The first time a major sportswear commercial made such a dramatic impact around a football World Cup, Brazil’s delay at the airport on their way to the tournament in France in 1998 was an instant-classic the second the ball touched the players’ shoes. Headlined by Ronaldo at the peak of his powers and starring a stacked national team, the joy of playing football conveyed by the video made it an all-time fan favorite.
The brainchild of legendary advertising agency and longtime Nike partner of choice Wieden+Kennedy, the commercial easily goes down as one of if not the greatest football commercial of all time. From the Mas Que Nada soundtrack that became an instant sensation around the world to the concept of a viral campaign successfully competing with the official tournament sponsorships, the Airport spot remains legendary to this day.
Now it’s expected and anticipated that Nike will come out with an epic. Back then, we were taking football into a new space.
Pierre-Laurent Baudey, Nike’s Advertising Director at the time
We wanted to be the No.1 sports brand and to do it we had to be the No.1 football brand, because we knew it would be hard to do it without football. Signing the Brazil team was the beginning of our journey.
In today’s streaming and on-demand era, commercials are rarely perceived by a large percentage of sports viewers outside of the Super Bowl. In 1998 though, everyone’s attention was on the Airport video and it became a viral sensation immediately..
The players palpable joy and the clip’s on-set dynamic were helped by the fact that several players, first and foremost O Fenômeno himself, were fans of Hollywood director John Woo, who was brought on board to headline the production of the commercial.
It was fun. It was like being in an action movie. John Woo gave us crazy ideas.
Ronaldo
Technically, there was a commercial for the previous World Cup in 1994 featuring oversized paintings on the façades of buildings coming to life, but on a multitude of levels it was not on par with the standard that was established by the Airport commercial four years later.
After the 1998 release though, numerous others would follow (including a version in Brazil’s dressing room), from the Joga Bonito series to the Write the Future campaign by Nike, to the Road to Lisbon clip by adidas, once the pattern was established, hardly another summer tournament would go by without another well-timed video release. A genre was born.
In addition, Nike established the more street-related playing style of football as the driving force of their commercials going forward, always making sure to also include another key ingredient from the Airport success story: The Cantona cameo, none of which were more iconic than the heartfelt chuckle and ‘Respect!’ line from the The Cage series.
While the next World Cup is still two summers away, football aficionados around the globe rejoice regardless as the national team jersey of Brazil as well as the iconic track suits bring the unmistakable flavor of the legendary Airport commercial back with a limited-edition retro release.
The Nike Brazil Jersey – available as a Ronaldo #9 edition or as a non-personalized version – and the accompanying Track Jacket and Track Pants are now available at BSTN. Pick up your favorite piece from the capsule via the button below!
