Advertising Therapy: Nike and Tiger Woods

You wait all week for a good publicity conversation generator that is not related to the general election – and then an astonishing one pops up, in the shape of Nike’s Tiger Woods tour de force.

It’s an incredible, ambiguous piece of public therapy, and an extremely daring thing to do on the eve of a major tournament. Nike have always been good at this sort of daring advertising, but this is a masterpiece of the genre. Everybody is talking about it, either loving it or hating it. It is the epitome of the marmite factor.

How did they get Tiger to take part? Where did they get his dead father’s voice from – if it is his father? It’s like something out of a film co-directed by David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky. And the mystery – epitomized by Tiger’s blank expression – will make it a talking point for days to come. Assuming that Tiger’s golf is as good as it ever was, of course…