Ad of the Week: Nike - The Switch

Back in 2001, BMW films broke the mold, ushering in what was to be the golden age of brands creating short, entertaining films as content to capture the consumer imagination and more the brand forward in a non-intrusive, non-interruptive way.We loved the idea and even shot our own short film as a showpiece to show we could create good short branded films. It won gold for short film, comedy and the Houston Film Festival that year. But, alas, not a lot of brands were ready or brave enough to take that leap at the time.

Now content is king and any brand can make a film using their phone and all the digital tools available today. Branded films became 6-second Vines or appropriating consumer videos like the Chewbacca mom viral hit and Kohl's. Was the longer format, high-production value branded entertainment film dead? Not at all! And the latest one from Nike, called "The Switch" has all the style and panache of its BMW Films forefathers.

The Nike film is just a few seconds shy of six minutes long. I only planned to watch a minute or so to see if I liked it for this post. But it was so well done, I was entranced. I had to watch it to conclusion, even though I had other projects on my desk that needed my attention. If you can capture your audience for that long for a brand today, you're doing something right. I think they did a lot right. The basic premise is a kid at a soccer match bangs heads with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. In a Freaky Friday like scenario, they wake up the next day in each other's bodies. We go through years of each them dealing with being in the other's body. I don't want to give you too much, not that the plot is too deep to figure out, but you might enjoy watching it without me telling you everything. So here it is.

Nike – The Switch

They obviously sunk a lot of money into this and it shows. It's well done and it's being well received. I believe it is the number one viral video this week – so they're getting their brand message out there in a way that has a commercial skipping public watching nearly 6 minutes of branded content. That only happens if you have a good story, tell it well and sprinkle on some magic dust.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Feel free to pass your ad of the week suggestions on to us. I'm always looking for great stuff to share.

Mike McClure, settling in with some popcorn with my Nikes on.