Even Americans Think Joga Bonita is Pretty Cool

Nike's Joga Bonita campaign is well known, especially among soccer players. At soccer practice last night, we spent at least half an hour trying to recreate some of the moves Ronaldhino and Thierry Henry pull off in the spots. Simply put, Joga Bonita is basically the "And 1 Mix Tapes" of the soccer world. By immitating the Mix Tapes and taking the game back to the streets, Nike generates attention in a country that hasn't traditionally accepted soccer.

The new campaign is practically a continuation on the one Wieden + Kennedy put together for the World Cup in 2002. These also featured Eric Cantona and some of the world's greatest players. Like Joga Bonita, the old campaign was launched worldwide and doesn't include any Americans. The spots pitted the players against each other on a desolate tanker. The spots included, "First Goal Wins" and "First to 100 Wins". Here's more information about the old campaign.

The old campaign was pretty good, but compared to Joga Bonita, it looks like a high school science project. This time around, Nike launched the campaign on a much bigger scale. It's still global, but now, Joga Bonita is more about viral videos and less about commercials. It still relies on television to drive traffic to Nikefootball.com, but the innovations in technology and increased internet use allow the campaign to truly make its mark in cyber space.