CSS-TV

There is nothing like March Madness to fuel deep-seated college rivalries, bring back the good ol’ collegiate days of sweatpants, skipped classes and flaming loyalty at school games, making everyone including those who have long graduated from college retrograde back into those four wonderful years. To celebrate the aforementioned undying passion and devoted allegiance (and the united hatred against respective rival schools), Nike Sportswear had just released the “Bleed Your Colors” campaign for March Madness fans to enjoy school colors in a more sophisticated and casual off-court manner. In “Bleed Your Colors” created by AKQA. According to Creative Director Neil Robinson, it was AKQA’s aim to have athletes represent their respective school colors and have their uniqueness, irreverence and personality to differentiate each college. The campaign enlisted the help of LA-based photographer, Matthew Welch (Welch had worked with commercial clients such as Sprint, Apple, adidas, ESPN and T-Mobile) to travel across the nation and visit basketball players Zach Randolph, Brandon Roy, Jerald Henderson, Johnny Flynn, Ty Lawson and Rajan Rondo and find out why each pro-athlete is so passionate for his alma mater. “Bleed Your Colors” features each player sporting the Nike Sportswear N98 jacket in his respective school color and each image is shot with an emblematic significance. For instance, Brandon Roy’s scenario “Release The Hounds” (coined by AKQA copywriter Gil Muinos) references University of Washington’s husky mascot. The N98 jackets are styled by Karla + Kemal at The Wall Group in a casual, effortless manner topped over denim and clean white sneakers to show off Nike Sportswear’s cool off-court style. In the four weeks of insane March fervor, it’s never quite enough to just show your school colors. The true loyalists bleed it.