Nike is kind of like the Microsoft of the athletic world; often derided and criticized, but wildly successful for reasons no one wants to acknowledge. For instance, I constantly keep buying Nike basketball shoes, even though I know that they're too narrow for my clodhopper feet, because they just look so damned cool.

One of the things they've been able to do so well is put together compelling advertising. And, after the Tiger Woods mess spilled all over the media landscape, there was likely a large segment of those watchers who were wondering what Woods' largest sponsor would do to address the mess. Would they meet it head on or try to avoid the issue?

Well, the met it head on, and in the best way possible. Here is the new Nike ad with Woods, debuting during last night ahead of the Masters:




In the ad, Tiger stares at the camera, swathed in black and white. Meanwhile, the voice of his late father Earl is heard saying that he just wants to know what was going through Tiger's mind and, in the clincher line, "if you learned anything."

Some might think that using the disembodied voice of Tiger's dead father was creepy. Maybe, if Earl Woods was being used to promote some clubs or a new pair of sweat-wicking golf slacks. But Earl was Tiger's most trusted confidante, his mentor, and the person he turned to the most for advice. It seems fitting that Tiger and Nike would use Earl's voice to "speak" to (or some would say "lecture") Tiger on what's been going on at least since Thanksgiving.

But that's not even the part that makes me appreciate the ad the most. What impresses me is that Nike decided to come out and address the mess and signal that their premier client is back, all at the same time. They could have just run generic golf ads during The Masters, or highlighted some of the other golfers under their umbrella. But they, and Tiger, chose to just plunge in and say, "Yeah, we know this happened. Tiger knows he has a lot of work to do. It's time to move on."

Ad man and media, um, "star" Donny Deutsch was interviewed by the 'Today' show about the ad and came to largely the same conclusion, despite Meredith wondering if using Earl's voice was creepy:

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Believe me, I wish I could slam a huge corporation for being chicken or exploiting something the shouldn't have for huge profits. But, given the position they were in, they did a much better job than anyone would have anticipated. What do you think of the ad? Creepy or effective? Let me know in the comments.