<![CDATA[nike + nieto: conversations from the inside.]]>Say what you will about Nike, they’ve got a ginormous advertising budget and use it well. Always hitting on new ways to foster upcoming directors, designers, and animators. They give them the cash and freedom to really blow it out the door. It might all be part of an evil corporate greed machine, but with animation this kick ass I don’t really care.

For Nike Women, Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam has gone to some heavy hitters and created five separate spots inspired by different female athletes. The best one by far, produced by Paranoid US and directed by Nieto (who directed the Visa spot “Anthem”, one of the most beautiful ads from the Beijing Olympics), is an organ-by-organ account of what goes on inside runner Nicola Sander’s mind and body when she’s running a race. The result is freakin’ brilliant and entertaining to boot.

I also really like another Paranoid US contribution to the project (again, about an athlete named Nicola…) but this time it’s triathlete Nicola Spirig, directed by Edouard Salier.

Via Motionographer

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