Leo is another Gondry tour-de-force. Like Smarienberg, which plowed through types of action flicks, "Leo" is a rampage through various types of video games.
From Nike Europe's press release: "The ad stars new sporting dude Leo [Taku] who breaks into, and beats, each of the superstars at their own game. Wearing the new Nike Air Cross Trainer 2, Leo skateboards, plays football, basketball and tennis on his trip through cyber game-land. He even has a cheeky scene with feisty Lara Croft! Could his advances distract Lara from her tomb raiding quest?" Just about everything else in video game-land is after him: alien, dinosaur, military helicopter, sports car, oh and Michael Jordan, Ronaldo, André Agassi, and Pete Sampras.
This bombastic commercial required top-notch video game-style computer animation. For that Gondry worked with BUF Compagnie for two months on the 60-second ad. Leo plays inside each video game, then bursts through into the next. This effect feels a bit like the David Lee Roth video "Just a Gigolo/Ain't Got Nobody," where Roth barges from set to set of videos by Billy Idol, Willie Nelson, and Michel Jackson, to name a few.
The Leo campaign was large enough that it once had its own website, including "interviews" with Lara and Leo, information about Leo, and clips. It was the first time Nike used the Internet for a campaign launch.
You can see the 30 second version of the ad here; 60 second here.