Four GOATs, One Rebrand

Nike’s new World Cup-timed epic ‘Rip the Script‘ is meta. An ad about filming an ad, with dozens of moments that wink and nod to the world of sports and entertainment through well-placed celebrity and athlete cameos. There’s Channing Tatum following Erling Haaland’s lead as his body double, Zlatan featuring as an analyst on a faux sports panel show, Cole Palmer (who surprisingly wasn’t selected for the tournament) playing hype man in a faux hip-hop video.

Buried about three minutes into the spot is a refreshingly self-aware scene showcasing Nike execs presenting another ad campaign idea to both LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo called ‘THE GOAT’S GOODBYE’. Except neither wants the idea for themselves, presumably because they’re not ready to say goodbye, and they pass what looks like a script back and forth to each other.

Full article on substack…

Good luck out there!

One of the most curious things around the AI revolution has been its marketing. Tech leaders have continuously pitched AI as unleashing something too powerful to control. Well, possibly too hard to control. Only if you let those other guys over there win.

There’s been a strange outcome of all the doomsday talk, as well as very real layoffs and uncertainty. Young people are turning against tech. In part, because entry level jobs seem like some of the hardest hit by AI adoption. It’s also created a future for them that they can’t possibly envision, which makes it pretty hard to follow your dreams.

Full version on Substack…