• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 19, 2024

Forget about the misty moments in sports, honoring heroism and grace. Nike is going for the jugular in its new campaign for the coming Olympic games. “Winning Isn’t for Everyone” highlights the world’s greatest athletes, shot in their most ruthless moments.

“Am I a bad person?” the spots begin, narrated by Willem Dafoe. The gravelly-voiced actor sticks with the first person as he runs down all the characteristics of great competitors, set to video of Nike athletes punishing their competitors. We see the ugly faces of basketball greats Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Sabrina Ionescu, for example, as well as the terrifying stare of Serena Williams, the fierce focus of Sha’Carri Richardson and the sneer of soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dafoe certainly paints a menacing picture. “I have no empathy,” he says. “I’m deceptive. I’m selfish. I’m never satisfied.”

Not enough? He goes on. “I have no remorse. I want to take what's yours and never give it back. What's mine is mine. What's yours is mine. Tell me. Does that make me a bad person?”

Wieden + Kennedy is the agency.

In addition to releasing the ad on its social media channels, Nike has created a microsite for the effort, allowing users to explore their favorite athletes with films and interviews.

Nike is a long-time sponsor of the Olympics and the Paralympics and hopes to use the Paris Games to regain some of its former marketing glory.

“The Paris Olympics offers us a pinnacle moment to communicate our vision of sport to the world,” said chief executive officer John Donahoe during a call with investors last month. “This is led by breakthrough innovation and announced by a brand campaign that you won't be able to miss. We recently unveiled our Air for Athletes innovation at our Nike on Air event in Paris. And we can't wait to bring all this Olympics product to life across the games and in more than 8,000 doors worldwide.”

This campaign -- and all of Nike marketing -- is under greater scrutiny than usual.

The company’s sales have stumbled, and a subdued forecast for the coming year has caused its stock to slump to its lowest levels in five years.

Not only has it been ceding ground to new competitors like On Running and Hoka, but Donahoe has conceded that the company has lost a few steps in its marketing. And he’s faulted remote work for its lack of innovation.