Section 2 of 7
1998, and an advert better remembered than the final
France 98 produced a two-minute film set in an airport terminal and the strangest World Cup final of the modern era, and the two are connected only by the man at the centre of both. Nike held the Brazil kit contract, not the tournament.
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A departure lounge, a squad, and no pitch at all
Nike · Airport · 1998 · Wieden+Kennedy
Nike's 1998 film put the Brazil squad in an airport terminal. It is remembered better than most of the football played that summer.
The tunnel is the one place on a matchday where a camera can work without a crowd in the way. -
The biggest campaign of the tournament, and its strangest final
Nike · France 98 campaign · 1998 · Wieden+Kennedy
Ronaldo Nazário fronted the 1998 advertising and then played the final in circumstances that were disputed for years afterwards.
Ronaldo Nazário was twenty-one at France 98 and the centre of the largest campaign Nike had assembled.Photo: Ronaldo Nazário · Wikimedia Commons