Nike and Speed

Nike is omnipresent.  It has grown from a small niche shoe company in the late 1970's into a multi-national company with a 100 billion dollar market capitalization. Ever since I started playing basketball, I wanted to wear Nike shoes and apparel.  I even like the feel of Nike basketballs more than the feel of basketballs of Nike competitors. If the goal of Nike advertising is brand loyalty, they have definitely succeeded with me.  

Nike is such an iconic brand (and the swoosh logo is so universally known) that it is not even necessary to feature some sort of product in their ad. There are not a lot of companies like Nike that can publish an ad without featuring its product.    

I love this simple advertisement. The ad features a cheetah seemingly flying through the air with a superimposed Nike logo prominently displayed on its side.  The ad rhetorically asks the reader what is the secret of speed, and then says lets "Ask the Master." The master is the Cheetah-- the fastest creature in the animal kingdom-- able to achieve a speed of 75 miles per hour running up to 500 feet.
The question seems so understated because the lettering is relatively small, not in bold print, and a dullish white in contrast to the Nike logo. But of course the answer is so significant.



What is interesting about the ad is the cheetah never directly answers the seemingly rhetorical question what is the secret of speed.  Instead, the reader needs to make the connection that the secret must be Nike products because the famous swoosh logo is superimposed on the cheetah.  I imagine that Nike is trying to selling running shoes with the ad--though it is possible the ad is promoting all Nike shoes.  We have the typical faulty analogy identification in the ad. The ad is effectively saying buy Nike products and you too will run fast like the cheetah.  Of course we know that logically that it is not the shoe that makes one fast--it is genetics and training.  Nevertheless, there is always the chance--however remote it may be the shoes make a difference.  Just in case the shoe does matter, you better go with Nike.  I certainly do.   

The photography of the ad reinforces the message of the ad on two fronts. As briefly mentioned above, the Cheetah is presented in the air almost like it is flying, which is true speed. Also the photograph of the cheetah is is crystal clear, but the background (primarily empty space and what looks like grass) is intentionally blurry. The cheetah is therefore so fast that what is around it is just a blur.

The colors of the ad do a great job of highlighting the message. The orange and brown cheetah stands out nicely against the blurred green grass and the black background. Thus, the reader is focused visually on the cheetah.  The white swoosh logo also stands out boldly along with the capitalized NIKE letters.