Wondros, Los Angeles, director Antoine Fuqua (Oscar®-winning Training Day) gets students in shape with a back-to-school boot camp for school featuring several of the world’s top athletes as instructors in the new :60 “They’re Back” for Nike and Foot Locker out of Wieden+Kennedy, Portland.  The spot, a continuations of Fuqua’s highly successful 2010 campaign, “The Educators,” features Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald and track star Anna Pierce, along with NBA All-Stars Rajon Rondo, Blake Griffin and Ama’re Stoudemire as instructors at a high school where students are in serious need of discipline.

The spot opens on the title graphic: “The Educators 2” while a Blackhawk helicopter descends towards a school.   We cut away to students arriving by school bus as  New York Knicks star Ama’re Stoudemire announces over the PA system: “Welcome back students, I hope you enjoyed your summer, but vacation stops here. Our staff is back and they came to make sure they take every advantage.”  As the helicopter hovers over the school, the athletes rappel from the helicopter onto the school athletic field donned in all-black attire with Nike shoes. Stoudemire’s voiceover introduces the elite instructors by their respective disciplines: Mr. Fitzgerald, science teacher; Ms. Pierce, math teacher; Mr. Rondo, drama teacher; and, finally, the menacing Mr. Griffin as head of detention.

We cut to Fitzgerald and Pierce in a dimly lit classroom, where students are running on treadmills and doing sprints between desks. We then transition to Rondo in a director’s chair, providing directions to students on a stage dribbling and shooting basketballs. Lastly, Griffin is shown screaming at fearful students in the basement, pushing them to jump higher, worker harder, and climb faster on the StairMasters. The spot closes on Principal Stoudemire declaring, “Day one is in the books, but the real work starts tomorrow” and ending with the Foot Locker logo, Nike logo, and footlocker.com/educators.

Fuqua’s feature Training Day won an Oscar® in 2002, and the director has had a prolific filmmaking career since, directing critically acclaimed films such as Brooklyn’s Finest, as well as music videos for such artists as Arrested Development, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Toni Braxton, Pras and Usher Raymond. He was nominated for MTV’s Best Rap Video and the Sinclair Tenebaum Olesiuk and Emanual Award for the trailer to the hit feature Dangerous Minds (1995). Among his many commercial credits are Wings for Men, Big Star Jeans, Miller Genuine Draft, Reebok, Toyota, Armani and Stanley Tools.

About Wondros

Wondros is a coalition of filmmakers, producers and talent. Designed to harness powerful social forces for like-minded causes and brands, Wondros employs the skill sets of top creative people to challenge conventions and invent new opportunities within the growing milieu of conscious capitalism.

Credits:

Client: Nike/Foot Locker
Title: “They’re Back”
Airdate: Currently airing
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, OR
Creative Directors: Ryan O’Rourke, Alberto Ponte
Copywriter: Brandon Pierce
Art Director: Sezay Altinok
Producer: Jen Dennis
Production Company: Wondros, Los Angeles, CA
Director: Antoine Fuqua
DP: Patrick Murguia
Producer: Suzanne Hargrove
EP: Gina Zapata
Post: Rock Paper Scissors, Santa Monica, CA
Editor: Adam Pertofsky