Secret Tournament: Difference between revisions

"'''Secret Tournament'''" (also known as "'''Scorpion KO'''" or "'''The Cage'''") was a [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] global advertising campaign coinciding with the [[2002 FIFA World Cup]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.balls.ie/football/0203-power-ranking-8-teams-nike-the-cage-advert/277818|title=Power Ranking The 8 Teams That Competed In The Amazing Nike 'The Cage' Advert|last=Traynor|first=Mikey|date=29 April 29, 2015|publisher=Balls.ie|accessdate=14 April 14,2016 2016}}</ref> With a marketing budget estimated at US$100&nbsp;million,<ref name="wharton">{{cite web |url=http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=629 |title=Secrets of Successful Ad Campaigns: Lessons from Absolut, Nike and NASCAR |publisher=Wharton School |date=25 September 2002 |accessdate=24 February 2009 }}</ref> the advert featured 24 top contemporary [[association football|football]] players and former player [[Eric Cantona]] as the tournament "referee". It was directed by film director and [[Monty Python]] member [[Terry Gilliam]].<ref name="usa">{{cite news |urltitle=Marketers freely capitalize on soccer fever |url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/cup2002/2002-05-28-usat-marketing.htm |titlework=USA Marketers freely capitalize on soccer fever|author=Today |date=28 May 2002-05-28|work= |publisheraccessdate=17 USADecember Today|accessdate=2009-12-17 }}</ref> and creative director Paul Shearer http://paul-shearer-36pf.squarespace.com/nike-secret-tournament

The campaign started in March 2002 with the "tease" phase of the campaign, featuring only a shot of football shoesboots and a [[scorpion]]. The early ads led viewers to a website where they could learn more about the Secret Tournament and play interactive games.<ref name="wharton"/>

The concept of the advertising campaign was a fictional tournament involving eight teams of three of football's top players in a first-goal-wins elimination. The matches were staged in an enclosed pitch located on a ship with former footballer [[Eric Cantona]] acting in the role of referee.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nike Secret Tournament |date=2 April 2007 |publisher=[[youtube.com]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShUb4pU14&feature |archive-url=channel_pagehttps://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/PrShUb4pU14 |archive-date=15 December 2021 |url-status=live|accessdate=19 February 2009 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Besides the TV advertising campaign, the marketing strategy involved the execution of local tournaments in several major capital cities of the world, being held in schools, sport venues and stadiums. The concept was the same: teams of three players had to be registered and one-goal matches were played in successive knock-out rounds up to the final matches in cages like the ones in the TV ads.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Campaign Evaluation - Whereby this all starts... |date=5 September 2011 |publisher=Diromero |url=https://diromero.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/the-campaign-evaluation-whereby-this-all-starts |accessdate=3 June 2016}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" border="1"

| [[PatrickFrancesco VieiraTotti]]

| [[FreddieHidetoshi LjungbergNakata]]

| [[LilianLuis ThuramEnrique]]

| [[PaulEdgar ScholesDavids]]

The song in the advertisement was a new remix of [[Elvis Presley]]'s "[[A Little Less Conversation#Junkie XL / JXL remix|A Little Less Conversation]]", remixed by [[Junkie XL]] (JXL). Following its appearance, the remix was released as the single "A Little Less Conversation" by "Elvis vs. JXL". The single cover featured both the logo for Scorpion KO and Nike's [[Swoosh]] logo. The song went on to become a Number 1 hit in over 20 countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/elvis1.html |title=Elvis's Legacy — |publisher=Infoplease.com |year=2007 |accessdate=13 August 2015}}</ref> In the UK, it was one of two songs to reach number 1 off the success of an advert in the 2000s, followed by [[Room 5]]'s "[[Make Luv]]" the following year. The remix later became the sole single from Presley's multi-million-selling hits album ''[[ELV1S: 30 No. 1 Hits]]''.

Following the run of the original advert, it was quickly followed up by a "Rematch" advert, featuring the two teams from the original final.<ref>{{cite web | publisher=[[youtube.com]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_u9WBgl-U0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/A_u9WBgl-U0 |archive-date=15 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Nike- Secret Tournament Rematch Commercial 60 Seconds |date=March 2009 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> In this script, the two teams played on a set representing the interior hull of the ship, no longer within a cage, and scored goals by hitting the bulkheads within a painted-on rectangle. Furthermore, as there were now only two teams remaining, the target was now to reach 100 goals. The two teams were said to have reached 99–99, meaning that the next goal would win; however, the previous 198 goals and other errant shots meant that the rivets holding the ship together had weakened, so when [[Luís Figo]] scored the winning goal for ''Os Tornados'', there was a hull breach, water rushed in and the two teams had to swim for shore.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

Following the airing of the commercials, in June 2002 an estimated 1 to 2 1–2&nbsp;million children under 16the yearsage of 16 competed in matches following the Scorpion KO rules in several major cities worldwide, including [[London]] (in the [[Millennium Dome]]), [[Beijing]], [[Mexico City]] (in the then existent [[Toreo de Cuatro Caminos]] dome), [[Buenos Aires]], [[Montevideo]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Madrid]], [[Paris]], [[Rotterdam]], [[Santiago]], [[São Paulo]], [[Seoul]], [[Tokyo]], [[Berlin]] and [[Rome]].<ref name="wharton" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,257070,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814202419/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,257070,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 August 2009 |title=Soccer: A Cagey Game |publisher=Time World |date=6 February 2002 |accessdate=20 February 2009 | first1=Hugh | last1=Porter | first2=Simon | last2=Robinson }}</ref>

Nike considered the campaign a success, with Nike president Mark Parker commenting, "This spring's integrated football marketing initiative was the most comprehensive and successful global campaign ever executed by Nike."<ref name="sgb">{{cite web |url=http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-miscellaneous/4458809-1.html |title=Nike Promotes Three To Strengthen Brand Management Team |date=7 October 2002-10-07 |accessdate=2009-02-24 February 2009 |publisher=Sporting Goods Business }}</ref>

* [http://www.smart.co.uk/dreams/tgnike.htm Dreams: Gilliam's 2002 Nike ad]

[[Category:TelevisionAmerican television commercials]]

[[Category:Nike, Inc. advertising]]