UK streetwear brand Corteiz might have released one of the best adverts of the year, directed by Walid Labri through production company DIVISION.
The almost three-minute-long ad depicts a world in which Corteiz’s upcoming Nike Air Max 95 collaboration doesn’t happen. News reporters around the world fire out story and naturally, chaos ensues with Corteiz’s stock price plummeting and people literally fighting over pairs in the street.
RULESTHEWORLD.@NIKE pic.twitter.com/ZOQTW2nR6K
— CRTZRTW (@crtzrtw) March 2, 2023
From there, the ad takes us on a whistle-stop tour of UK street culture featuring Manchester City star Phil Foden recreating Ronaldinho’s legendary (but sadly faked) crossbar challenge ad for Nike Soccer’s Joga Bonito film. This time, however, Foden is wearing a pair of Air Max 95s, rather than the Nike Tiempo Legend V R10 Limited Edition boots that Ronaldinho wore.
Then, we see wannabe rappers, decked out in Corteiz gear, freestyling outside council flats when someone falls from the sky, his life saved by the AM95’s air bubbles.
We then see a sneaker collector in his pigsty of a room wearing a food-stained singlet bragging about his collection and his Corteiz 95s.
Then, we visit UK songstress Jorja Smith in a call centre failing to answer queries from a caller as to the whereabouts of the shoes.
We cut to a car full of people travelling in London’s Blackwall Tunnel before a quad bike pulls alongside — rider wearing the 95s. Then, we return to the news studio with clips of people running to secure the shoes after a pair is reportedly spotted in London’s Soho.
“I don’t know about you, but I got mine. Corteiz Rules The World,” says the host, resting his 95-clad feat on the desk.
Corteiz’s unconventional marketing has taken the streetwear scene by storm in the UK and around the world. In January, the brand shared coordinates on social media to a location in London, telling fans to bring an authentic branded jacket from another manufacturer in order to swap it for a Corteiz one.
There were only 50 jackets to give away but hundreds turned up. The swapped jackets were then donated to charity. However, some of the jackets were sold on Depop for as much as £500 (almost AU$900).
The brand produces a limited run of products, which are sold via a password-protected ecommerce site or at surprise drops in the physical world.
