Nike — TV Commercials

This 30-second spot for Nike was created in 2004 and is a permanent resident of MoMA, NY. To give you historical context, YouTube also launched in 2004. To learn more about my role, see the text commercial credits.

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Nike – The Music of Baseball
00:30 broadcast television commercial

kudos - AICP honoree and permanent resident of MoMA, NY

NOTE: (I wrote and storyboarded this particular script, and it was produced shot-for-shot, as it was scripted.)

"The Music of Baseball" - 00:30 broadcast TV commercial
art - Scott J Bailey
copy - Jim Elliott / Scott J Bailey
creative direction - Guy Seese
agency - Cole & Weber Red Cell, Seattle
client - Nike
kudos - AICP honoree and permanent resident of MoMA, NY

Situation: My writing partner, Jim Elliot, and I were tasked with creating a “co-op” 30 second television commercial for Nike and Dick’s Sporting Goods. While we had strong ideas scripted and ready to pitch that afternoon. Jim came to work that morning with a new "big idea," one that we agreed was brilliant, only he was about to go to a pre-scheduled event.

Task: to present the concept that afternoon, *I* would have to *write* the detailed script myself without my writer partner.

Action: I often say "I'm an artist, not an athlete,” however my pop was a minor league ball player. He spent one year in the minors, out of high school, and when he didn’t get picked for the majors, he abandoned the dream by joining the Navy. He since raised three boys, and we all played a little baseball, so I sat down and worked out the script, describing shot for shot, note for note, how “Take me out to the ballgame” might play with the sounds surrounding baseball.

Results: While you’ll have to take my work for this, the script was loved by Nike and Dicks, and went into production precisely as scripted. As I remember it, not a single shot was changed from the original script. Even the edit remained as scripted; the timing was the key. When it was finished, Nike was so pleased with the commercial, they renegotiated their deal with Dick’s for the rights to run the commercial for themselves, without the Dick’s logo at the end. Nike then ran the commercial during the college world series 2004/2005 and afterward it was honored by the AICP [association of independent commercial producers] and became a permanent resident of MoMA, NY.

Here's another one, just for fun!

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Nike – In Sync
00:30 broadcast television commercial

"In Sync" - 00:30 broadcast TV commercial
art - Scott J Bailey
copy - Jim Elliott
creative direction - Guy Seese
agency - Cole & Weber Red Cell, Seattle
client - Dick's Sporting Goods/Nike

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