Nike recently released their latest ad (perhaps even their best) and in ‘Winner Stays’ Nike have yet another top-quality pre-World Cup ad in their catalogue. As many of us look ahead to Brazil we can trust the American giant to mark out the first staging post, as ever delivered by their agency of the last 30 years, Wieden + Kennedy.

‘Winner Stays’ is the ultimate spin on the Sunday kickaround, as kids transform into their heroes, a comic book character and even a postman. Unbelievable skills are on display and David Luiz continues his metamorphosis from unpredictable centre back to comedy posterboy (that’s still very good at football), while Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar take centre stage. The brand mastery continues, neatly sidestepping Adidas by including players such as Pique and Iniesta in their Nike-made club kits rather than their country’s Adidas kits.

Back to the start though… In 1994 Nike suddenly found itself vaguely interested in football, thanks to the US hosting the world cup. Lacking the drama and grandeur of campaigns to come, ’94 settled for a simple but effective gimmick of footballers on billboards kicking it to one another across the continents.

With the detour of a surreal good vs evil match in a 1996 ad, by World Cup ’98 in France Nike was backing the winners of the previous tournament, Brazil, to the hilt. Where it not for a horrendously lethargic final performance and the magic of Zinedine Zidane, they might have been on to something too. As it was they had an airport football run-around loosely pitting the Brazilian stars against security guards in this classic ad. Bonus points for picking out the most expensive player ever, at the time, Denilson (remember him?).

For 2002, Nike was in full on classic-mode, delivering a high intensity cage match, in a underground-style football tournament. It even has Elvis as the sound track. The 4 minute spot featured almost every major footballer of the day and tournament winner Thierry Henry show-cased his cunning way before he’d ever taken a free kick when no-one was ready.

With battle-lines clearly drawn with Adidas, World Cup ’06 was in that brand’s host country. Nike went all guns blazing with a whole Joga Bonito campaign, making use of some of the first mainstream viral video tactics and pinning itself on its latest Brazilian star, Ronaldinho.

For 2010, the World Cup was back on neutral ground and Nike returned with an extended ad under the theme ‘Write Your Future’. For once Cantona didn’t get the acting gig, and a three-pronged attack of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho took centre stage. Along with Homer Simpson. The video was a massive hit, but the same can't be said for its stars, who all left the world cup earlier than expected, apart from Ronaldinho who didn't make it there at all. What's worse was that Adidas-wearing Spain made it 2 trophies in a row.

All of this without ever once being an official sponsor for the world cup and without Lionel Messi, (jewel in the Adidas crown) in sight. Proving that if you can make an unofficial ad and still steal all the attention while adding to the vault of great ads out there; Just do it.

How are you finding your new role?

My new role is exactly how I thought it would be and I am really enjoying it. I have already learnt a lot and have had no regrets in changing jobs.

What were you looking for when you decided to switch roles?

I was looking for an exciting new role in which I could progress and be developed into a more experienced professional Analyst. A role where I would be appreciated and my input valued. I got this from the start.

How would you describe the company culture in your new role?

The company has a very professional, hardworking culture but with a relaxed working atmosphere.

What would be your top tips to consistently delivering against your targets?

Remain motivated throughout, always keep an eye on the target and don’t edge off course.

What would be your proudest achievement in your new role?

I believe my proudest achievement would be to become a senior member of the team and a key figure in providing analysis as the business continues to grow.

If you had to give someone 3 words to live by, what would they be?

Never Give Up

What would you say to someone wondering whether to make the next step in their career?

If you are thinking about it then you aren’t as happy or satisfied as you should be and so, a move could be beneficial to both your personal life and professional career. Contacting a recruitment agent, such as Chrysalis, would be of great benefit for you to get yourself out there without having to do all the dreaded job hunting and application you would otherwise.

Why would you recommend Chrysalis to someone looking for a digital job?

Chrysalis were brilliant in helping me get what I desired, which was to further my career in a more challenging environment. They were quick in response however, provided me with all the time I needed to make my decision. I received a job description and was asked to mull it over and to contact if I was interested. Chrysalis provided me a brief of what the job entails, what the requirements were of the desired employee and a company summary. This, along with time, gave me all I needed to make my mind up. I had previously had contact with other recruitment consultants who were very pushy and didn’t give enough time or space to actually look at the situation and what was on offer. I have nothing but good words to say about Chris Crawford and Chrysalis Recruitment and would recommend them highly.

36% of the Top advertisers in the UK don’t have sites that are optimised for mobile, that’s the finding in the latest report from the Internet Advertising Bureau.

In August 2013 only 11% of sites across the top 100 advertisers were responsively designed but for 2014 that figure has shot up to 24%. That percentage makes the UK European leader in responsively designed sites with 15% in Spain, 13% in France and Italy and only 7% in Germany.

In the automotive sector the UK has an unmatched 100% optimised mobile sites, while the rest of Europe sits at 85%. FMCG brands in the UK lag significantly behind the rest of the Europe that with a lowly 22% of sites optimised for mobile, while the figure stands at 41% in Spain, 44% in France and 55% in Germany.

As mobile usage is poised to overtake desktop usage these figures make for stark reading, as several major brands risk being left behind in the digital space. With a predominantly mobile web user behaviour and information architecture will be subject to possibly huge transformations, in the same sort of disruptive wave that accompanied the advent of the web.

To avoid being the equivalent of the bricks and mortar businesses that lost out hugely to emerging dotcoms, it’s essential that major brands bring that 36% (a worrying 46% in Europe) down to 0% as quickly as possible.

The Head of Mobile at IAB, Alex Kozloff, went on to explain "Mobile optimisation for brands can no longer be considered a nice to have, but a hygiene factor. From the IAB's RealView research, we know 78% of recent purchases involved a connected device, and advertisers that are not mobile optimised are closing their shop doors to consumers that want to interact with them."

Online retail giant Amazon is reported to be making a massive departure from the normal stats-hike of smartphone development, as its debut phone, arriving in June, will feature a 3D-capable screen.

This is in sharp contrast to the slowing evolution of established brands in the mobile phone space. Apple, Samsung, HTC and the many others are opting for slight improvements to existing models while the hardware makers are pushing more pixels into the screen at a depth that comes close to imperceptible.

While it’s not an obvious move from the Jeff Bezos led company, it has a precedent, with the Kindle going from curious technological move to (at one point) the second best selling tablet on the planet. 3D is fast becoming the next great step in consumer tech and all the major movers are pushing higher stakes into the game; Facebook have acquired VR start up Oculus Rift, while Microsoft are considering a 3D scanner for inclusion on their next phone. Alongside the software potential, the 3D printing revolution’s continued surge has prompted Fox’s Business division to ask whether it’s set to re-invigorate Amercia’s manufacturing industry.

As a company serving the digital space, the potential disruption and development that 3D proposes is a fascinating situation for us to ponder. As recruitment specialists though we know where there’s development, there’s opportunity and where there’s opportunity there’s jobs. So the stats prove – 3D rendering soared by 43.9% to 2,784 jobs, 3D animation rose by 35.7% to 3,183 jobs and 3D modelling increased 34.5% to 3,230 jobs.

The momentous shift to mobile from desktop continues unabated, with mobile phone jobs increasing by 35.3% to 13,340 positions. That’s only more good news for Amazon who have the chance to effectively own the 3D retail space as they did the online retail space. With a marriage of software, hardware and service in an ecosystem that even lock-in specialists Apple could envy, Amazon could prove to be a very significant dark horse in the race for digital domination.

Within digital jobs though, it hints at a future where certain skill-sets are about to take on another dimension.

With Apple and Samsung returning to the courtrooms to fight the second round of the ongoing patent case an interesting bi-product has been the public release of several internal correspondences from major Apple staff.

The ‘Holy War’

First up is the Apple vs Google battle that is seemingly dominating everything with a microchip. Steve Jobs, Apple’s former CEO who tragically died in 2011 wasn't shy about his dislike for the internet giant, having famously promised ‘thermonuclear war’ on them. In Jobs’ biography he stated ‘“I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product.” For the leaked e-mails Jobs settled for the equally dramatic ‘Holy War’ (scheduled for 2011). It’s an interesting thing to note with Apple frequently denying paying any attention to their competitor’s actions and with Google standing as an awkward but interested (and hugely related) 3^rd party in the latest court case. It was years removed from being the first time Jobs’ had threatened ‘war’ with Google, as in 2005 he’d let Sergey Brin of Google know that any poaching of staff between the companies would lead to that outcome. That behind-the-scenes agreement between major tech giants is currently the topic of another unrelated court case.

Samsung joined in for good measure, their own correspondence outlined their objective: “Beating Apple is #1 Priority (everything must be in context of beating Apple).”

The ‘Top 100’

That particular ‘Holy War’ was a prominent discussion point in a meeting of ‘The Top 100’, somewhere secret and far from the Cupertino company’s main campus. The Top 100, it is revealed, is a select bunch of Apple’s top employees that are invited to strategise the company’s plans for the years ahead.

The ‘Next Big Thing’

Apple’s competition and its relevance to the company at large comes into clearer focus in an exchange of e-mails with its ad agency, TBWA/The Media Arts Lab.  With Samsung debuting its Next Big Thing campaign, created by agency 72andSunny, to a hugely positive public response Apple’s marketing department faced an unusually imposing threat to its image. Apple’s SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller was prompted into a sharp response to the agency’s suggestion that Apple’s internal structure was blocking progress on “nailing a compelling brief for the iPhone”. 

The Here and now

However with Apple seeking a $2 billion dollar lawsuit and with the potential aftermath of massive blocks on developments integral to the Android OS this courtcase could leave a hugely different tech landscape. With Samsung making a handy Google stooge for Apple it seems that whether ‘Thermonuclear’, ‘Holy’ or just incredibly ‘Cold’ a true Apple vs Google clash may be on the horizon.

All that probably will end up meaning though is more and more court cases.