The surest sign that a major football tournament is approaching is not the draw ceremony or the unveiling of the official match ball. It is the arrival of Nike, which has spent the better part of three decades perfecting the art of appearing to sponsor events it does not actually sponsor.

This week brought "Rip the Script," the company's latest entry in a long tradition of ambush marketing so polished it barely feels like ambushing anymore. The campaign, which features Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Vinícius Jr., is timed to a summer of global football attention — attention that Adidas, as the actual tournament sponsor, presumably hoped to have more of to itself.

Nike, which is based in Beaverton, Ore., and is part of no conglomerate but its own, has assembled what might be called a celebrity mood board: LeBron James, Kim Kardashian, Travis Scott, Channing Tatum and, for reasons that remain unexplained, the fictional Ted Lasso. The action unfolds inside a Hollywood movie studio, which is either a comment on football's place in entertainment culture or simply a convenient place to put that many famous people at once.

"We know the magical moments in football happen when players trust their instincts," said Helena Thornton, vice president of brand management at Nike. (What, you were expecting the company to say it prefers cautious, predictable football?)

The campaign will extend to more than 5,000 retail locations globally, along with dedicated spaces in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Nike is also continuing Toma el Juego, its street football initiative, which has held more than 100 tournaments across six continents.

The company's announcement materials refer repeatedly to "the universe of Nike Football," language that suggests someone in Beaverton has been paying attention to how entertainment franchises describe themselves.

Whether a sportswear company can sustain a universe remains to be seen. In the meantime, Adidas will continue being the official sponsor, and Nike will continue making sure that distinction matters slightly less than it used to.

Original story published in The Drum: "Ad of the Day: Nike upstages Adidas’s World Cup | The Drum"