Take Flight

We have come to the end of our Top 10 Parkour Commercial Countdown. The series lasted two weeks, and was comprised 15 videos including the top 10 Parkour-featuring commercials of all time, the Banlieue 13 Trailer, Le Chat Effravant (Scary Cat) – Behind the Scenes, and the BBC-Coca-Cola commercial combo. Because the series was spread over such a long period of time we have decided to run back through the top 10 commercials in this succinct recap.

#10 Commercial: Two very similar K-Swiss ads shared the #10 spot. Race to Center Court featuring Levi Meeuwenberg and Even Playing Field featuring Tyson Cecka, Victor Lopez, were filled with great action, and the excellent production and the prominent U.S. presence of the ad was enough to give these two commercials a spot in the countdown.

#9 Commercial: The BONT commercial featuring David Belle with production by Airmout was a quality edit that featured the best in the world performing in the world’s most famous Parkour training ground. Whether it was ever an official commercial or not, the production, location, and presence of David all contributed to this commercial coming in at #9.

#8 Commercial: The Coca-Cola commercial featuring Kazuma, Romain Moutault, and Dominique Lexilus came in at #8. As one of the first Parkour-featuring commercials ever made, this ad introduced Parkour to people around the world and established an advertising precedent for pure Parkour.

#7 Commercial: The first of three Nike Presto commercials in the countdown, Premier Amour (Young Love) featuring David Belle started with a highly creative concept and was carried through with a flawless performance by David. The presence of only a couple moves and the awkward comical ending kept this commercial from making it higher in the countdown.

#6 Commercial: Scion was the brand behind the great commercial that came in at #6. With a great performance from Sébastien Foucan and Jérome Ben Aoues, excellent production value, and a touch of creativity this Scion commercial was a high quality production that left the viewer remembering the product.

#5 Commercial: David Belle broke the top 5 with the Korean Canon commercial. The non-stop, fast-paced, incredible action, coupled with outstanding production utilization made this ad one that remains exhilarating no matter how many times it has been watched.

#4 Commercial: Nissan teamed up with David for the #4 best Parkour commercial ever created. Conceptually similar to Premier Amour (Young Love) David again scales a building and jumps from balcony to balcony in an attempt to win the affection of a girl. Great production value and product utilization made this Nissan commercial better than Nike’s, and an ending that leaves the viewer with a smile made this well deserving of the #4 spot.

#3 Commercial: Nike Presto and Wieden+Kennedy produced another Parkour classic with Le Chat Effravant (Scary Cat). Featuring David, Sébastien, and a slew of other great Tracers this commercial was the most talent packed in the countdown. Its inherent comedy and genuine filming location in France added to the production and made this commercial more than worthy of a top spot.

#2 Commercial: One of the first Parkour-featuring ads ever made, David Belle threw in an eye-popping performance that to this day mesmerizes viewers in the 2001 BBC commercial. Featuring one of the most famous Parkour jumps of all time, this ad is unforgettable and contributed greatly to the exposure and growth of Parkour around the world.

#1 Commercial: Barely edging out the BBC commercial for the #1 spot was Le Poulet de Colere (The Angry Chicken). Well deserving to be called the greatest Parkour commercial of all time, this ad demonstrated everything anyone could ever expect, want, or hope for in a Parkour ad. An iconic Tracer in Sébastien, incredible Parkour throughout, great production, and a unique and comical plot makes this commercial vastly enjoyable no matter how many times it is watched.

Will this top 10 Parkour commercial list ever change? Probably only slightly. Even though potential for Parkour utilization in commercial spots has only just started being tapped in the last few years, because of the influence and exceptionalness of these top 10 we doubt that anything will be created that could replace anything other than last few of the current top 10. With that said barring an extremely prominent ad that exposes millions of people to Parkour (e.g. a Super Bowl commercial), we also doubt that any commercial NOT featuring David or Sébastien will ever enter into the top spots. Think about these numbers: Of the top 10 Parkour-featuring commercials ever made David is featured in 6 of them (5 by himself) and Sébastien Foucan was featured in 3 (2 of them independent of David). With 8 of the 10 best Parkour commercials ever made featuring David and Sébastien the only way that we can see for this countdown to ever noticeably change is if those two continue to be involved in even more incredible and impressionable ads.

We have revealed the top 10 Parkour commercials of all time, but there are still years of advertising to come. Only time will tell the future for Parkour in the television advertising realm. Will Parkour based advertising ever widely extend beyond the cliché running, jumping and chasing themes or will companies follow Nike’s lead and continue to think of original concepts? And will iconic Tracers like David continue to perform for company’s commercial spots and if not will other Tracers become iconic figures in the Parkour world and being also making impressionable ads? These are just a few of the obstacles that the future of Parkour commercials will face, but from what we have seen so far we can’t wait to, literally, watch the outcome.

Today we are starting out countdown of the top 10 best Parkour commercials ever made. Debuting at our #10 spot are a pair of 2007 K-Swiss commercials.

Featured in order of creation, the first commercial Race to Center Court (made in March 2007) features Levi Meeuwenberg as the Parkour stunt double, and the second commercial Even Playing Field (made in July 2007) features Tyson Cecka and Victor Lopez. Both commercials are quite similar (which is the main reason why we have them grouped together), and both commercials showcase Tracers racing through the city to reach a final destination. The commercials have a typical and somewhat uncreative ‘running and jumping’ structure, but the production value of these commercials is excellent and their influence on Parkour in the U.S. as well as their marketing precedent for advertising the K-Swiss Freerunning shoe cannot be undervalued. Overall a combination of great running, great production, and an actual Freerunning product behind the company is what brings these two commercials in at #10.

K-Swiss – Race to Center Court – March 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qWoR2hDo6U&hl=en

K-Swiss – Even Playing Field – July 2007

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=91629648155391248&hl=en