Nike is adamant. It’s making a stand and it wants you to listen. And it may well be right to do that. Its new market, its young market, wants brands to stand for something. So burning its shoes, cutting off its logo and threatening to boycott its products are not going to stop it from urging you to aim for the stars.

Wieden + Kennedy has released the two-minute Nike commercial that accompanies the campaign that has lit up social media with a lot of abuse. And Colin Kaepernik remains the voice of Nike.

The ad, Dream Crazy, follows the classic Nike “coach’s speech” format. “What non-believers fail to understand,” Kaepernik states, “is that calling a dream crazy is not an insult. It’s a compliment…Don’t ask if you dreams are crazy. Ask if they’re crazy enough.”

Illustrating Kaepernik’s points are snippets of the stories of star athletes such as LeBron James (who built a school) and Isaiah Bird, a wrestler without legs. Kaepernik’s controversial campaign statement finds its strength in this context. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” belongs in Nike’s vision of going for dreams.

The ad made its debut in the US during the Thursday Night Football telecast, and will appear during coverage of the U.S. Open, Major League Baseball games and college football games.

https://youtu.be/Fq2CvmgoO7I