Nike Skirts Ambush Issue By Taking On The Idea Of 'Official'

Nike yesterday launched a series of brilliant ads on YouTube for its "Find Your Greatness" campaign, which will soon run across the world in 25 different countries. Obviously, the campaign, which is also creating a social media stir under the hashtag #findgreatness, is released to coincide with the Olympics starting this weekend, but there's little chance you'll mistake Nike for an official sponsor of the Olympics.

Rather than cheekily referring to itself as an official sponsor as the Paddy Power OOH campaign does, Nike veers in the other direction choosing instead to question the entire idea of what it means to be "official" and seeming to imply that it's an artificial condition created by commercialism. All irony aside (many of the most prominent Olympic athletes are official Nike spokespeople, afterall), this is a brilliant strategic move. Rather than trying to confuse the public into thinking it is an official sponsor as ambush marketing generally aims to do, Nike is sending the message loud and clear that it's not an official sponsor and that it's okay because true greatness isn't appointed by the word official anyway whether that's official olympians, official uniforms or of course official sponsors. Athletes and brands alike can achieve greatness without being "official."

Just don't tell that to Adidas, which is reportedly shelling out $156 million on rights and activation of its official Olympics sponsorship. Enjoy some of Nike's latest spots, which you'll likely be seeing a lot of over the next few weeks, below.

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