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Pretty (advert)
Encyclopedia
Pretty is a television advertisement launched in 2006 by Nike, Inc.
to promote its Nike Women brand
of sportswear
. The 60-second spot was handled by advertising agency
Wieden+Kennedy
in Portland, Oregon
. The advert stars Russian
tennis
player Maria Sharapova
in her first appearance as a spokesperson for the brand. Pretty debuted on U.S. television
on August 20, 2006, with later appearances in cinemas and in print advertisements. It was directed by Czech director Ivan Zacharias, with post-production and VFX work by The Mill
.
The piece was a critical and popular success. It garnered several prestigious awards from the advertising and television industries, including two Cannes Gold Lions
and a Gold Effie Award.
's Arthur Ashe Stadium
pursued by paparazzi
. Every person she passes on the way sings a line from "I Feel Pretty", a song performed by the character Maria in the second act of the stage musical
"West Side Story
". She arrives at the game, where fellow players, reporters, camera crew, the ball boys and girls
, announcers, and umpire sing the chorus along with the crowd, until silenced by a powerful return ace
from Sharapova. The ad ends with a superimposition of the Nike Swoosh
and the strapline "Just Do It" over Sharapova as she gets into position for the next serve.
began its partnership with Nike, Inc. in 1982 and, aside from a short period in the mid-1980s, has held the account ever since. In the early years of the partnership, campaigns were focused almost exclusively at male demographics, leaving the market for women's sportswear to rivals such as Reebok
and LA Gear
. The few campaigns targeted by Nike at women in the 1980s, including one with the copy line "It wouldn't hurt to stop eating like a pig, either.", had not proved particularly effective. Despite more successful efforts in the 1990s, such as the "If You Let Me Play" campaign, Nike decided in 1997 to briefly reassign the section of its marketing budget given to female-oriented promotion from Wieden+Kennedy to rival firm Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Goodby's brief tenure as lead agency for this area of Nike's marketing saw it reposition the brand, eschewing the use of celebrity athletes in favour of ordinary women. However, the consolidation of Nike's account in 1999 with Wieden+Kennedy marked the return of celebrity endorsements
to Nike campaigns, including athletes such as Olympic runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton
. Pretty continued this trend, and showcased the debut of Maria Sharapova as a spokesperson for the brand.
Maria Sharapova had been playing tennis professionally since 2001, and became the youngest girl to reach the final at the junior Australian Open
the following year, at the age of 14. In 2004, Sharapova became the third-youngest winner of the women's Wimbledon Championships
. By 2005, she was ranked Number 1 in the world. Pretty was filmed and released in the run-up to Sharapova's appearance in the 2006 U.S. Open.
's "Born Free" campaign and the Stella Artois
pieces Plague and Pilot, to direct Pretty. Filming was done entirely on location, and the performances by the actors used in the spot were recorded live on set by miniature microphones concealed in their costume. Pretty was to be the first time Sharapova would appear in the Nike performance tennis dress she would wear to the U.S. Open. The stadium scene was filmed with only 100 extra
s, along with Tennis Hall of Fame inductee John McEnroe
, his brother and captain of the 2004 U.S. Men's Olympic tennis team, Patrick McEnroe
, and two-time tennis Olympic gold medalist Mary Joe Fernandez
. The remaining 26,000 members of the crowd were created by The Mill
before filming even began, using Massive, and were added to the scene in post production. Flame was used for minor enhancements to the piece, including adding reflections and other cleanup.
's annual Teen Choice Awards
ceremony, a week before the start of the 2006 U.S. Open. Its run continued in bursts throughout the remainder of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007. The ad proved fairly popular, and was praised for showing female athletes as strong and self-assured, in direct contrast to an earlier campaign run during the 2004 Summer Olympics
which showed Olympic runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton fleeing from a masked killer.
The piece was also critically successful, receiving a number of awards from the advertising and television industries, including two Cannes Gold Lions
in the categories of Film and Best Use of Music. It was shortlisted alongside Paint (Sony
), Power of Wind (Epuron) and eventual winner Evolution
(Dove
) for the festival's Grand Prix, regarded as the most prestigious award in the advertising industry. The acceptance of the award for Best Use of Music by art director
Mira Kaddoura marked the first time a Lebanese
person received a Gold Lion.
Other awards given to the team behind Pretty include a Gold Effie Award, A Rosey Award for "Production over $50,000", a Silver from the Art Directors' Annual Awards in the "Over 30 Seconds" category, a Silver in the "Retail" category of the British Television Advertising Awards
, and a Bronze Clio Award
in the "Apparel/Fashion" category.
Maria Sharapova went on to win the 2006 U.S. Open, and continues to act as a celebrity spokesperson for the Nike brand. In 2008, she was the focus of another Wieden+Kennedy piece entitled Be Your Own Fan, part of the web-based
"Here I Am" advertising campaign, which charts her career to date in animated form.
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
to promote its Nike Women brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
of sportswear
Sportswear
Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons....
. The 60-second spot was handled by advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy is an independently owned American advertising agency best known for its work for Nike...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. The advert stars Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
in her first appearance as a spokesperson for the brand. Pretty debuted on U.S. television
Television in the United States
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
on August 20, 2006, with later appearances in cinemas and in print advertisements. It was directed by Czech director Ivan Zacharias, with post-production and VFX work by The Mill
The Mill (post-production)
The Mill is a post-production and visual effects company launched in 1990 with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles.The Mill's Film special effects subsidiary, Mill Film, won an Oscar for its work on the film Gladiator. The Mill was the first UK-based post-production company to set up...
.
The piece was a critical and popular success. It garnered several prestigious awards from the advertising and television industries, including two Cannes Gold Lions
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France...
and a Gold Effie Award.
Sequence
Pretty follows a day in the life of Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova. It shows her getting ready, leaving The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and travelling by limousine to a match at New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium, a part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center located within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens, is the main tennis stadium of the US Open, the last of each year's four Grand Slam tournaments, and also where the annual Arthur Ashe...
pursued by paparazzi
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
. Every person she passes on the way sings a line from "I Feel Pretty", a song performed by the character Maria in the second act of the stage musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
"West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
". She arrives at the game, where fellow players, reporters, camera crew, the ball boys and girls
Ball Boy
Ball Boy is a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano and also the name of the main character. It first appeared in issue 1735, dated 18 October 1975. It features a five-a-side football team that includes:* Ball Boy - the captain of the team, Ball Boy bears resemblances to The Dandy's Owen Goal...
, announcers, and umpire sing the chorus along with the crowd, until silenced by a powerful return ace
Ace (tennis)
In tennis, an ace is a legal serve that is not touched by the receiver, winning the point.In professional tennis, aces are generally seen on a player's first serve, where the server can strike the ball with maximum force and take more chances with ball placement .The most common placement of an ace...
from Sharapova. The ad ends with a superimposition of the Nike Swoosh
Swoosh
Swoosh is the symbol of the athletic shoe and clothing manufacturer Nike. It is among the most easily recognized brand logos in the world.-History:...
and the strapline "Just Do It" over Sharapova as she gets into position for the next serve.
Background
The advertising agency Wieden+KennedyWieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy is an independently owned American advertising agency best known for its work for Nike...
began its partnership with Nike, Inc. in 1982 and, aside from a short period in the mid-1980s, has held the account ever since. In the early years of the partnership, campaigns were focused almost exclusively at male demographics, leaving the market for women's sportswear to rivals such as Reebok
Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...
and LA Gear
LA Gear
LA Gear is an American shoe company based in Los Angeles, California. It is owned by ACI International.-Early days:L.A. Gear was founded by Boston-born Robert Y. Greenberg in 1979 to market and rent roller skates in Venice Beach. In 1985 after finding that less than 20 percent of athletic shoes...
. The few campaigns targeted by Nike at women in the 1980s, including one with the copy line "It wouldn't hurt to stop eating like a pig, either.", had not proved particularly effective. Despite more successful efforts in the 1990s, such as the "If You Let Me Play" campaign, Nike decided in 1997 to briefly reassign the section of its marketing budget given to female-oriented promotion from Wieden+Kennedy to rival firm Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Goodby's brief tenure as lead agency for this area of Nike's marketing saw it reposition the brand, eschewing the use of celebrity athletes in favour of ordinary women. However, the consolidation of Nike's account in 1999 with Wieden+Kennedy marked the return of celebrity endorsements
Testimonial
In promotion and of advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a written or spoken statement, sometimes from a person figure, sometimes from a private citizen, extolling the virtue of some product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary...
to Nike campaigns, including athletes such as Olympic runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton
Suzy Favor-Hamilton
Suzy Favor-Hamilton is a former American professional middle distance runner.-Biography:Suzy Favor-Hamilton was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin to Conrad and Rachel Favor. She began running at age nine, and then attended and competed at Stevens Point Area Senior High, graduating in 1986...
. Pretty continued this trend, and showcased the debut of Maria Sharapova as a spokesperson for the brand.
Maria Sharapova had been playing tennis professionally since 2001, and became the youngest girl to reach the final at the junior Australian Open
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
the following year, at the age of 14. In 2004, Sharapova became the third-youngest winner of the women's Wimbledon Championships
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
. By 2005, she was ranked Number 1 in the world. Pretty was filmed and released in the run-up to Sharapova's appearance in the 2006 U.S. Open.
Production
Production of the commercial began in early 2006. Wieden+Kennedy signed up director Ivan Zacharias, known for his award-winning work on Land RoverLand Rover
Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...
's "Born Free" campaign and the Stella Artois
Stella Artois
Stella Artois is a 5% ABV lager brewed in Leuven, Belgium since 1926. In the UK, Canada and New Zealand a 4% ABV version is also available.-Production:...
pieces Plague and Pilot, to direct Pretty. Filming was done entirely on location, and the performances by the actors used in the spot were recorded live on set by miniature microphones concealed in their costume. Pretty was to be the first time Sharapova would appear in the Nike performance tennis dress she would wear to the U.S. Open. The stadium scene was filmed with only 100 extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
s, along with Tennis Hall of Fame inductee John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
, his brother and captain of the 2004 U.S. Men's Olympic tennis team, Patrick McEnroe
Patrick McEnroe
Patrick John McEnroe is a former professional tennis player and the former captain of the United States Davis Cup team.Born in Manhasset, New York, he is the younger brother of John McEnroe...
, and two-time tennis Olympic gold medalist Mary Joe Fernandez
Mary Joe Fernández
Mary Joe Fernández Godsick is an American former professional tennis player...
. The remaining 26,000 members of the crowd were created by The Mill
The Mill (post-production)
The Mill is a post-production and visual effects company launched in 1990 with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles.The Mill's Film special effects subsidiary, Mill Film, won an Oscar for its work on the film Gladiator. The Mill was the first UK-based post-production company to set up...
before filming even began, using Massive, and were added to the scene in post production. Flame was used for minor enhancements to the piece, including adding reflections and other cleanup.
Release and reception
Pretty debuted on U.S. television on Sunday August 20, 2006, in a commercial break during FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
's annual Teen Choice Awards
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...
ceremony, a week before the start of the 2006 U.S. Open. Its run continued in bursts throughout the remainder of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007. The ad proved fairly popular, and was praised for showing female athletes as strong and self-assured, in direct contrast to an earlier campaign run during the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
which showed Olympic runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton fleeing from a masked killer.
The piece was also critically successful, receiving a number of awards from the advertising and television industries, including two Cannes Gold Lions
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France...
in the categories of Film and Best Use of Music. It was shortlisted alongside Paint (Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
), Power of Wind (Epuron) and eventual winner Evolution
Evolution (Dove)
Evolution is an advertising campaign launched by Unilever in 2006 as part of its Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, to promote the newly created Dove Self-Esteem Fund. The centre of the Unilever campaign is a 75-second spot produced by Ogilvy & Mather in Toronto, Canada...
(Dove
Dove (brand)
Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever.Dove products are manufactured in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and United States. The products are sold in more than 35 countries and are offered for both women and men.. The Dove...
) for the festival's Grand Prix, regarded as the most prestigious award in the advertising industry. The acceptance of the award for Best Use of Music by art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
Mira Kaddoura marked the first time a Lebanese
Lebanese people
The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
person received a Gold Lion.
Other awards given to the team behind Pretty include a Gold Effie Award, A Rosey Award for "Production over $50,000", a Silver from the Art Directors' Annual Awards in the "Over 30 Seconds" category, a Silver in the "Retail" category of the British Television Advertising Awards
British Television Advertising Awards
The British Television Advertising Awards are awarded each year at the Walker Art Center....
, and a Bronze Clio Award
Clio Awards
The Clio Awards are annual awards bestowed to reward innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design and communication. The categories include work in nearly all types of media, and the judges are advertising professionals from around the world....
in the "Apparel/Fashion" category.
Maria Sharapova went on to win the 2006 U.S. Open, and continues to act as a celebrity spokesperson for the Nike brand. In 2008, she was the focus of another Wieden+Kennedy piece entitled Be Your Own Fan, part of the web-based
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...
"Here I Am" advertising campaign, which charts her career to date in animated form.