via IHT:
These utterly awesome Nike print ads (yes they were released in 2006, but we’re still in love with them so we’re covering them today) are plays on classic Italian graphic design of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The ads feature the stars of the 2006 World Cup winning team, like Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo and Materazzi and have witty quips alluding to Italian dominance in soccer - and taking a few subtle stabs at the French team defeated by the Italians in the final match.
For example, the poster bearing the likeness of Cannavaro hoisting an ice cream cup (below, right) promotes the “Coppa Cannavaro,” a would-be gelato brand that, according to the poster, is “the envy of the world.” Cannavaro, the Italian team captain, was the first player to hoist the World Cup trophy when Italy won the match.
What has this to do with the French? The posters all feature a “produit en Italie” tagline (that’s French for “made in Italy,”) - a slight touch likely to entertain Italian viewers.
The Materazzi poster (above, left) makes a more pointed reference to the most- discussed event of the World Cup championship game, depicting the player in the shape of an armoire, as a stylized representation of a fictional furniture brand called “Armadi Materazzi.” Its cheeky slogan: “Solidità mondiale testata a prova di testate” - that is, “Proven, world-class strength, headbutt-proof.”
Carlo Cavallone, a copywriter at Wieden + Kennedy in Amsterdam, the agency that created the campaign for Nike, said the ads were intended to “rub it in a bit, but without being chauvinistic.”
“It’s meant to be a celebration, to show a bit of national pride,” he said.
Many thanks to a reader who left a comment letting us know that there’s also an animated version of the Cannavaro Nike ad on YouTube.
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam
Creative Directors: Mark Hunter, Alvaro Sotomayor
Art Director: Anders Stake
Copywriter: Carlo Cavallone
Accounts: Lorenza Montorfano, Jasmina Peri
Art Buyer: Andrew Koningen, Caroline Svensson
Project Manager: Katie Miller
Executive Creative Directors: Al Moseley, John Norman
Design Collective: Happycentro, Sintetik
