Wieden+Kennedy Portland’s Effective Transitioning of Tiger Woods Off The Nike Golf Brand
To say Nike has a long history with Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) is something of an understatement. Dating back to 1982, the first television ads ever run for Nike were born out of its establishment as a founding client of W+K, and Nike still calls them its Agency of Record today. One of the more interesting situations these two companies have dealt with over their 33 years together has been taking place since 2009 and involves Nike Golf, its sponsorship of Tiger Woods, and the use (or non-use) of him in ads created by W+K Portland in the wake of Woods’ scandals.
While the brand’s ads have attracted a range of praise and criticism in that time, W+K Portland — and particularly a specific creative team that earned honors in the 2014 Communication Arts Advertising Annual — has been very effective in satisfying the needs of its long-term client while handling the barriers that have come up along the way.
The relationship between W+K, Nike Golf, and Tiger Woods began as a very fruitful one in the years following Woods’ 1996 PGA Tour debut. Woods was successfully used in the overwhelming majority of the company’s ads, including the iconic 1999 “ball-juggling ad,” as he quickly became the most recognizable and successful face in golf since his idol, Jack Nicklaus.
While the events of 2009 that exposed Woods as a serial cheater and saw his success on the tour plummet, Nike stood by him and offered its full support by not revoking its sponsorship. This decision by Nike left W+K in the difficult position of having to use an athlete whose image had been forever tarnished in advertisements for one of its most revered and profitable clients. The agency’s first ad attempt following the scandal featured a posthumous voiceover of Earl Woods, Tiger’s father, asking if his son had ”learned anything” and gained some notoriety for tackling Woods’ problems directly. However, it drew a great deal of criticism as well. “How do you spell Ugh?” Bob Garfield, a former writer Advertising Age, said of the ad, according to Time.
“I’m embarrassed for Tiger Woods. I’m embarrassed, posthumously, for his dad. I’m appalled by Nike.”
By 2011, Woods was still the face of Nike Golf, but W+K Portland seemed to be looking for alternatives routes on their ads ads. The 20XI golf ball campaign, released on April 13, 2011, featured nothing more than stylized shots of a black stallion charging around a golf course in an attempt to demonstrate the “raw power” of Nike’s new ball. Woods was featured in “Free Your Swing” for the TW 13 golf shoe, which was released on June 12, 2012. However, instead of being shown in his signature golf attire, he was given a more humanizing location and look as he ran through a golf course breathing heavily while in workout gear.
Woods’ status as the primary face of the franchise was first truly challenged by W+K Portland on January 13, 2013 with the release of “No Cup is Safe.” The ad featured Woods’ back on the golf course, but this time he was partnered with 23-year-old Rory McIlroy, a 2-time Major winner who had signed a sponsorship with Nike months earlier. After trading shots and hitting golf balls into cups located farther and farther away from their tees, Tiger ultimately reigns supreme after McIlroy finds a ball in his own cup and asks how Woods managed to do it. “You’ll learn,” Woods replies.
In addition to introducing McIlroy as a peer — and potential successor — to Woods, the ad was also successful in reintroducing a brand of humor and lightheartedness to Nike Golf that had been lacking in the years since Woods’ scandal. Woods did win five tournaments and the 2013 Tour Player of the Year award, temporarily restoring his marketability in the process. W+K Portland’s other two ads for Nike Golf released during 2013, “Specialist” and “The Sport of Golf,” reflected this and predominantly featured Woods and the more lighthearted tone that was used in ”No Cup is Safe.”
The humor and tone, but not Woods, was carried over into “Play in the Now,” a campaign for Nike Golf’s new products that was released on January 14, 2014 by W+K Portland and was honored in the Communication Arts 2014 Advertising Annual. Consisting of three ads, the campaign did not feature any professional athletes. Instead, it addressed a common barrier in the golf community: “New equipment is too modern and cheapens the integrity of the game.” By showing negative reactions to “new” ball, shoe, and club technologies dating back to the origin of the game, W+K Portland very effectively diffused this barrier while also not using the injured Woods or slumping McIlroy.
The agency continued its success by utilizing the same Copywriter (Tom Kirby), Art Director (Derrick Ho), production company (Biscuit Filmworks), and Director (Steve Rogers) behind “Play in the Now” for “There’s Always Better,” which was released on February 25, 2015. That ad featured Woods (who was again injured and not playing professionally) briefly along with McIlroy, LPGA golfer Michelle Wie, Bo Jackson, and Charles Barkley while suggesting “change is the only thing that pushes [golf] forward.” With this message, the ad not only advertised Nike’s newest line of equipment, but also positioned W+K Portland to slowly begin it own “change” and transition the brand towards McIlroy and away from Woods.
Indeed, only months later on April 4, 2015 (The same month Woods fell out of the World Top 100 rankings since 1996) W+K Portland again tapped Kirby, Ho, Rogers, and Biscuit Filmworks for “Ripple.” The ad chronicles McIlroy’s journey growing up idolizing Woods to finally competing against him in a tournament and receiving his approval.
“I’ve been in that same situation,” Woods said about the ad in a statement from Nike. “Growing up, Jack was my idol. My first recollection of The Masters was 1986, when Jack won… Fourteen years later at the 2000 PGA Championship, I got to play with and against him — someone I looked up to.”
“Ripple” was generally regarded as the beginning of Woods’ passing of the torch to McIlroy, and Wood’s comments seem to imply as much. Nearly six years after Woods’ fall from grace, the ad can be seen as the culmination of W+K Portland’s efforts to phase out its longstanding client’s compromised spokesperson. While not every ad featuring (or not featuring) Woods was a success during this time for Nike Golf, the work done by W+K Portland, and particularly by the creative team introduced on the “Play in the Now” campaign, allowed the brand to thoughtfully address the controversy surrounding Woods.
By doing this, it allowed Nike Golf to ultimately usher in a smooth transition away from Wood sand towards less hostile waters with a new spokesperson.
(This was originally written June 25, 2015 while attending Advertising School at Boston University, so it doesn’t mention anything about Tiger Woods’ or Rory McIlory’s sponsorships since then)
Sources
http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1978986,00.html http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/wieden-kennedy-finds-its-first-ads-ever-made-nike-dusty-old- tapes-156511 http://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/wk-portland-creates-ripple-for-nike-golf/83896 http://news.nike.com/news/idols-have-idols-from-one-generation-of-greatness-to-the-next http://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/wk-portland-asks-why-change-for-nike-golf/81599 http://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/wk-portland-looks-way-back-for-nike-golf/64112 http://www.wk.com/campaign/theres_always_better http://www.wk.com/campaign/nike_golf_xi http://www.wk.com/campaign/free_your_swing http://www.wk.com/campaign/no_cup_is_safe http://www.wk.com/campaign/specialist http://www.wk.com/campaign/the_sport_of_golf http://www.wk.com/campaign/play_in_the_now# http://www.wk.com/campaign/ripple http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/30/news/companies/tiger_woods_sponsorships/
