• Wall Street Journal via Arizona Star, Monday, December 10, 2007 11:15 AM

Nike has broken its new ad campaign, its first from Crispin Porter + Bogusky after the shoemaker dumped longtime agency Wieden + Kennedy, once seen as among the tightest of agency-client relationships. The latest effort has garnered a lot of attention and is aimed at capturing serious runners.

Spots push Nike's Plus line of shoes, which can help runners track mileage via a chip in the shoe that transmits to an iPod. On the market for more than a year, Plus got plenty of ad support in 2006, but Nike thinks there is some good sales potential over the holidays as people make New Year's resolutions. As a chronicle of the history of running, one ad opens with Stone Age man racing with a spear, cuts to a Celtic queen charging into battle, then to an American Indian chasing a deer and finally to a modern-era cop hoofing after a crook and then present-day man on a treadmill.

The ads are set to air on MTV, ESPN, Comedy Central and other channels, while print runs in specialty magazines, like Runner's World and Shape.

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