In a massive ad campaign created by Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam and breaking across Europe on February 27, the black stick-figure will take on Brazilian football star Ronaldinho, South Korean master of football acrobatics Mr Woo, and the street basketballer Larry "Bone Collector" Williams.
The football ad was shot in Paris and directed by Josh Taft. It stars a group of footballers showing their best moves to a soundtrack created by hip-hop producers The Neptunes.
Stickman is able to emulate all of the footballers' tricks and even add a few of his own, such as swallowing the ball and breaking off one of his legs, which he uses to hit it.
The other ad features a similar scene, with street basketballers on an inner-city basketball court. It was directed by Paul Hunter.
The campaign was written by Tim Wolfe and art directed by Frank Hahn. Animation is by Hy*drau*lx, a special-effect shop in California, and produced through HSI Productions. Media is through Mindshare, except in Spain where it was handled by the Media Planning Group.
"Every athlete has to take on creativity to push their game to a new level. Stickman represents this battle with creativity. Every time he enters the court the players and the game are elevated to the next level. Anything can happen," Wolfe said.
A second phase of activity, starting April 10, will see Nike running "Freestyle Face Off" events across Europe, backed by an advertising campaign on outdoor, radio and tag-ons, produced by W&K Amsterdam.
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