Nike’s World Cup spot, Rip the Script, leans on serious star power, featuring Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo and even LeBron James.
Adidas counters with Backyard Legends, stacking its lineup with Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane—plus a cameo from an AI-generated David Beckham.
These campaigns feel more like Hollywood epics than standard commercials—and that level of celebrity doesn’t come cheap.
Reports suggest Adidas spent around £50m on its film. Neither brand would share exact budgets (we asked), but it’s clear the costs run into the tens of millions.
Sky-high spends aren’t new, yet this year both Nike and Adidas have pushed bigger and bolder than before.
Judged purely by YouTube views, there’s a clear front-runner right now.
Nike’s video has racked up about 76 million views, while Adidas’ sits near seven million.
Camilo Andrade, vice-president and general manager of Nike Global Football, said the pace and shape of culture have shifted. In the digital era, stories spread, splinter and get reimagined so quickly that relying on a single polished film no longer suffices.
With Rip the Script, he added, Nike built a broader football universe that lives both online and in the real world.
For this campaign, success wasn’t just about how many people watched, but about giving fans, players and creators something they could interpret, remix and push further themselves.
When that happens, he said, the work moves beyond advertising and becomes part of football culture.