In the process of responding to a comment on LinkedIn about how important the World Cup will be to the brands, I realized that adidas had launched their first “real” campaign of the year. While the brand has rolled out a series of lackluster videos and products this year and sales have slid with a majority of adidas products being marked down heavily, this video is different and the feeling of the moment is immediate.
When adidas works within what it knows the feeling of authenticity is amazing. The video above backed by a Neptunes sound and A$AP Ferg announcing (Honestly it could have been anybody announcing) while the imagery of the beautiful game is shown in a “Glitch” styled setting featuring pros from Mo Salah, Leo Messi and of course Paul Pogba, to adidas’ Tango Squad star Caitlyn Schrepfer (pictured at the head of this post) this is adidas doing what they did best in the last year and a half. adidas is pulling off a rebellious attitude within a corporate structure.
On LinkedIn my response was to the point that adidas should win this battle with Nike based on the growth of Premier League viewership in the U.S although the U.S. isn’t in this years World Cup:
It’s interesting that you bring up the growth of the Premier League in the U.S. Soccer has to begin to grow here as PL viewership numbers have been decreasing in a similar fashion to NFL numbers. (The article below discusses sports viewership.)
The hidden discussion is in the growth of soccer as mom’s begin to fear CTE. The middle and upper class are leaving American Football and the sport will soon be relegated to lower class (Black folks) which is a completely different discussion, but one that many don’t even know is an upcoming issue.
Nike’s focus has always been on the stars which is why in the post I brought up the value of Ronaldo to Nike as a justification for the amount of money spent on acquiring talent for Nike Futbol.
adidas has had one of the best ongoing campaigns in soccer via Glitch which is more of a grassroots approach. Their latest campaign Creativity is the Answer, pulls from every aspect of adidas endorsers in an attempt to overtake the coverage of Nike’s recent coup with the Nigerian kit release and shift the focus back to the World Cup where adidas teams are primed to run the table.
We just got our first soccer franchise in Memphis (United Soccer League) which will be interesting to watch in relation to the MLS.
adidas is slowly infiltrating the US by building soccer pitches in big cities. They are taking a subversive approach, but as I said in the post this is a dangerous moment for the brand as the try to offset a considerable slow down in sales momentum in the U.S.
What adidas has done in this first video from the “Creativity is the Answer” campaign that will build throughout the World Cup is to take their grassroots “Glitch/Tango” movement and combine it with the star power of the World Cup to create an organic and impressive marketing pitch to the world and dammit it works.
A call to action from adidas to consumers worldwide. Inviting athletes, musicians, artists and filmmakers in adidas Key Cities – London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai, Oldtime York and host city Moscow – to co-create and shape the brand narrative for the rest of the campaign throughout the World Cup event. These images, moments and content that adidas and makers create together will form the first ever open-sourced campaign and real-time pulse of the world’s biggest sporting event.
At the end of the video Pharrell passes the mic to the viewer creating an interactive experience that I’m absolutely positive YouTubers will respond to in their own videos. adidas also reintroduced the Predator BOOST which has never really been a focus in the U.S. and may be one of the remaining models the brand has to offset the lack of interest in Prophere, Deerupt and NMD.
Keep your eyes open… the World Cup is about to give us one of the most amazing sports summers yet.