The world’s most watched sports commercials
The 90’s saw a movement in advertising that shifted towards embracing family values
Gambling Zone recently conducted a study analyzing Google Search data, YouTube views, and written content to put together a list of the “most loved sports commercials of all time”. In their findings, Nike dominated with six of the top ten commercials of all time, including the most watched on the list, Nike’s “write the future” ad which has close to 10 million views on YouTube. Gambling Zone’s metrics weren’t entirely based on YouTube views though, and their number one sports commercial of all time, coming in with a score of 8.69/10 in their metrics, was Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” ad. The 60 second commercial was released in 1991, featuring Michael Jordan playing basketball with children and an overall family-oriented tone. This commercial is a premier example of how the marketing around Michael Jordan and the NBA evolved in the ‘90’s, which saw a flux of ads portraying Jordan as a family man rather than focusing on his spectacular athletic abilities. The movement was due to a variety of off-court controversies that surrounded the NBA in the ‘80’s, giving the league stereotypes that they looked to combat in the ensuing decade. While Nike dominated Gambling Zone’s list, other brands in the top ten included McDonalds (“The Showdown” again featuring Jordan), Coca-Cola (“Hey Kid, Catch! Mean Joe Greene), and Under Armour’s “Protect This House” Campaign that put them on the map. Adidas made it’s name on the list of most googled ads of all time with their “Impossible is Nothing” campaign, which garnered 415,500 google searches. The world’s most popular sports commercials are successful for a variety of reasons, whether its star power, comedic effect, or pulling at your heartstrings, but they all share the common trait of being able to pull at human emotion and evoking a feeling out of the viewer in a short amount of time. The ad may not even be directly selling a product, but they create an aura and persona around their brand that people want to be apart of.