The season’s over. Bring on the World Cup! Directed by Alejandro G. Iñarritu (21 Grams, Babel), the new Nike ad launched on Facebook today and will feature after the final whistle of the Champions League Final May 22nd.

Launched with a ‘hidden’ Youtube link that isn’t visible for people searching until 22nd May – part of our influencer strategy that has got the ad viewed 400,000 times since yesterday evening. (That’s four times as many views as Carat achieved in the last week with their latest Adidas ad.)

This supposedly quiet launch will follow with Youtube and Facebook takeovers during the day. We’ll launch officially with a solus 3 minute post whistle spot in the Champions League final on ITV 1 – ITV are even removing their promo credits in the break. Further 3 minute spots in the finales of Lost and 24 will provide further opportunities to see the full length ad on TV.

Watch the teasers via the links below:

Rooney Caravan
Ronaldo Statue
Ronaldo Movie Premier
Ronaldinho Samba-Robics

“Write the Future” film takes people on a journey that dramatically captures that one moment when headlines are written from a single pass, or one strike can bring a nation eternal happiness, while bringing others to their knees.

Some of the world’s best players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva, are featured. Special guest cameos are made by tennis legend Roger Federer and basketball superstar Kobe Bryant. Homer Simpson completes the star-studded cast of appearances.

Football fans around the world will be able to experience the full three-minute film online at nikefootball.com from May 20th at 6pm GMT before it rolls out through global partnerships with Facebook, YouTube and QQ.com on Saturday the 22nd. The spot will then air across 32 countries, sharing the campaign with millions of fans around the world on May 22nd, after the final whistle of the Champions League, to herald in the start of World Cup fever.

This marks the first stage of a journey that will ultimately see fans around the world write their own future through experiences that put them at the center of the action. In June, fans will be able to live like their heroes through a unique experience on nikefootball.com that generates ripple videos and visuals from their own photos and information, placing them at the center stage.

Footballers can then use this creative to build their own Facebook campaign to get noticed and selected for “The Chance” – an elite Nike Academy football camp in partnership with the Barclays Premier League in England that allows players to get scouted and get noticed at the highest level of the game.

“This epic campaign really captures the scale, emotion and impact that one single moment in a football game can have on a player, fan or nation,” said Davide Grasso, NIKE, Vice President of Global Football Marketing. “This is just the beginning of the journey. The next stage allows everyone who loves football to engage and interact in an incredible way.”

“Every touch you have in a game has the ability to change the entire course of not just those 90 minutes, but your entire tournament or season,” said Cristiano Ronaldo. “One touch of the ball can be an opportunity to leave your mark on the game and write your own future, or equally a moment missed, that creates a legacy for your opponent with their fans.”

Making of video here

BTW, the music is from a band called Focus. They’re nuts!

It’s not about typography, it’s not about layouts… these cars were designed to look dangerous.

A few months back Arkitip reported about the The Graphic Design of Racing Cars book. Buy the book here.

Wonderful insight as to how most of the design had a singular purpose…

You’d never guess it, but these big toys for big boys were at the height of their design during the 1970s – by sheer chance. Mechanics and team members – not designers or marketing strategists – adorned racecars with all of those flashy stripes, logos, numbers and colors prevalent at any Formula 1 race today. After compiling more than 100 examples of sleek cars from this glory age, Go Faster-author Sven Völker takes us for a joy ride at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart for a whip-fast lesson in competitive war paint, visual anarchy and piggish car designs.

www.svenvoelker.com

Logorama from Marc Altshuler – Human Music on Vimeo.

Logorama, French Agency H5‘s film that we reported on previously, won an oscar this year. Congratulations!

Logorama is 17 minutes of Hollywood blockbuster action, rife with car chases, natural disasters, and hostage-taking, but created entirely out of real world logotypes and brand characters.  In it, you’ll see the Michelin Man, the Haribo kid, Bob’s Big Boy, Mr. Pringle and Ronald McDonald, but in some very unfamiliar roles playing the classic movie archetypes of good guys, bad guys and foils. Ultimately, Ronald’s antics bring the city to a state of chaos, but nothing like what Mother Nature herself can do – proven by the film’s climax.

We All Need Words have a great number of articles, and training tips, and even paid-for consultancy, on branding. Very worth checking out if you’re working on strategy or branding, or just want to piss off a haughty creative planner!

Here are 10 brand strategy cliches to avoid, and why, as a taste of what We All Need Words can help your brand with.

10. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… OUR PEOPLE REALLY MAKE US DIFFERENT.

In an annual report this means lots of pictures of people in suits (they’re professional), looking straight to camera (they’re honest), or in wacky poses (they’re different). Or ‘real’ looking people in verité natural-looking scenes around the workplace.

9. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… WE’RE GLOBAL, BUT WE GIVE OUR CUSTOMERS A PERSONAL SERVICE.

This is a roundabout way of trying to say HSBC’s ‘The world’s local bank’ without blatantly ripping them off. But it’s also a way for a global company to hedge its bets: they’re a really big joined-up company but they haven’t lost the personal touch.

8. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… WE CONNECT PEOPLE.

Technology companies get tied up in knots trying to explain that they don’t just make things, but that their gadgets let people er, talk, Twitter, email (or whatever the latest thing is) with each other.

7. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… WE JOIN THINGS UP.

The other thing technology companies like to say. The industry jargon for this is ‘convergence’, which is when a gadget like a phone does lots of things, or when a company sells lots of things at once like broadband, TV, phones (and anything else they can package up).

6. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… WE’RE ENTREPRENEURS.

We’ve come across two types of brands that use this idea: big companies with lots of people (who need to show more initiative) and companies that aren’t usually known for being money-minded, eg designers. The e-word gets used a lot because most other synonyms like ‘big shot’ and ‘tycoon’ sound too Gordon ‘Wall Street’ Gecko.

5. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… OUR BRAND IS ABOUT EXPERIENCES.

This is an idea that started in business books (‘The Experience Economy’ is the most well-known one). Suddenly, ‘experience’ was the new buzzword, replacing its close relative, ‘solutions’. Companies no longer sold toothbrushes, they sold a ‘teeth-cleansing experience’, and after places like Nike Town popped up, buying shoes became ‘an in-store experience’ (or, ugh, ‘environment’) – even if that ‘experience’ was in a shopping mall on an industrial estate in Crawley.

4. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… CUSTOMERS ARE AT THE HEART OF EVERYTHING WE DO.

This is the modern-day branding equivalent of saying the ‘customer is always right’.

3. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… WE’RE ALL ABOUT EXCELLENCE.

This is what happens when a business and its people are good at what they do (and pay great attention to detail), but their clients struggle to say anything emotional about them like ‘I love what they do’.

2. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… WE’RE ONE STEP AHEAD.

This is what companies say when they want to be seen as cutting edge (but not too much).

1. I KNOW EVERYONE SAYS THIS BUT… OUR CUSTOMERS ARE OUR BRAND.

Yes, it’s a new entry, straight in at number one. This is what happens when the branding world gets the wrong end of the stick about ‘Web 2.0’ and ‘social networks’. This has blossomed into a horrible trend of brands making up quotes from customers that they would never really say, like this: ‘I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea’.

OK clever clogs, what’s the alternative?

Well, it’s not always that these things aren’t true – they might be. The problem is that they’re too broad. So anyone could say them. They work just as well for a bank as they do for a company that makes shoe polish.

Where do I start?

First, don’t that just say that you’re different. Show how – whether that’s through your tone, the detail you add, or the angle you take (there are all sorts of ways you can do it). If you’re ‘one step ahead’, say how, or why, or what, or who.

Second, make sure it only works for you. No one else can claim it.

How?

Do everything you can to show what makes you different in practice. The more tangible, the better. One way into this is to start small. List the itty-bitty (but important) things like how you answer the phone, to how you welcome new recruits, and how you describe your company in your website’s ‘about us’ blurb.

Tell people the things they don’t know. The little things, not the lofty ‘inspired by excellence’ ones. Start there, and you’ll build up a better, more useful and more interesting list. These things might not make it into the final draft, but they’ll help you get there.

Once you’ve bottled your brand in a few words or sentences, test it. Could your competition say it too? If they can, start over. If they can’t, whoop.

The rise of the MAVIN nations (post BRICs, we’ll have Mexico, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Nigeria as emerging global powerhouses)

42% of businesses see the recession as an opportunity not a hinderance, and that businesses will change for the better. They see that the next few years as a hotbed of opportunity around the following areas. These are what you should invest in! More sophisticated technology, advanced telecoms, hometech advantages, customer knowledge, the female workforce, social media growth (though probably niche, not broad), and increasingly ethical practices.

Rethink what is a “Status” brand. Companies like Howies, Toyota, Timberland are all making it plain and clear what they stand for. Their values are communicated in everything they do. Similarly, M&S’ Plan A is a business goal, but is also helping consumers with their own eco-goals.

People want to know about products and their provenance as considered consumption continues to impact society. There’s opportunity for “sexy data” – more like The Feltron Report, perhaps, but for supply data. Check out Daytum and Information is Beautiful

Check out Prefab Parasites (above).

Consider Monocle’s Quality of Life table or Mercer’s indices of “most liveable cities”, pushing the quality of life index higher up the agenda. People are considered with what’s Local, Authentic, Trustworthy, Traditional, Ethical (LATTE is the rather unfortunate acronym). Brixton’s Cornercopia – local shops for local people often with their own currency!

Watch the Story of Stuff below – people want businesses to be less flabby, to be clearer in their values: Lean, Efficient, Alternative, Neutral (LEAN. Ahem).

20% of the UK population works over 48 hours… but doing what you wonder! The average number of apps on an iphone is 67. How many are languishing? There’s an increasing desire for more meaningful connection. There’s increasing corporate and cultural de-cluttering going on as we search for cognitive simplicity. Clay Shirky talks about filter failure below:

Growing companies are specialising in producing less, not more, range of good. Andy mentioned plus minus zero recently. Check out their short but beautiful range of products. By making less products per year, using mapping and considered targeting to reach customers globally, with simplification at the heart of the design (“does it need ironing…” or “does it fit into my handbag”…) your company can be significantly help customers in their decision making process as we all shift to stripping down to the essentials in our lives. Consumersim will be the death of this planet whilst demand fuels needless and destructive supply.

Check out Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Work Week for tips on how to streamline and make more efficient your life, or look at This Breathing Earth to understand the planet and our impact on it.

52% of people are working towards making a smartphone their only device. Sales of these are set to outstrip worldwide PC sales by 2011. Intel are developing “quiet time” technology such as email switch-off devices as people look to detune, switch off and streamline.

The net is clearly a hotbed of entrepreneurial thinking and products. The Kauffman Foundation was made to help innovators flourish as increasingly it is the small, continuously developed, networked, highly responsive, risk friendly businesses that will become successful in the 2010s. Stop having “think tanks” and start promoting “do-tanks”.

Squatters Ltd is an interesting shop that lets brands try out their products with consumers before a full launch. Ace Hotels know they’re best at running hotels, so rather than trying to be a retail stop too, they invite the likes of Opening Ceremony to run their gift shop. Icon Magazine have diversified from running a magazine but when it comes to their pub quiz, subjects range from, well Architecture to Art.. .and that’s about it! The Vinyl Factory realised that as digital music becomes all-powerful, people who really care about music will pay for premium products. Vinyl smells like music after all. In a heavily digitised environment it is smell, touch, weight, context that stands out from the rest, that becomes important. Tangible can be profitable.

Online retail wont die though – worth $1bn ten years ago, it’s now worth $20bn. But only 7.5% of purchases are made online still… that’s scary when you work out the rise of consumerism (as mentioned above) but for retailers it shows there opportunity too. The mobile money market is expected to be $8.6bn by 2014. We’re firmly in the second generation of e-retailers – the first experience of your brand will likely be online. People dont distinguish between online and offline shopping. Brands must be globally reachable and locally relevant.

Few. That’s that.

Ask me a question in the comments box if you want to know more about anything from the briefing… or you could ask LSN (but they’ll probably charge you!)

the bartape.net has uploaded a new ‘beyond the peloton’ video of Cervelo Test Team at the Tour De France. As per the last ones, it’s beautifully made. Enjoy!

French graphics agency, H5, have a really interesting film coming out: Logorama

I know them as the designers of some of the best music videos I’ve seen – Massive Attack’s bio-genetic future of “Special Cases” and Royksopp’s data-driven inforgraphic  “Remind Me” – but this seems to be their forray into feature film.

Logorama is 17 minutes of Hollywood blockbuster action, rife with car chases, natural disasters, and hostage-taking, but created entirely out of real world logotypes and brand characters. The film originally debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, where it earned the Best Short Film honor in the Cannes Critics’ Week Competition. In it, you’ll see the Michelin Man, the Haribo kid, Bob’s Big Boy, Mr. Pringle and Ronald McDonald, but in some very unfamiliar roles playing the classic movie archetypes of good guys, bad guys and foils.

Trailer here:

Opening scene here:

The 09/10 football season is massive as England finalise their preparations to bring home the World Cup in the summer.

The difference between good and great players is their ability to Make The Difference. Nike want to inspire all football players to step up and Make The Difference this season.

The thing about ‘The Difference’ is that it’s something bestowed upon you, not something that can be claimed. It is something you earn. Consider Iniesta in last season’s UCL final. Despite shattering Chelsea’s dreams with his last minute winner, immediately after the final whistle Lampard went over, shook Iniesta’s hand and swopped shirts: The ultimate sign of respect.

So, we at Mindshare needed initially to excite people about Nike’s vision for the season.

Rooney, Theo, Arshavin and Ribery spearheaded the AV campaign, sharing the Nike vision through the eyes of someone inspirational to football fans. Launching with a high profile top/tail spot in Man U vs Arsenal on August 29th and football takeovers on Skysports.com. The campaign extended into other high visibility spots such as the half time break (first in the break) in last nights England v Croatia match.

See the films here

Having shared the Nike vision, we needed to stop talking and start doing.

First up, we created a season preview supplement distributed in FourFourTwo magazine, featuring Rooney commenting on who will Make The Difference for each team this season.

Facebook is a platform with discussion at the heart and over the last couple of weeks we’ve added 140,000 fans to the Nikefootball page through a combination of “Become A Fan” ads and strong organic growth through the release of dozens of pieces of new content for fans to comment on.

Last night we hosted a live webchat on the Nikefootball fan page debating who is Making The Difference throughout England v Croatia. Recruited through a Facebook event invite ad and a You Tube Home Page takeover with a Facebook call to action, we attracted 1,400 active participants for the webchat.

We’re planning further Facebook events, so become a fan to join in!

Furthermore, a partnership with Skysports.com is allowing us to fuel the debate around who is Making The Difference on a weekly basis throughout the season. Editorially led, Sky will pick a key game each week and write a preview on who is likely to Make The Difference and then a review on who actually Made The Difference. Users can login in via Facebook connect and have their say so fuelling further debate through comments appearing on Facebook as well as Sky.

Have your say on who Made The Difference last night here

Lots of further ideas planned throughout the season to keep football fans engaged all the way to the World Cup – will keep you posted as and when they’re ready to share!

Download it here

Still, useful learnings to think about: Experiment and embrace failure.  You build the playground. Amaze people with your audacity, delight customers with your attention to detail. Every aspect of the brand should be as good as the product. Sell services not products. Let your customers set the agenda.Make every step along the path to purchase enjoyable.

Common traits of all the brands include:

Usefulness for the consumer. In doing so, look not only at your product or service, but the eco-system that surrounds it.

Constant innovation is the essential element of growth. Continually push the boundaries of your offering and create ancillary products.

Premium aesthetics coupled with consistent delivery wins every time.  Make your audience feel valued, encouraging them to include you as part of their identity.

Create a sense of community for your customers. Actively engage them and listen to what they have to say. They are the best source of guidance for improved service.

Look at your consumers’ eco-system of needs and change your business model to suit them.

Instead of spending money on advertising, leverage the existing community that’s involved with your brand to promote your products and services.