That Nike ad. Stop wondering how much it cost and start wondering: how on earth did it get approved? Let’s take a look.
You’ll see that Nike (and their agency, Wieden + Kennedy) have saturated the ad with countless references, in-jokes and knowing nods that will delight every possible fan demographic, in a way that means you can’t not watch it.
We’ve been there; we made YouTube’s 10th birthday film back in 2015 - and, being YouTube, its audience was basically everyone. The result was a 3 minute stuffed-to-the-brim bonanza of YouTube’s most viral content, celebrating a whole host of communities and in-jokes.
But, back to the Nike ad - is it a little gratuitous? Probably, but regardless of that, two things are definitely true:
- It cost a LOT of money to make. For a brand that reported a 10% decline in 2025 revenue, it was a big commercial risk for Nike to make it.
- It would have been hella difficult to get the concept signed off, at Every. Single. Stage.
So, what does it take to get your mad, very expensive, fairly risky creative idea over the (halfway) line, and into the goal? (Sorry.)
There is the fact that Nike have done this before - they've taken big swings and had them pay off, which is a huge de-risking factor. But if you’re going to go all in like this, our biggest piece of advice, and one that often gets thrown out in the excitement of the moment, is to lead with the customer, not your idea.
Our creative process starts with one simple thing: detailed customer research. Desk research (now supercharged by AI tools) and structured 1:1 interviews with the target audience.
We won a five-way pitch for Plum's first brand campaign on the back of exactly this. Speaking to potential customers across three markets, we kept hearing the same thing: everyone knew they should be saving more, but they weren't - not because the product wasn't good enough, but because of inertia. Time, fear and indecision. That single insight - that the barrier was emotional, not rational - became the entire campaign platform. Do It With Plum wasn't about features or rates, it was about removing the excuse not to start.
As an agency, being able to tell your client what their customers actually need, in their own words, is the key to unlocking the weird and wonderful. I imagine that's exactly how Wieden + Kennedy got this signed off too.
Nike had the budget, the relationships, and the track record to make Rip the Script happen. Most brands don't. But the principles that got it approved - research that makes bold ideas hard to argue with, a strategy tight enough to contain the chaos, stakeholders brought in early enough to feel ownership - none of those require a Hollywood budget. The brands making the most interesting creative right now aren't necessarily the ones with the most money, they’re the ones who really do their homework before the “fun” stuff begins.