“Winner Stays”, Featuring Ronaldo & Neymar, Tops List of the Most Exciting Nike Football Ads of All Time

World Cup 2014 ad “Winner Stays” is the most exciting Nike Football ad of all time. That’s according to new research from global creative effectiveness platform DAIVID, which ahead of EURO 2024 has used its advanced content testing platform – which measures the emotions people feel while watching ads – to identify the most exhilarating soccer campaigns from the iconic sports brand. 

“Winner Stays” – launched in the build-up to the 2014 Men’s World Cup in Brazil and featuring global football legends Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and Neymar – finished top after generating more than twice the amount of excitement from viewers than the average ad. 

That put it just ahead of “Nice To Beat You” , a spot created for the 2023 Women’s World Cup featuring USWNT star Sophia Smith, and EURO 2008 ad campaign “Take It To The Next Level” in second and third respectively. 

Nike’s iconic “Airport” ad, which features the 1998 World Cup Brazil squad, and “Dream Further”, released ahead of 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, complete the top 5. Other ads to make the top 10 include 2010 Men’s World Cup ad “Write The Future”, “Secret Tournament”, from the 2002 Men’s World Cup, and 2014’s “Dare To Be Brazilian”.

Ads that failed to make the top 10 include iconic campaigns “My Time Is Now” (13th), ”Good V Evil” (15th), and “Park Life” (22nd).    

To see the full chart, click here.

Ian Forrester, CEO and founder of DAIVID, said: “Nike’s pre-tournament campaigns have become essential viewing in the build-up to big footy tournaments, so the bar is really high.

"But ‘Winner Stays’ manages to really set pulses racing by not only featuring some of the sport’s greatest stars, but also by making it very relatable. It draws an intense response from viewers by making us think about our childhoods playing football with our friends and dreaming of playing with our favourite stars, reminding us why we fell in love with the game in the first place.”  

Based in London, DAIVID uses a suite of technologies – including facial coding, eye tracking, and computer vision – to help advertisers optimise their business and the emotional impact of their ad campaigns. Clients include Mediacom, Omnicom, and ADK Marketing Solutions.