Nike SCARY GOOD

When Nike Football dropped its SCARY GOOD global campaign, the internet lit up like a stadium under floodlights. Even David Reviews got in on the action.

The campaign’s epic montage video stitched together the best moments from nine individual films, and our short animation heroed one of football’s most legendary moves: Ronaldo Nazário’s step-over.

Client • Nike Campaign

Full scene on replay

The final edit only gave a glimpse of our full piece, where we played out like a late-night adult cartoon, mixing humor with playful gore. Inspired by duels from the old Wild West, the sequence pitted R9 against a lone defender in a one-on-one showdown.

Reinventing Ronaldo

We began by exploring a playground of character styles, chasing that ‘90s cartoon energy where every show had its own weird, wonderful look. Each approach opened a different door to how Ronaldo could be reborn in animation. We narrowed it down to two contenders before locking onto the style that best fit our vision of a ‘90s-inspired R9.

Lastly, we added the non-negotiables: a Golden Boot-winning smile, Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning jersey, and the legendary Nike Mercurial R9 — the boot that rewrote the game.

The Hapless Defender

Sticking with the ’90s, we explored several design ideas to complement R9’s style. The goal was to find the perfect foil, a defender who could counter Ronaldo’s speed and deft touch with overpowering strength and physicality. It was size versus skill.

Game plan

The director framed the piece as a self-contained episode: a clear beginning, a tense build-up, and a one-on-one clash.

The storyline – the unstoppable force of Ronaldo’s attack. For the “sports-broadcast” intensity, we leaned on sharper timing, funnier cuts, and stretched the reactions.

The Process of Attack

Our pencil followed Ronaldo’s swagger, his walk and stance. Every detail was redrawn with forensic care after the research. We started off with several character styles within the ’90s-era cartoon aesthetics and narrowed it down to a few semi-finalists to find the sweet spot for the client’s vision.

We went back to the 2002 tournament, where Brazil lifted the trophy. Using frame-by-frame animation, we not only rebuilt the signature look but also the trick that lives on in infamy. Oh, and that little cartoonish curveball with the opponent in the end - that’s us.

Credits

Directors
Roberts Kulenko

Art Director
Gints Gutmanis

Animation Lead
Gints Gutmanis

Creative Director
Gints Gutmanis, Roberts Kulenko

Executive producers
Laura Zavodska

Cel Animation Lead
Francois Schonken

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