Nike's Mercurial Vapor

This ad from Nike used the competition template (Goldenberg, Mazursky & Solomon, 1999) to promote their Mercurial Vapor shoes. In this ad, there was a competition (shuttle-run race) between football player Cristiano Ronaldo wearing Mercurial Vapor and a Bugatti Veyron, the fastest car in the world. The product, Mercurial Vapor, is subjected to competition with something from a different class (a sports car). In this competition between human and machine, audience commonly expect that the Bugatti Veyron will easily win the race. However, the result is the opposite, boasting the speed you could have when wearing Nike’s Mercurial Vapor: a speed that will make you even faster than a Bugatti Veyron.

Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Salomon, S. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads. Marketing Science, 18, 333-351.