Awaken the Phantom

2019 Clio Juror: Raja Sehgal
To launch Nike’s new PhantomVSN football boot, W&K Amsterdam created a tongue-in-cheek campaign to warn the world of the boot’s deadly precision. Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman, Kick-Ass, Layer Cake), an epic two-and-a-half-minute film tells the story of a mysterious player who, through word of mouth, becomes an urban legend of terrifying proportions. Phantom players Philippe Coutinho, Kevin De Bruyne and Mal Pugh all make an appearance, as do icons Ronaldinho, Neymar, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo, while the film also features Nigerian rap star WizKid, his posse Legendury Beatz, and Tiwa Savage. The music is a mashup between Genesis and Heavy Metal by Justice. Ahead of the film’s launch, a social campaign of more than 200 pieces of content also seeded supernatural myths around real Phantom players and the boot.
The sound design was a challenge as VFX and sound were being worked on at the same time, sounds for the Phantom were consistently played with as the VFX developed. The ending vortex is a build up of a large amount of detailed sound using the latest sound tools which crescendo’s into silence.