"Nike Football: The Last Game." It's simply undeniable that a lot of terrific animation is appearing in advertisements from deep-pocket sponsors. Ignoring it would mean ignoring some really entertaining stuff.

It's quite simple: the mass producers for mass consumerism have the money to pay top celebrities to appear in (or voice) their animations. They also have the money to hire the most skilled animators. Thrown in a theme that's a real crowd-pleaser - say, something about footballers battling for all the worlds' peoples around World Cup time or something like that - and bang: you've got an epically entertaining animation.

Before anyone gets into a huff about posting commercials, the simple truth is that all professional animation is trying to sell something, and that's how things work. Advertisements are just forthright about it.

Here, it is some kind of  5 1/2 minute (making this an animated short) mock-heroic nonsense from Nike about clones taking over football (yes, I'm saying football for soccer because that's what 90% of the world calls it), and the human stars fighting back.

This is part of Nike's "Risk Everything" campaign, orchestrated by its agency, Wieden + Kennedy. What kind of odd is that, despite paying for the top stars, they don't actually show them, only their animated figures. This isn't so odd anymore, given the close resemblance these days of animation to real life. But that kind of makes a statement about the quality of animation.

The theme of the spot is that mad scientists have created clone versions of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrés Iniesta, Franck Ribery, David Luiz, and Tim Howard. The idea is that humans are too fallible and take too many dramatic but low-percentage plays on the field. So, the clones will be programmed to do everything the "right" way.

Obviously, you can see where this is going. It's not like there are any clones out there right now to buy Nike footwear (just wait until that happens and watch how fast these guys change the plot outcome of stories like "The Last Game").

Top talent was arranged, and it shows. The spot was directed by Jon Saunders of Passion Pictures.

It's all for fun and there are some light-hearted jabs at some of the players.

If you like this, you might also like the shorter official promo for the World Cup 2014, done by animation powerhouse Aardman Animation.


Here's a  summary.

'The Last Game' is a story about risky football versus safe football. 

The scientist and the clones want to prove that riskless football is more effective. 

Ronaldo Fenomeno and the original players disagree, and they are willing to risk everything to prove the scientist wrong. 

There is only one way to know who is right: the Last Game. 

Featuring (animated): Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Neymar Júnior, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrés Iniesta, David Luiz, Franck Ribéry, Tim Howard and Ronaldo Fenomeno.

Ever wonder how many people it takes to put out one of these bad boys? A lot:
CREDITS
Client: Nike
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Global Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke
Digital Director: Dan Viens
Copywriter: Alberto Ponte
Art Director: Ryan O’Rourke
Global Executive Producer: Matt Hunnicutt
Agency Senior Producer: Erika Madison
Production Assistant: Julie Gursha
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz
Account Team: Alyssa Ramsey, Molly Rugg, Karrelle Dixon
Business Affairs Manager: Karen Crossley
Project Manager: Jordan Schroeder
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples, Susan Hoffman
Production
Production Company: Passion
Director: Jon Saunders
Writers: Jon Saunders, James Russell, Kevin Cecil, Steven Hall, Lucy Guy
Story Development Team: Andrew Ruhemann, Pete Candeland, Alex Webster, Brendan Houghton, Ryan Goodwin-Smith
Additional Story Assistance: Daniel Emmerson, Simon Griffin, Lee Hempstock, Rob Sprackling, John Smith
Development Creative Director: Pete Candeland
Executive Producers: Andrew Ruhemann, Alex Webster
Head of Production: Anna Lord
Producer: Ryan Goodwin-Smith
Line Producer: Adriana Piasek-Wanski
Production Coordinators: Anna Cunnington, Kate Goodwin
Production Assistant: Becky Perryman
VO Casting Directors: Claudia Hesse, Hannah Simons
Voice Actors
Scientist: Jonathan Oliver
Neymar: Bruno Garcez
Iniesta: Andres Williams
Zlatan: Adam Shaw
Rooney: Neil Fitzmaurice
David Luiz– Mauricio Brandes
Tim Howard: Tom Clarke Hill (also plays LeBron TVC VO and Football Commentator)
Cristiano Ronaldo: Hugo Nicolau
TV News Anchor: Victoria Lesiw (also plays TV Interviewer)
Fenomeno: Rhasaan Orange
Commentator 1: Jonathan Clays
Commentator 2: Tony Lockwood
Commentator 3: John Roder
Commentator 4: Bill Leslie
Hindi Newscaster VO: Sanghamitra Mandal
Mandarin Newscaster VO: Sun Ye
Spanish Newscaster VO: Alberto de Matteis
Animation Director: Mark Waring
Football Choreography Consultant: Andy Ansah
Head of CG: Jason Nicholas
VFX Supervisor: Neil Riley
CG Supervisor: Cesar Nunes
CG Coordination: Suzanne Forward, Derek Walsh, Amelie Zilliox, Mark Harper, Dave Powell
Additional Coordination: Carine Buncsi
Art Direction: Painting Practice, Cesar Nunes
Character Design: Jon Saunders, Alex Huguet, Gillian Reid, Leeroy Vanilla, Dan Lambert
Production Designer: Dan May (via Painting Practice)
Concept Art: Painting Practice, Daniel Cacouault, John Park, Thomas Scholes
CG Design Development: Jake Slutsky
Storyboards: Brendan Houghton, Yohann Auroux (clean-up)
Previz Lead: Xavier Zahra, Richard Perry
Previz: Mark Brown, Paul Cousins, Emiliano Nanfaro, Stephen Harrison, Daniel Adams
Editing
For Whitehouse Post London/New York:
Paul La Calandra: Editor
Joe Petruccio: Assistant Editor
Lisa Kenrick: Executive Producer
Lauren Hertzberg: EP NY
Nick Crane: Producer
For Passion: Victoria Lesiw
Additional Editing for Passion: Anne Monnehay, Tim King
Layout: Daniel Adams, Remi Cauquil, Anthony Martin
Character Modelling Supervisor: Alex Huguet
Character Modelling: Mattias Bjurstrom, Tom Bryant, Dan Fine, Julia Friedl, Craig Maden, Abner Marin, Angel Navarro, Alex Stratulat
Environments Modelling Supervisor: Ian Brown
Environment Modelling: Zahra Al-Naib, Florence Ciuccoli, Guillaume Fuentes, Jacob Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Gracia, Francois Mancone, Paco Rocha, Florent Rousseau, Vladimir Venkov, Sarah Zaher
Texturing: Ellie Bond, Amanda Bone, Katreena Bowell, Claudia Carvalho, Eva De Prado, David Domingo Jimenez, Lesley Rooney, Grace Stephens
Rigging: Andrew Butler, Chris Dawson, Morgan Evans, Maarten Heinstra, Maickel Pasta, Georg Schneider
Animation Lead: Conor Ryan
Animation
Magali Barbe, Antoine Bourruel, Cath Brooks, Wesley Coman, Catherine Elvidge, Rhiannon Evans, Aldo Gagliardi, Alex Grigg, Annie Habermehl, Rimelle Khayat, Boris Kossmehl, Karin Mattsson, Daniel Meitin, Florian Mounie, Nora OSullivan, Garrick Rawlingson, Alvaro Martin Saez de Parayuelo, David Sigrist, Milian Topsy, Rodrigo Torres, Marie Vorhoeven, Chris Welsby, Steven White, (Darren Walsh: Magpie)
FX
Supervisor: Jamie Franks
FX: Sam Swift-Glasman, Junaid Syed, Dan Warder
Cloth: Ariele Podrieder Lenzi: Senior Cloth TD, Antonios Defteraios, Will Fife, Jayson King, Colin Perret, Michael Sofoluke
Hair: Chema Del Fresno, Kwai Ip (also cloth)
Crowd: Jonny Grew
L&R Lead: Christian Mills, Arnoud Machtou
Lighting & Rendering: Howard Bell, Yohan Cohen, Jacob Gonzalez, Patrick Krafft, Sebastian Mayer, Richard Moss, Camille Perrin, Francois Pons, Paco Rocha
Compositing: Svilen Aynadzhiev, Pavan Balagam, Andre Bittencourt, David Lea, Manuel Perez, Julien Record, Valeria Romano, Johnny Still, Alex Swann
Graphics: Stephane Coedel, Giles Dill
3D End Tag
Original 2D Design by ILOVEDUST
Sam Mason, Jon Saunders: CG Designers
Eve Strickman: Producer at Passion NY
Animation: Wieden+Kennedy Motion
Painting Practice
Production Designer: Dan May
Lead Concept Artist/Matte Painter: Rafael Martin Coronel
3D Matte Artist/Lead: Graeme McDougal
Matte Painters/Concept Artists: Antoine Birot, Nicolas Loudot, Tristan Menard, Carlos Nieto
Junior Matte Painter: Noemie Cauvin
Concept Artists: Justin C Hutchinson-Chatburn, Mike Shorten, Alex Fort, Xavier Ren
3D Artist: Matt Hotchkiss
Co-ordinator: Dora Sarkozi
Graphic Design: Gemma Kingsley, Erica McEwan
Junior Artist: Rodolphe Parfait
Football Reference Shoot
Andy Ansah: Choreographer
Tyson White: Choreographer
Tyler Blake: Project Manager
Gerri McCarthy: Live Producer for Passion
Marek Wesolowski: DOP/Steadicam Op
Ronaldas Buozis: SOP/Sony F55
Ralph Messer: Focus Puller
Josh Feder: Runner/GoPro
Jonah Sugden: Runner/5D Op
Nuria Perez: DIT
Football Performers (c/o Sports on Screen): Mat Mitchel-King, Louie Theophanous, Chris Piper, Joseph Holland, Aaron Clarke, Isa Hussain, Joel Ledgister
Mocap Shoot: Lottie Hope: Passion Producer
Phil Stilgoe: Mocap Producer
Stuart Haskayne: Mocap Supervisor
Joe Ells: Mocap Post Supervisor
Iain Silvester: Mocap Production Coordinator
Matt Parker: Sr Mocap Technician
Mocap Technicians: Ross Richards, David Bushen
Mimi Dulake: Mocap Production Asst
Goran Dimitrijević: Mocap Tracking Manager
Igor Kovačević: Mocap Sr Tracker
Mocap Trackers: Jelena Mitrović, Zoran Muncan, Miloš Knežević, Nenad Milosavljević
Sound Design: 750mph
Sam Ashwell: Sound Designer & Mix Engineer
Sam Robinson: Audio Producer
Phil Bolland: Additional Engineering
TX: Mike Bovill, Gerda Aleksandraviciute, Jeff Smith: TX
Passion Pipeline TD: Sajjad Amjad, Julian Hodgson
IT Support / Engineering Team
Daffer Al-Faiadh: IT Manager
Mani Singh: IT Engineer
Ilkan Ozturk: IT Engineer
Alex Pittas: IT Assistant
Finance & Accounting
Dennis Hobbs, Head of Finance
Kendrah Matthew, Grant Harris, Ben Davies
Runners: Kingsley Bailey, Fern Buckenham, Edward Bulmer, Linus Carlson, Fionn Guilfoyle, Raymond Hemson, Rishi Hindocha, Isabella Miroux, Shane Noonan, Alex Pittas, Phoebe Platman, Sophia Simenski, Paige Sullivan, Zachary Towlen, Phoebe Young
Editorial / :30 Trailers And Athlete Teasers
Editorial Company: Joint Editorial
Editor: Peter Wiedensmith
Post Producer: Ryan Shanholtzer / Alex Thiesen
Music Editor: Nicholas Davis
Lead Assistant Editor: Eric Hill
Assistant Editor: Alyssa Coates
Post Executive Producer: Patty Brebner
Online
Finishing: Glassworks
Colourist: Duncan Russell
Smoke Artist: Aleks Ugarow
Executive Producer: Misha Stanford-Harris
Titles/Graphics: WK Motion / WK Studio
Music
Music Company: Walker
Composer: Judson Crane
Executive Producer: Sara Matarazzo
Music Coordinator: Abbey Hickman
Licensed Track: Miss Alissa, Eagles of Death Metal
Sound
Sound + Mix Company: 750mph
Sound Designer / Mixer: Sam Ashwell
Executive Producer: Sam Robinson

2020