Fashion Blog

I really liked Nicool's post over at Room 116 about the new Nike women's advertising:

An article on AdAge.com talks about new work from Wieden + Kennedy (Portland) that "celebrates 'Big Butts, Thunder Thighs and Tomboy Knees.'" Similar to the Dove ads in targeting "real women", the article actually talks about how this campaign follows the same trend as the Dove ads but how it also goes beyond Dove and is setting itself apart. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the Dove ads are for women who are just larger, and the Nike ads are for women who are larger (or who feel something about them is different) because of the countless hours they put in playing sports and exercising?

I like the approach. I like all but the "My Butt is Big." ad. The copy didn't get me like in the other two. I'm also not too sure about the art direction (what are those water colored designs in the background?), but I think this campaign does a good job targeting the type of "real women" they are going after.

In 1990 I bought Women's Sports and Fitness Magazine out of bankruptcy. At the time, it was very hard to convince any advertiser, including those in the sports market, to treat real women with respect by acknowledging that they are not size 2 runway models. At the time, Nike was the only company that "Got it."

It's nice to see Nike leading the way to a more honest conversation with their customers. Through such honesty, a deeper trust is being created that will make it even harder for competitor's, such as Adidas/Reebok, to capture the hearts and minds of athletic women.