A lot, if not most people, consider inclement weather a good reason not to exercise. But in an ad promoting Nike’s new line of all-weather footwear and apparel, precipitation becomes the catalyst for hundreds of people to drop what they’re doing and go for a run. "Raining Runners," was created by Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore., and directed by Ringan Ledwidge of London-based Harry Nash.
The :60 (which was also cut as a :30) opens on a Philadelphia street corner where a couple of pedestrians wait to cross the intersection. The rumbling of thunder leads into a shot of a threatening sky with dark clouds rolling in. (The storm effects were created by Sight Effects, Venice, Calif.) As the initial notes of the audio track—"Everything is Alright" by Four-Tet—are heard, we see the first evidence of rain: a puddle speckled with raindrops. A businessman shields his head with the day’s newspaper, and a restaurant worker walks down a quiet alley, looking skyward before observing a few runners that cross his path. The rain comes down harder and the music intensifies as a woman sipping coffee in a café watches more runners appear, seemingly out of nowhere. Cut to a shot of Olympic 5000-meter runner Bob Kennedy hurriedly adjusting his sneakers as he descends a flight of stairs and leaves his apartment building. A close shot of his foot reveals Nike’s new Air Crested Butte all-weather running shoe.
More runners populate the street as a girl runs up the stairs from a subway platform. Non-runners huddle under shop awnings as the street becomes so crowed it looks as if a marathon race is in progress. The runners’ enthusiasm has become infectious: the girl from the café shakes her head in amusement as other onlookers share a grin. A low shot of the runners’ feet splashing through puddles is accompanied by a few whoops of joy. The grand finale is an overhead shot of the intersection as runners crisscross each other from the intersection’s four directions in what looks like a choreographed routine. The rain abates as does the music, and we see from behind the female jogger as she lifts her palms, realizes the shower is over, then slows to a walk and shrugs. The tag: "Enjoy the Weather."
Two additional spots in the campaign feature Olympic Gold medallist Marion Jones and three-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong. Chris Palmer of London-based Gorgeous Enterprises and bicoastal Anonymous Content directed "Off Road" featuring Armstrong, while "Snow Plow" with Jones was helmed by Dante Ariola, who had been with Propaganda prior to it’s recent closing (SHOOT, 11/16, p. 1). The "Enjoy the Weather" campaign also comprises print and Web initiatives.
"Nike wanted something to combat the idea that, in bad weather, most people sit on the couch and get fat," explained W+K copywriter Mark Fitzloff. "So the question was, How could we make someone look at rain and say, ‘I want to go out there’? It’s one of those spots that doesn’t really wow you on paper, but especially with Ringan, he was able to capture this mood with the rain and the music and get this magic moment. He’s one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with."
"Raining Runners" was shot over three days on location at the intersection of 12th and Locust Streets in Philadelphia. (The spot was originally supposed to shoot in Prague, but that changed in light of the Sept. 11 events.)
"It was an elaborate set up," said W+K producer Jennifer Smieja. "We used lots of rain towers. The main intersection was rigged as well as several alleyways. There were different grades of rain they could dial in, so they’d designate a five or a 10 for each scene. There were a lot of changes of clothes, especially socks." According to Ledwidge, 40,000 liters of water were used in the first day.
Not surprisingly, rain was foremost in the director’s mind. "The thing I was most concerned about getting in camera was having it go from rain to having the rain stopping, so you’d actually see the rain stop," he told SHOOT. "We had good control over the degree of rain, but [when the towers are turned off] you get that residual few seconds and then you get the drips from the towers. I was concerned about not seeing the rain stop. [Rain technician] Jimmy Mazola made these fantastic rigs that allowed me to get that sudden stop of rain and not have the residual dripping. It took us a few takes to get it right, but I was very fortunate he was around. If it was anyone else, I’d have been incredibly nervous." The director also singled out the value of production assistant Jimmy Parker in helping the shoot to go off without a hitch.
Working with about 300 runners—which were cast out of nearly 1,000 people from local running clubs who showed up for the open audition—turned out to be a wise decision. "Rather than the usual ‘Turn to the right. Turn to the left,’ we had them move around and run in place [during casting]," noted Fitzloff. "Even if you’re not a hard-core runner, you either have a natural ability and gait or you don’t. So that was what we were looking for."
Likewise, Ledwidge theorized that the athletes had a higher threshold for the wet shooting conditions. "Obviously with the downpour, the runners were freezing," the director explained. "The fact that they were all long-distance runners made them a bit more immune to the cold. And a lot were just excited to be there. Every time the rain machines would go on, they’d all start jumping up and down, kind of psyching each other up."
Dave Backus and Dominic Mandy, first and second assistant directors, respectively, were instrumental in organizing the overhead shot in which the crowd of runners crisscross each other. "We didn’t have a choreographer, partly because I wanted to see that sense of freedom," Ledwidge said. "But we also didn’t want people bumping into one another. But Dave and Dominic helped me a lot. That one shot in particular [was important] because of where we were musically." In the scene, the music crests. "I wanted a beautiful flow."
Speaking of the score, it was Ledwidge’s suggestion to license the track by musician Kieran Hebden, who is a member of a couple of bands, but also does solo work under the moniker Four-Tet for Domino Records in England.
"In a lot of the work I do, I use music for inspiration, and I just stumbled across him—I read a magazine review, bought the CD and listened to it," Ledwidge said. Prior to going into production, he continued, "I was going through my CDs. We wanted a bit of soul and something evocative of rain, rather than something that was too electronic. I found this track and it had this uplifting feeling, a good emotional side to it. Kieran’s only twenty-three, and was out touring the U.S. in the back of a bus with his laptop. But we managed to track him down and send him a cut of the spot, and he was really into it. He took that song and scored it more to the commercial itself."
Overall, Ledwidge said he enjoyed the message of the ad as much as the experience of making it. "I don’t know how you can’t have fun doing something like this, where you’re playing God, making it rain. [But] the thing I really liked is that the ad was a sort of celebration; there’s so many clever, cool ads nowadays, almost too many. It was nice to do something about a simple truth and celebration rather than any big clever idea. It was appealing to do something uplifting but not cheesy, and visually it had great opportunities as well."
