Nike launches the Joga Bonito (Play Beautiful) campaign

Company Release

New Delhi,May 20

The best players in the world bring the values of beautiful football to life in five new commercials, as part of the Joga Bonito (Play Beautiful) campaign from Nike.

Joy, Team, Honor, Skill and Heart are the values of Beautiful football and the themes of the commercials, which are introduced by Eric Cantona from the studios of JogaTV – the TV station created to spread the Joga Bonito message.

JOY sees unique, genuine footage of Ronaldinho playing a Futsal match as a child in Porto Alegre, mixed in with footage of him playing now – showing that despite his position as a star player with Brazil and FC Barcelona, his pure joy at playing football still shines through. His amazing skills, balance with the ball and his samba celebration dance are evident even from an early age, and echoed by his older self.

HONOR shows Thierry Henry playing a street game with friends and members of his family. Set on an urban concrete court, it is a place where ability is all and diving brings disrespect.  As Thierry and his mates show off their moves, even the watching Eric Cantona cannot resist entering the fray to join his fellow Frenchman.

HEART features Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney, with team mates Rio Ferdinand and Tim Howard, and manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The commercial captures Rooney’s wholehearted approach and enthusiasm. As his team concedes a goal in a training session, Rooney decides to take matters into his own hands and go in goal himself (something he enjoys doing in Manchester United training). After pulling off a string of saves he then launches an attack of his own, to the exasperation of Sir Alex Ferguson.

SKILL is a duel between two of the most gifted players in the world – Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Eric Cantona shows Cristiano some footage of Zlatan’s skills, then challenges him “can you beat that?”. What follows is an incredible showcase of extravagant skills as the two players compete without ever coming fact to face.

TEAM provides a unique glimpse into the team spirit that makes current World Champions Brazil the favourites again this summer and reflects the typical Brasilian preparation for a match. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano, Robinho, Cicinho and Roberto Carlos are playing together in the coach – although it’s on musical instruments this time.

Once in the changing rooms, they can’t resist the urge to let their natural football skills express themselves as the team prepares. Then, inspired by a communal prayer (first introduced by the Brazil team as they prepared for their 2-0 victory over Germany in Japan in 2002), they head out into the stadium and we see how Brazil’s team spirit translates to inspirational performance on the pitch

The Joy TV commercial will be broadcasted for the first time during the Champions League game on 28 March. The other commercials will follow after that date and will all be shown on JogaTV (via the www.nikefootball.com website) from 29 March.

Trevor Edwards, Nike Vice President of Global Brand Management comments: “These commercials each represent one of the values that we, and the players involved, led by Eric Cantona, believe make up beautiful football.”

Brasil and Barcelona forward Ronaldinho, who appears in two of the commercials, comments: “It was fantastic to appear in the Team ad and the way it shows us dancing and singing before a game. There are some great characters in the Brasil team and this shows the enjoyment we all get from representing our country.

In the Joy commercial you can see me playing Futsal in porto alegre when I was very young. I developed a lot of skills playing futsal that I still use today.”

For more information, contact

Munmun Sengupta

Clea PR,

munmun.sengupta@cleapr.com