# Nike: The Switch

> Nike’s Ronaldo body-swap ad passed 65 million YouTube views.

- Owner: Nike; Wieden+Kennedy Portland (agency)
- Kind: Campaign
- Sector: Sports
- Seed date: 2016-06-09
- Peak date: Jun 2016
- Date basis: Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 50 (Notable, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Mystery & lore, Platform jump, Press loop, Pairing, Newsjacking

## Summary

Nike released a body-swap film ahead of Euro 2016 and extended it with a Snapchat filter. Unruly ranked it the tournament’s most shared ad. YouTube placed it fourth among 2016’s general trending videos; a year later, press reported over 65 million views.

## Timeline

- 2016-06-08 — Studiofútbol (Press) — Studiofútbol reported that Ronaldo had posted a promo showing the body swap.
- 2016-06-09 — Nike Football (YouTube) — Nike released The Switch, a film in which Ronaldo and an English teenager exchanged bodies.
- 2016-06-09 — Sports Illustrated / Adweek (Press) — Sports Illustrated embedded the film, while Adweek named it Ad of the Day.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/nike-the-switch

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Nike: The Switch.” Case HIS-00316. Spread Score v1.2: 50/100. Updated 2026-10-12. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00316