Adidas – Training Series | Informed by data. Driven by empathy

As the pandemic took hold and gyms shut down, online searches for ‘home exercises’ rose by over 400%. Adidas wanted to leverage its impact as a leader in sports, to encourage people to stay healthy and keep up their fitness training at home by embodying the brand’s mantra of using sports to change lives for the better. Their goal was to empower athletes at all levels, whether that was collegiate athletes or high schoolers at home. They needed a content hub that would actively encourage the use of sports as an avenue for self-improvement and health. Their mission statement mirrored the goal of the campaign, “Informed by data. Driven by empathy”.

The idea Understanding that maintaining fitness impacts our mental health as well as our physical well-being, Adidas partnered with the Oliver Agency to create a series of videos utilizing professional athletes to help ‘train’ people at home. Not only would this strategy help improve lives during the pandemic, but would also connect athletes, as well as Adidas the brand, to millions of people in a new and impactful way. The idea was expanded to include storytelling as a way of getting across personal, impactful stories that would benefit viewers and promote an air of authenticity. For example, online searches of ‘home basketball drills’ doubled during the pandemic so Erica Wheeler and Amanda Zuhui B. of the WNBA joined Adidas to show how basketball players could mimic the training of the pros with just a ball and a court. Other professional athletes including NHL star Brock Boeser and professional tennis player Katrina Scott, among others, helped create 175 content pieces from 36 remote shoots. Videos walked viewers through short workouts that could power up there at-home training sessions and provide insight into the value of fitness.

After creating videos that included everything from rock climbing to running, and highlighting fitness on courts, tracks, fields, gyms, courses, and homes, their goal was easily reached. Adidas was able to garner over one million organic impressions, as well as improve its digital search rankings.

Tags: Awards Case Studies, Brand Strategy, Digital Campaign