years.
It starts with real archival footage showing three of the video’s stars making their first steps in football. Stars are Brazil’s Vinicius Jr, France’s Kylian Mbappé, and Norway’s Erling Haaland. Featuring the actual childhood memories of superstars is a powerful move from Nike. There’s something very sentimental about it giving the commercial a humane feeling.
But the archives are juxtapositioned with the modern-day footage of the football players being on top of their game. There’s a twist, tough. The Nike Euro 2024 ad has a DC’s “Joker” atmosphere to it. The players are shown embracing their inner “madness.”
Mbappé, Haaland and Vini Jr. are training hard. Maybe too hard. No matter the weather, they are on the pitch practicing shots, running around, and preparing for the games. The commercial boasts rough, visceral editing and fast pacing.
But the most intriguing part comes at the very end. Three of our heroes are in some kind of a sci-fi brutalist hall where a figure descends from the ceiling upside-down. This guru figure is… two-time FIFA World Cup winner and one of the best players of all time Ronaldinho. He makes a trick with the drop of water and “blesses” players to “play with madness.” And we have to give the Brazilian star some credit as his acting is on point.
The campaign was created by the London-based agency Wieden+Kennedy. The soundtrack is “There’s Somethin’ Wrong with You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
Euro 2024 makes brands creative to the max
Nike is not the only brand crafting killer ads. We wrote about the star-studded Beckham-narrated Adidas ad with Messi.
You should also check out the inspiring “Hey, Jude” Adidas campaign:
And then there’s also Nike’s other Musiala-featuring epic commercial:
