In Julie's post yesterday, she calls on brands to reject the false and fake and infuse their advertising with authenticity.  I recently saw a great spot from Nike that does just that.   

Admittedly, you may think The Dozen has turned from marketing and innovation blog to a Nike soccer blog – but bear with me for this post – as I think it’s a great lesson in brand authenticity. We all know that Nike can do the big and glossy spots with all the superstars - we even blogged about it a couple weeks ago.  But this new commercial is born from a song that originated on the football terraces at Anfield (Liverpool's storied stadium). Nike took that song, plus the local fans' love for their new striker Fernando Torres and turned it into an Iberian love-fest. I love the ad, but others don't agree, including Scott Murray at the Guardian who upon seeing the spot, wrote the following:

For goodness sake -  that Torres "Liverpool's number nine" [song], has already been appropriated by Nike for an advert. Is there nothing the moneymen won't sully? Can these people never leave things be, even if it's just for a year or two?

I completely disagree. I think it's a true statement of authenticity, when brands are inspired (some might say steal…) from real life like this. Surely that's the only path to authenticity and connection. Sure, there's elements that are fake (I can't really imagine Liverpudlian's swapping fish n' chips for tapas), but the heart of the idea is genuine and real and that's the important difference. I think this idea demonstrates how local fans worship their favorite players wherever they come from and there's no greater form of flattery in football than having a song created for you by the fans.

Here’s the song being sung on the terraces at a Liverpool match via a You Tube clip from someone’s camera phone…and here’s the spot itself.  Judge for yourself. Apparently even the dog walking with Torres in the park at the end is his own.

Consumers have turned on us.  They've changed.  9 out of 10 consumers don’t trust advertisers anymore.  Now, that’s not all our fault.  We didn’t create this situation.  Or, rather, we didn’t create this situation…alone.  There are a lot of other institutions and individuals that played their hands to get us here.  As Pines and Gilmore say in “Authenticity” – the opposite of quality used to be junk.  Now it’s fake.  Consumers been faked out, lied to, misled, and generally betrayed an awful lot.

And what is advertising if not “fake”?  How many of you say to your kids – sweetie, that’s not the show, that’s the commercials, you don’t need to watch that.  Fast forward.   Our industry creates advertorial, which we design specifically to make our stuff look like the real stuff.  

How can we ever hope to succeed if consumers look at us - when they do look at us - as false?  And how will you make your brand real?  When we talk about brand authenticity these days, we need to think about everything a brand says and does, and even how they say it.

Get real.  Now.

Since the epic Good vs.Evil spot from 1996, Nike has done a great job with its football ads, using stars from around the world to promote it's connection to the beautiful game. My mate James at AMV in London sent me a link to this latest spot, directed by Guy Ritchie, where we are transformed from being mere observers to actually being participants.  While other ads (and movies) have used the "protagonist POV" technique to engage and draw people in, this spot does so in a dramatically effective way - and does a fantastic job of showing first hand how fast, skillful and physical soccer can be. All the big names are there, Ronaldo, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldinho, but you are right in the middle of it, alongside them, rather than just outside looking in.  It's authentic, involving and different.  What do you think? (click the image to play)