The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2022-2023
Nike's Footballverse builds every sound from scratch so audio drives the film
Sam and Jake Ashwell of 750mph created every sound in Nike's 4.5-minute Footballverse ad from scratch, letting audio set the pace and carry the story.
Nike · Wieden+Kennedy Portland
What it had to solve
Nike's Footballverse is a four-and-a-half-minute spot that moves from fast-paced football to the rising tension of scientists sizing up the greats of the game. The brief to sound house 750mph was to bring that range of energy to life, with sound helping to build the narrative and express the players' emotions from humour to intense energy.
How it works
Nike's Footballverse is a four-and-a-half-minute film that swings between football at full speed and the rising tension of scientists sizing up the game's greats. The D&AD archive's own note on the advert is blunt: the sound is key to driving the pace and the narrative.
Sound house 750mph, led by designers Sam and Jake Ashwell, treated audio as the engine rather than an add-on. Every single sound in the film was created specifically for it, with the sound bed built from scratch through sound design, foley and manipulation of SFX instead of stock material.
With nothing pre-made to lean on, pace, energy and emotion had to be manufactured: the sound drives the ad and expresses the players' moods from humour to intense energy. The approach won Best Sound Design in Broadcast Advertising at the 2023 Music+Sound Awards, and D&AD's 2023 annual filed the film under sound design and use of music.
Why it lands
- Building every sound bespoke gives the edit a continuous energy that nothing from a library can match.
- When the picture cuts between football and tension, an audio through-line keeps the film feeling like one piece.
- Letting sound lead the pace lets an audience feel the energy before they fully parse the visuals.
- A craft decision became the idea itself: the discipline of building audio from zero is what the awards recognised.
What it did
The work won Best Sound Design in Broadcast Advertising at the 2023 Music+Sound Awards, and D&AD's 2023 professional annual entered the film under sound design and use of music.
What you can take
When a film spans many speeds and moods, make audio the common engine: creating every sound bespoke - foley, design and manipulated SFX - lets pace, humour and tension move as one continuous current.
Since then
Footballverse became a documented reference for sound-led advertising: 750mph's Sam and Jake Ashwell won Best Sound Design in Broadcast Advertising at the 2023 Music+Sound Awards, and D&AD's 2023 professional annual entered Nike FC's Footballverse under sound design and use of music, with Wieden+Kennedy Portland credited as the advertising agency.
Sources
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