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Nike has reached commendable success with the YouTube (News - Alert) release of its ad "Write the Future." The advertisement, which features a medley of soccer stars spliced with images of their fans across the world, is a visually stimulating piece that has captured the attention of millions of viewers.

Just as Nike probably expected it would. After all, four years ago, the company featured another soccer-based advertisement on YouTube which became referred to as the "Ronaldinho" ad. The iconic series of images, featuring the talented Brazillian soccer star Ronaldinho, became strongly associated with the 2006 World Cup.

At the time this article is being written, "Write the Future" has 6,681,353 views on YouTube, which is a staggering amount. Comments from viewers, such as "best football ad? ever," and "wow, this was insane," make clear their opinions of the advertisement.

Using a popular social media outlet as an advertising tool is a smart thing to do. Allen Weiner, research vice president at Gartner (News - Alert), said in a press release that "Today's distribution model tends to favor YouTube because it has become the place for creators in search of eyeballs." Nike has certainly attracted plenty of eyeballs with this advertisement, which is what it needs to do if it intends to meet its lofty expansion goals.