What happened?

adidas launched what its calling its ‘largest ever brand marketing campaign’ and the first to feature adidas Sport Performance, adidas Originals and adidas Sport Style sub-brands together.

By using a number of their most popular personalities from across sports and culture adidas has created an impressive campaign which leads off with this ad featuring David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Katy Perry, basketball player Derrick Rose, gymnast Louis Smith, the All Blacks, musician B.o.B and top skateboarders including Silas Baxter-Neal.   The spot aims to promote the idea that when you love your game, whatever that game may be, you put your all into it.

On top of this they have delivered an integrated campaign using ground breaking 3D projection mapping at the launch and including different TV and online versions of the film.

adidas have used their YouTube channel and Facebook page to seed engaging digital content including some individual films of their ambassadors including Messi and the musician B.o.B.  The video was seeded on Messi’s new Facebook page which launched on 7th April and achieved a remarkable 7 million likes in 7 hours.  On their campaign website www.adidas.com/areyouin fans of football, skating and music can win prizes and in the US win the chance to feature in their next version of the ad to air during the MTV Movie Awards.

Why we like it?

Rather than a sport specific campaign that we often see from brands such as adidas they have utilised so many of their assets in this campaign and across a wide spectrum of sports and culture from football to skateboarding to Russell Brand‘s missus.  The campaign therefore appeals to a huge audience across many different markets.  By using the impressive 3D projection at launch and using their various digital channels adidas are showing they are at the forefront of technology, are maximising their assets and are taking their (obviously pricey) ATL campaign many steps further.

What the brand says:

From the campaign press release:

The brand’s largest marketing campaign in history showcases adidas’ distinctive presence across different cultures and lifestyles fusing the world of sports, music and fashion and is the first time the company features adidas Sport Performance, adidas Originals and adidas Sport Style sub-brands in a single campaign.

“Today’s consumers are not one-dimensional,” said Patrik Nilsson, president of adidas America.  “They live across the cultural spectrum and that’s where adidas has its edge.  The adidas brand extends beyond sports and ‘all adidas’ celebrates this breadth of passion from athletes, musicians, artists and beyond.  The new campaign allows us to create stronger, truer connections with the consumer by encouraging and celebrating a mix of interests and passions central to their lives.”

By Erica Hodges on April 8th, 2011

Tags: Advertising, Branded content, Content, David Beckham, Digital marketing, Football, Music, Rugby, Social Media, Synergy Loves, Synopsis, Tennis, YouTube

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I received an email from the drinks brand Alibi last week inviting me to enter a competition to win a pair of tickets to this weekend’s Bestival.

Alibi (in case, like a lot of people, you haven’t heard of them) make ‘pretox’ drinks containing lots of healthy stuff which, according to their website, ‘help offset all the bad things in life’.  I came across them first at the Taste of London food festival a few years ago and then again at Glastonbury this year (where I’m convinced they helped my fragile condition each morning).  I’ve never actually bought a can but have enjoyed lots of freebies.

I entered the competition and received a second email a couple of days later:

How curious.  Conveniently, I commute from Waterloo and was meeting a friend there for a drink, so we thought it was worth a shot.

About 20 people turned up and we were given cans of Alibi to drink whilst being given our task, by which time we were already getting strange looks.  We were told that there was a man in his 20s in a suit somewhere in Waterloo who had the tickets on him. We were also told there would be some clue on him linked to the drinks brand.  The way to win the tickets was to approach the man and ask the obscure question:

“When’s the next train to New York?”

We set off across the busy station, Alibi in hand, to find this mystery man.  I have to admit, we felt like idiots at first but eventually plucked up the courage to approach complete strangers. All we received were blank expressions and comments like ‘think you’ve got the wrong city luv’ and therefore unfortunately we are not off to Bestival this weekend.

It was a very entertaining way to spend 15 minutes on a Wednesday evening, a really original idea, and although they probably only had 20 entries, so much more interesting than the standard prize draws you usually see.  They used Twitter and Facebook pages to promote the competition and even though we didn’t spot a camera on the day their website suggests a film of us embarrassing ourselves will be going live shortly – then I really will need an alibi!

By Erica Hodges on September 10th, 2010

Tags: Digital marketing, Experiential marketing, Facebook, Social Media

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I spotted this brilliant FIFA World Cup online schedule this morning and think it’s a really great way of presenting fixtures on a website, especially when you compare it to the static rightsholder fixture pages we so often see.  Well done to our Spanish friends at marca.com!

By Erica Hodges on June 4th, 2010

Tags: Digital marketing, Football, World Cup

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The first thing I noticed on arrival at Wembley was the smell.  The second thing I noticed and the bane of my bank holiday weekend was the fact the inner workings of the stadium are a labyrinth; complete with secret doorways and lifts that lead to everywhere you don’t want to go.   Amazingly the 90,000 capacity stadium can be evacuated in twelve minutes which shows that the labyrinth design works, not only if you have a PhD in quantum physics but also in emergencies.  This was the second year the Coca-Cola Football League Play-Offs have been staged at the new stadium and as a ‘Play-Offs virgin’ I got to see what a great event it is for the first time.  193,885 fans travelling thousands of miles to watch their team try and grasp promotion in the final game of the season. 

Burnley v Sheffield United

The majority of Coca-Cola’s experiential activity this year was focused on Olympic Way; the route from the tube to the stadium.  Fans had the chance to receive a video message via Bluetooth from their team’s manager (which they could then download from Coke Zone), and also a message telling them about Coke’s other activity – the Coca-Cola Fan Cam.  At the Fan Cam marquees, fans could record a message of support for their club, the best of which were shown on the big screen at half time. To reward the fans who couldn’t make it to Wembley a Coca-Cola TV advert was created for each day of the Play-Offs.  The ads (which were shown before kick-off on Sky Sports each day), featured the relevant team’s fans describing what their clubs mean to them.   I believe this is an advertising first. 

Some fantastic goals were scored over the weekend, particularly in the League 1 game between Millwall and Scunthorpe.  The best part of the weekend was having the opportunity to walk onto the pitch at the end of each game to hand the winners their ‘We’re Going Up’ t-shirts.  After working so hard for 90 minutes in 90°F, and indeed working hard all season, it was great to see the elation on the faces of the players. 

At the end of each day it was back to the hotel and it’s extraordinary clientele – the cast of Britain’s Got Talent, whose shrieking in the hotel bar was certainly on a par with the smell of the Wembley Stadium plumbing.  Overall it was a fantastic experience, a scorching weekend and some great memories that will stay with me forever (providing I don’t spend any more time in a bar with the Football League!).

By Erica Hodges on June 2nd, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Branded content, Event management consultants, Experiential marketing, Football, Football Sponsorship, Media, Mobile, Sponsorship, Synergy, Television

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