Nike "Tag" Commercial

I know I quite lag since this commercial was actually a Cannes Lions winner seven years ago (details below). Haha. Dun mess. 7-year lag, wei!! Wth, damn kau fail, right, me?!? -_- But... whatever lah. Imma likin' this one so Imma bloggin' it anyways. It's real fun stuff. Enjoy, if you haven't yet watched it. And if you already have, just... urm, pretend buat dunno and ooo and ah over it, ok? =p

ADVERTISER: Nike • SPOT: Tag • CAMPAIGN: Play
AD AGENCY: Wieden + Kennedy • COUNTRY: USA
AUTHOR: Dan Wieden • DIRECTOR: Frank Budgen
AWARDED: Cannes Lions 2002, Film Grand Prix Winner
(alongside Spike Jonez's Ikea "Lamp" Commercial)

"Wieden is the author of a 2001 Nike ad called "Tag." This TV spot features a young man on his way to work in a big city. It could be Chicago, New York or San Francisco. (It is, in fact, Toronto.) All of a sudden, he feels a hand on his shoulder. He's been tagged. He's it. Pedestrians scatter. Plazas empty. The chase is on. He almost tags one woman as she enters a bus. He almost tags another but she dives into her car. He almost tags a policeman as he pulls away in his cruiser. Our hero is a wildebeest, charging wildly, hoping for contact. Finally he comes upon a hapless guy in the subway, the only man in the city who doesn't know the game is on. Tag. Now he's it. Frame for frame, "Tag" is probably the most exciting ad ever made. It had the drama of the chase scene in "The French Connection." It won the admiration of the industry and a Cannes Lion Grand Prix.

But it's an odd ad. It takes 20 seconds before we understand what's happening. For a while it's just people running around on a plaza, forcing us to puzzle things out on our own. Advertising is famous for its simplicity, repetition and sometimes sheer stupidity ("But wait! There's more! Act now!"). In the world of advertising, 20 seconds is a client-provoking eternity. Wieden dared to tinker with the rules.

For all that, "Tag" is a straightforward piece of advertising. It is playful. It makes Nike the friend of spontaneity and urban athleticism. It brings the viewer off the couch to the edge of his seat, the very point of the Nike proposition. Every commuter would love to see the tedium of travel exploded this way. Certainly, every athlete (and Nike is filled with athletes) would love to see the city as a competitive space."

[Source]

Read the full article here.