Last week we wondered if another marketer had managed to out-Nike Nike with a flashy short film around the World Cup. Nike probably didn't care, though, as it was busy changing direction completely—Ronaldo-like—and again looking to leave its rivals in the dust. With the kickoff of the 2014 World Cup just three days away, Nike Football has unleashed its latest blockbuster in the "Risk Everything" campaign. And the creative direction certainly is a risk for the client and its agency, Wieden + Kennedy. That's because it doesn't show a single soccer player in the flesh. It's all animation. That's an audacious decision for a company and category that rely so much on star power. But it also frees Nike from its albatross-like "Write the Future" legacy, and gives viewers a fresh, fun, funny and at times beautiful take on the current state of global soccer. The concept (or just watch for yourself below) is that mad scientists have created clone versions of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrés Iniesta, Franck Ribery, David Luiz and Tim Howard. The human versions, you see, take too many risks on the field, and their percentage chances for success aren't great (prior evidence notwithstanding, apparently). The clones, meanwhile, precise and machinelike in their decision making, have been engineered to take no risks (the Germans have perfected this, of course, but never mind) and are ready to stomp on their frail human opponents with ruthless mathematical efficiency. Thus, events are set in motion that lead to the ultimate showdown—as Nike calls it, "The Last Game." This isn't just a football match. It's Deep Blue vs. Kasparov for the future of world football. Directed by Jon Saunders of Passion Pictures, the spot has a frenetic animation style reminiscent of The Incredibles. This makes some of the game footage feel a bit light on its feet, perhaps—the players seem bird-like at times. Still, every frame is gorgeously rendered. It really is like a mini Pixar film. The storyline, too, is nice and simple—grand yet silly and self-deprecating in classic Nike style. Speaking of classic Nike—the spot clearly recalls Nike and W+K's legendary "Good vs. Evil" spot from the Euro 1996 tournament, in which a bunch of human all-stars battled a supernatural team of demons. The clones, it seems, are just the post-millennial version of pure villainy. "The Last Game" also obliquely references "Write the Future," with the players seen doing odd jobs after the clones put them out of work—much as they were consigned to similarly shameful obscurity as punishment for lackluster play in "Write the Future." (The new spot also has the by-now-familiar non-soccer-player cameos, though the presence of an animated LeBron James here feels quite superfluous.) "The Last Game" also ties in to Nike's earlier four-minute spot for this World Cup largely through the soundtrack—"Miss Alissa" by Eagles of Death Metal. Some will say the cartoon lacks the muscle and flesh-and-blood weight of real soccer footage. (Indeed, sports ads fetishize real action shots to an almost absurd degree.) But Nike is acknowledging here that "real" sports footage in advertising is hyper-stylized anyway—only one step removed from animation. Why not take it that extra step, particularly if you continue to keep the craft at the highest level? In the end, while not as emotionally stirring as some other World Cup commercials, this one is a refreshing change of pace—a nice, unexpected left turn for the marketer in its endless celebration of the beautiful game. Now, can we get to Thursday already? CREDITS Client: Nike Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Global Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke Digital Director: Dan Viens Copywriter: Alberto Ponte Art Director: Ryan O’Rourke Global Executive Producer: Matt Hunnicutt Agency Senior Producer: Erika Madison Production Assistant: Julie Gursha Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz Account Team: Alyssa Ramsey, Molly Rugg, Karrelle Dixon Business Affairs Manager: Karen Crossley Project Manager: Jordan Schroeder Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples, Susan Hoffman Production Production Company: Passion Director: Jon Saunders Writers: Jon Saunders, James Russell, Kevin Cecil, Steven Hall, Lucy Guy Story Development Team: Andrew Ruhemann, Pete Candeland, Alex Webster, Brendan Houghton, Ryan Goodwin-Smith Additional Story Assistance: Daniel Emmerson, Simon Griffin, Lee Hempstock, Rob Sprackling, John Smith Development Creative Director: Pete Candeland Executive Producers: Andrew Ruhemann, Alex Webster Head of Production: Anna Lord Producer: Ryan Goodwin-Smith Line Producer: Adriana Piasek-Wanski Production Coordinators: Anna Cunnington, Kate Goodwin Production Assistant: Becky Perryman VO Casting Directors: Claudia Hesse, Hannah Simons Voice Actors Scientist: Jonathan Oliver Neymar: Bruno Garcez Iniesta: Andres Williams Zlatan: Adam Shaw Rooney: Neil Fitzmaurice David Luiz– Mauricio Brandes Tim Howard: Tom Clarke Hill (also plays LeBron TVC VO and Football Commentator) Cristiano Ronaldo: Hugo Nicolau TV News Anchor: Victoria Lesiw (also plays TV Interviewer) Fenomeno: Rhasaan Orange Commentator 1: Jonathan Clays Commentator 2: Tony Lockwood Commentator 3: John Roder Commentator 4: Bill Leslie Hindi Newscaster VO: Sanghamitra Mandal Mandarin Newscaster VO: Sun Ye Spanish Newscaster VO: Alberto de Matteis Animation Director: Mark Waring Football Choreography Consultant: Andy Ansah Head of CG: Jason Nicholas VFX Supervisor: Neil Riley CG Supervisor: Cesar Nunes CG Coordination: Suzanne Forward, Derek Walsh, Amelie Zilliox, Mark Harper, Dave Powell Additional Coordination: Carine Buncsi Art Direction: Painting Practice, Cesar Nunes Character Design: Jon Saunders, Alex Huguet, Gillian Reid, Leeroy Vanilla, Dan Lambert Production Designer: Dan May (via Painting Practice) Concept Art: Painting Practice, Daniel Cacouault, John Park, Thomas Scholes CG Design Development: Jake Slutsky Storyboards: Brendan Houghton, Yohann Auroux (clean-up) Previz Lead: Xavier Zahra, Richard Perry Previz: Mark Brown, Paul Cousins, Emiliano Nanfaro, Stephen Harrison, Daniel Adams Editing For Whitehouse Post London/New York: Paul La Calandra: Editor Joe Petruccio: Assistant Editor Lisa Kenrick: Executive Producer Lauren Hertzberg: EP NY Nick Crane: Producer For Passion: Victoria Lesiw Additional Editing for Passion: Anne Monnehay, Tim King Layout: Daniel Adams, Remi Cauquil, Anthony Martin Character Modelling Supervisor: Alex Huguet Character Modelling: Mattias Bjurstrom, Tom Bryant, Dan Fine, Julia Friedl, Craig Maden, Abner Marin, Angel Navarro, Alex Stratulat Environments Modelling Supervisor: Ian Brown Environment Modelling: Zahra Al-Naib, Florence Ciuccoli, Guillaume Fuentes, Jacob Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Gracia, Francois Mancone, Paco Rocha, Florent Rousseau, Vladimir Venkov, Sarah Zaher Texturing: Ellie Bond, Amanda Bone, Katreena Bowell, Claudia Carvalho, Eva De Prado, David Domingo Jimenez, Lesley Rooney, Grace Stephens Rigging: Andrew Butler, Chris Dawson, Morgan Evans, Maarten Heinstra, Maickel Pasta, Georg Schneider Animation Lead: Conor Ryan Animation Magali Barbe, Antoine Bourruel, Cath Brooks, Wesley Coman, Catherine Elvidge, Rhiannon Evans, Aldo Gagliardi, Alex Grigg, Annie Habermehl, Rimelle Khayat, Boris Kossmehl, Karin Mattsson, Daniel Meitin, Florian Mounie, Nora OSullivan, Garrick Rawlingson, Alvaro Martin Saez de Parayuelo, David Sigrist, Milian Topsy, Rodrigo Torres, Marie Vorhoeven, Chris Welsby, Steven White, (Darren Walsh: Magpie) FX Supervisor: Jamie Franks FX: Sam Swift-Glasman, Junaid Syed, Dan Warder Cloth: Ariele Podrieder Lenzi: Senior Cloth TD, Antonios Defteraios, Will Fife, Jayson King, Colin Perret, Michael Sofoluke Hair: Chema Del Fresno, Kwai Ip (also cloth) Crowd: Jonny Grew L&R Lead: Christian Mills, Arnoud Machtou Lighting & Rendering: Howard Bell, Yohan Cohen, Jacob Gonzalez, Patrick Krafft, Sebastian Mayer, Richard Moss, Camille Perrin, Francois Pons, Paco Rocha Compositing: Svilen Aynadzhiev, Pavan Balagam, Andre Bittencourt, David Lea, Manuel Perez, Julien Record, Valeria Romano, Johnny Still, Alex Swann Graphics: Stephane Coedel, Giles Dill 3D End Tag Original 2D Design by ILOVEDUST Sam Mason, Jon Saunders: CG Designers Eve Strickman: Producer at Passion NY Animation: Wieden+Kennedy Motion Painting Practice Production Designer: Dan May Lead Concept Artist/Matte Painter: Rafael Martin Coronel 3D Matte Artist/Lead: Graeme McDougal Matte Painters/Concept Artists: Antoine Birot, Nicolas Loudot, Tristan Menard, Carlos Nieto Junior Matte Painter: Noemie Cauvin Concept Artists: Justin C Hutchinson-Chatburn, Mike Shorten, Alex Fort, Xavier Ren 3D Artist: Matt Hotchkiss Co-ordinator: Dora Sarkozi Graphic Design: Gemma Kingsley, Erica McEwan Junior Artist: Rodolphe Parfait Football Reference Shoot Andy Ansah: Choreographer Tyson White: Choreographer Tyler Blake: Project Manager Gerri McCarthy: Live Producer for Passion Marek Wesolowski: DOP/Steadicam Op Ronaldas Buozis: SOP/Sony F55 Ralph Messer: Focus Puller Josh Feder: Runner/GoPro Jonah Sugden: Runner/5D Op Nuria Perez: DIT Football Performers (c/o Sports on Screen): Mat Mitchel-King, Louie Theophanous, Anthony Cock, Chris Piper, Joseph Holland, Aaron Clarke, Isa Hussain, Joel Ledgister Mocap Shoot: Lottie Hope: Passion Producer Phil Stilgoe: Mocap Producer Stuart Haskayne: Mocap Supervisor Joe Ells: Mocap Post Supervisor Iain Silvester: Mocap Production Coordinator Matt Parker: Sr Mocap Technician Mocap Technicians: Ross Richards, David Bushen Mimi Dulake: Mocap Production Asst Goran Dimitrijević: Mocap Tracking Manager Igor Kovačević: Mocap Sr Tracker Mocap Trackers: Jelena Mitrović, Zoran Muncan, Miloš Knežević, Nenad Milosavljević Sound Design: 750mph Sam Ashwell: Sound Designer & Mix Engineer Sam Robinson: Audio Producer Phil Bolland: Additional Engineering TX: Mike Bovill, Gerda Aleksandraviciute, Jeff Smith: TX Passion Pipeline TD: Sajjad Amjad, Julian Hodgson IT Support / Engineering Team Daffer Al-Faiadh: IT Manager Mani Singh: IT Engineer Ilkan Ozturk: IT Engineer Alex Pittas: IT Assistant Finance & Accounting Dennis Hobbs, Head of Finance Kendrah Matthew, Grant Harris, Ben Davies Runners: Kingsley Bailey, Fern Buckenham, Edward Bulmer, Linus Carlson, Fionn Guilfoyle, Raymond Hemson, Rishi Hindocha, Isabella Miroux, Shane Noonan, Alex Pittas, Phoebe Platman, Sophia Simenski, Paige Sullivan, Zachary Towlen, Phoebe Young Editorial / :30 Trailers And Athlete Teasers Editorial Company: Joint Editorial Editor: Peter Wiedensmith Post Producer: Ryan Shanholtzer / Alex Thiesen Music Editor: Nicholas Davis Lead Assistant Editor: Eric Hill Assistant Editor: Alyssa Coates Post Executive Producer: Patty Brebner Online Finishing: Glassworks Colourist: Duncan Russell Smoke Artist: Aleks Ugarow Executive Producer: Misha Stanford-Harris Titles/Graphics: WK Motion / WK Studio Music Music Company: Walker Composer: Judson Crane Executive Producer: Sara Matarazzo Music Coordinator: Abbey Hickman Licensed Track: Miss Alissa, Eagles of Death Metal Sound Sound + Mix Company: 750mph Sound Designer / Mixer: Sam Ashwell Executive Producer: Sam Robinson