Hanging the bell on the Tiger

Whew. That's it. I have no great pronouncements to make on the content or concept behind it other than it's pretty freaking good. 

What I'm really interested in is what it takes bring a spot like this to air (is that what it's called online, or is it space?). It's much more that coming up with the idea itself: Although it's obviously very good, the relationship between mentor/father and superstar/son is a well-established trope in our sports (Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky come to mind immediately), and certainly with Nike. And the idea of betraying the values of said idolized father is incredibly powerful -- it's a story that's been told since Biblical times.

So okay, it's a great concept. But I think equally importantly, the ability for this piece like this to be conceived and executed you must have:

A creative team who knows Tiger as well or better than he knows himself. My first thought was "How did they even know that recording existed? Where did it come from?" I suspect there's a huge library of this type of content at Nike, and the team knows every kilobite of it. Knowledge is the source of insight, and they have it in spades.

High level connections and trust between agency and client. Obviously Wieden & Kennedy and Nike are joined at the hip, but I'm guessing this is the kind of concept that doesn't get pitched by mid-level creative teams to mid-level marketing people. This is the kind of concept where Dan Wieden calls the Mike Parker and says "Listen, we want to do something big here." Or maybe not. But it's most certainly a product of trust and not tricks.

High level connection and trust between Nike and Woods: Can you imagine going to Tiger and his representatives and saying, "Okay, so we're going to create a piece where Tiger's dead father is speaking from the grave and what he's saying directly calls out Tiger's recent behaviour. Tiger does nothing but listen to the voice. Oh, and we're going to release on the first day of Augusta"? 

I can't. But they can, and did. 

And that's why the world is watching Tiger Woods and thinking about Nike at the same time.