Losing the fear of co-promotion...writing the future of marketing

On Monday night, after the England Mexico game, I saw the full Nike advert ‘Write the future.’ It was the first major example, that I can recall, of a brand co-promoting competitive brands by tapping into the passion of the audience. The advert starts with Drogba in his orange Ivory Coast kit (Puma), before cutting to Wayne Rooney in his white England kit (Umbro) before moving to Brazil (Nike). Interestingly involving competitors did not dilute Nike’s positioning but rather positioned it as the leader of the pack.