Nike's recent campaign takes a much more localised approach, honing in on the city of London and its swathes of determined and passionate young athletes. The three-minute-long ad, ‘Nothing Beats a Londoner’, depicts the trials and tribulations of London’s sport-loving youth. Whilst Nike often uses professional athletes as a source of inspiration, instead this time around, the film uses real kids from the capital. There is also a sense of competitiveness and ‘one-upmanship’ involved, with each kid expressing how tough it is to train in their respective boroughs. Since its release, the film created by agency Wieden & Kennedy, has been met with huge praise from the majority of critics and consumers. 

Though London is a hugely important part of the ad – and used as a backdrop and a cultural reference point – it is the people that take centre stage. Up until now, the brand has perhaps been guilty of going too mass-market, focusing on sports like football and only using big-name celebrities in ad campaigns. This has meant that the brand somewhat lost touch with its target market and the role sport plays in their everyday lives.

"Endlessly enterprising and fiercely competitive, young Londoners shape sport and culture in the metropolis around them. We created Nothing Beats a Londoner for Nike, where these hungry, resourceful and confident youngsters take us on a whistle-stop tour of their city – with the help of cameos from some of the Londoners they look up to, even as they strive to one-up them with their own sporting achievements." - WIEDEN+KENNEDY London

By using humour and colloquial londoner language and focuses on the reality of sport in London, Nike has ensured that the ad resonates with its target audience of young, city-dwelling consumers. The decision to film on 16mm instead of digital further helps to create a sense of realism rather than coming across as yet another glossy, CGI driven ad.

At three minutes long, the full film is short enough to capture attention on mobile – which also makes it highly shareable. So far, the ad has generated 4.6m views on YouTube in the space of a week.

The ad - despite pushing diversity - has been criticised for not showing any South Asians despite the group being a majority in London and having a significance influence in Cricket.

You can see the whopping 3 minute film here