Wieden + Kennnedy has been getting a bit of stick over the first execution in the Nike ‘joga bonito’ world cup campaign. The campaign aims to highlight the things that are wrong with the modern game and champions the joy of football at its purest. The article above is from satirical magazine Private Eye, which has a go at the choice of Eric Cantona as a proponent for the Beautiful Game, citing the interesting statistic that Eric was responsible for a tackle voted the 44th worst of all time.

I guess any attempt by a brand of Nike’s stature to put forward a point of view about football that’s even midly provocative will attract criticism. But the point is Nike is a brand that at least attempts to have a point of view about sport and the part it plays in our culture and our lives. And making that attempt is what gives the brand a heart and soul that just isn’t there in the hundreds of other brands that will be trying to ‘own’ football around the time of the world cup. See what you think of the campaign at http://nikefootball.nike.com/nikefootball/siteshell/index.jsp

Account Director Penny Brough has just returned from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. That’s her on the right, above. She says:

Hello

Just a quick email to say thanks to everyone who sponsored me to climb Mt Kili. I made it to the summit, through a lovely snow storm.

PS Rotund look was more to do with the layers we needed to wear rather than the amount of weight I put on. Honest.

P x

What an amazing view. You don’t see that out the window of an office in the East End of London.