AdMiration feature: Nike’s “So Win.” and NFL’s “Flag 50”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to the empowering Nike “So Win.” and NFL “Flag 50” ads. Both of these spots were released during this year’s Super Bowl LIX, one of the biggest annual advertising events in the US. 

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

Nike’s “So Win.”

Nike’s “So win” spot shot in black and white features a montage of scenes of famous female athletes, from the likes of Jordan Chiles, Caitlin Clark, A'ja Wilson, JuJu Watkins, Sabrina Ionescu, Alexia Putellas, Aryna Sabalenka, Sha'Carri Richardson and Sophia Smith. As they’re shown making epic shots, plays or times, a narrator (Doechii) voices over all the things a woman “can’t be” and how they should do it anyway, with “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin shredding in the background. The ad closes with the line, “Whatever you do, you can’t win. So win.”

NFL’s “Flag 50”

NFL’s “Flag 50” takes us back to a nostalgic 80s high school movie setting, complete with Yellow’s “Oh Yeah” track. The ad follows a “new girl” who stands up to a high school football player and bully, challenging his notion that girls don’t play football. He challenges her to a faceoff with their best player, who she epically beats. The ad ends with the message: Let’s make girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states.  

3 facts

• Both ads received higher  than average scores in sales and brand impact (Nike sales impact score: 57 and brand impact score: 72 & NFL sales impact score: 77 and brand impact score: 81) but were ultimately polarizing and worked well among specific demographics.

• Both spots left the audience feeling empowered, with 60% of people agreeing the ad was empowering for both Nike and the NFL. 

• The topic and executional delivery resulted in a higher than average potential to be shared, with a viral potential of 67 for NFL and 61 for Nike (versus an average of 56). 

2 learnings 

• Being bold and challenging often results in a polarizing reaction. Those who love the challenge love it even more because it’s not for everyone. And those who it doesn’t resonate with, feel far stronger about not liking it. 

• It all comes down to execution. You can’t assume that portraying women in an empowering way will be more appealing to young people or off putting to men. While both executions tackled the empowerment of women in sports, they did it in a very different way, and the approach can make all the difference.

1 reflection

Ask yourself: Are you clear about whether a bold strategy that polarizes can work effectively for your brand? If so, are you executing in the right way? In the right places? In a consistent and meaningful way that fits your brand? And are you being provocative enough for the boldness to result in a positive response? For Nike, this ad was definitely on brand and with the tone people expect. It works well with young people the brand needs to establish itself with and the athletes and attitude certainly resonate there. For the NFL, the ad took a bold stand and resonated very well with women, but was certainly more polarizing among men. 

Nike “So Win.”

With the release of their ad at Super Bowl LIX, Nike unveiled its new brand anthem, “So Win.” created by Wieden+Kennedy Portland and directed by Kim Gehrig.

Jordan Chiles, US Olympic Gymnast, who was featured in the ad shares, “Winning isn’t just about medals. It’s about overcoming, about proving to yourself that you’re capable of more than you ever imagined. And doing it all authentically.”

The brand’s new anthem is a celebration of the power of sport — and the power of women — harnessing an iconic roster that helps to encourage athletes to block out the noise and let their hard work speak for itself.

Nicole Graham, Chief Marketing Officer, NIKE, Inc. also states, “At Nike, we make sure the athlete is at the center of everything we do, from product creation to storytelling. We are at our best when we are representing the voice of the athlete and their voice becomes our voice. This brand anthem, featuring elite Nike athletes, is a perfect example of how we can inspire everyone to win, whatever that means for them.”

NFL ”Flag 50”

Created by the NFL and its creative partners at 72andSunny, and directed by Peter Berg, the NFL’s message is clear in this spot: Leave the past behind. Let's make girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states.

The two-minute ad, which aired immediately after the halftime show, featured a real-life U.S. Girls’ Junior National Team flag football player, Ki’Lolo Westerlund, who played the new girl in school up for the challenge to start a girls flag football team. 

The spot also starred other female flag players, Serenity Simon from Miami’s Palmetto High School, Ashlea Klam from Keiser University and U.S Women’s national team and Vanita Krouch, U.S. flag football veteran.

Marissa Solis, SVP of Global Brand and Marketing for the NFL, said, “The biggest difference is the first [Super Bowl flag football ad] sparked the global excitement, and it was all about the Olympics and the giant stage. This time it’s more personal: It’s about high school, seeing the journey of these young ladies, and making it an official high school sport, and it starts in local communities.”

The campaign shares the NFL’s push to make flag football a varsity sport in 15 states and its success lobby for men’s and women’s flag football’s inclusion in the 2029 Los Angeles Olympics — with the “50” in “NFL Flag 50” being  the number of states the league wants to sanction the sport at the high school level.

Tim Ellis, NFL’s CMO, adds, “Just this week, two more states have sanctioned girls’ flag football as a varsity sport, and we have had a 100% increase in sanctioning in just the last year, so this year’s spot is on that momentum. People see it happening in their own communities, in their own schools, [so] let’s just shine a light on it with the ultimate intention of getting more high schools to sanction girls’ flag as a varsity sport. We have 15 now. We have 35 to go.”

Nike’s ad resonated exceptionally well with a younger audience (people under 35) with a sales impact score of 86 and a brand impact score of 98 — landing it in the top 2% of all ads for this demographic.

Alternatively, the NFL’s ad performed exceptionally among women, with a sales impact score of 94 and a brand impact score of 93, but was less effective among both men and younger people.

These ads from Nike and the NFL were a true lesson in boldness versus universality, reminding us that being bold and challenging can result in a polarizing response. 

For Nike, we see 47% of under 35 year-olds choose love as their strongest emotion (far above the norm of 34%) but we see that 12% of over 45 year-olds feel dislike most strongly after watching the ad (versus a norm of 4). The polarization primarily surrounds the tone of voice, with older people more likely to find it aggressive, loud and confrontational. 

For the NFL ad, 46% women love the ad (versus a norm of 27) while 8% men dislike the ad (versus a norm of 3%). 

While both executions tackled the empowerment of women in sport, they did it in a very different way. Nike focused on empowerment in sport in general, zooming in on the nay sayers and saying to do it anyway (very Nike!), which resonated with all young people. 

Whereas for the NFL, they empowered women by showing them taking on and winning against men, which meant that while women loved it, some men found it rather off putting and certainly not relevant to them. 

That said, both spots left the audience feeling empowered, with 60% of people agreeing the ad was empowering for both Nike and NFL. So while not everyone appreciated the stories and executions, everyone understood the emotional intent of being challenging and empowering.

And on top of that, the topic and delivery resulted in a higher than average viral potential of 67 for NFL and 61 for Nike (versus an average of 56), with this virality even higher among each of the demographics who appreciated the ad more.

Here’s what some people had to say about both ads: 

Nike

• "I love how it portrayed the top women's athletes and highlighted their achievements."

• "I loved the way it made women look so determined to achieve their goals."

• "I like the way it was saying the things that socially women are told they're not supposed to be but at the end it pretty much says screw that you are a winner and you deserve to be."

• "I like the empowering message of the video because it fits into what is happening with athletes and the expectations people place on them. I like the athletes featured in this ad. They represent well the message the ad is trying to convey."

NFL

• "That the girl wasn't intimidated by the boys about playing football. She stood up for herself and showed them that she could play football too."

• "I liked how it is including women to play sports in schools. I also like how it’s bringing awareness to solve this problem."

• "The young lady showed everyone that she can definitely hang with the guys when it comes to football and play just as good."

• "That the girl won, and proved that girls do play football. And that a girl can play sports just like a guy. She was brave and wasn't scared to challenge him. It was empowering."

We loved these empowering ads from Nike and the NFL, both of which showed the absolute forces women are and the power of inclusion! 

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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