adidas: Award for overall excellence for company or committee

Nov 17, 2008

Click here to download a PDF of the 2008 MMA Awards Guide

Prior to the launch of the 2007-08 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, adidas took a giant step forward into the realm of mobile marketing. The company teamed with partners Isobar, Carat, Varitalk and Aegis Media to create an innovative, interactive brand-building "Brotherhood" campaign.

"Consumers who saw adidas basketball advertising were prompted to text 'adidas' to hear from one of our basketball athletes," says Chris Murphy, digital marketing, adidas. "The athletes called consumers and delivered brand messages and drove them to adidasbasketball.com. It was very successful at bringing typically static marketing environments to life."

As adidas' long-standing media partner, Aegis Media North America helped plan the Brotherhood campaign. "While adidas was initially reluctant to intrude on the consumer space, we felt the optin campaign design would help build the brand," says Sarah Fay, CEO. "The campaign had a very big emotional impact on target consumers and big effect on adidas' brand equity metrics. It proved that a mobile advertising campaign is highly effective in driving response."

Gene Keenan, vice president of mobile strategy, Isobar Global, notes that adidas' leadership in the mobile space goes well beyond the NBA campaign. "This company has embraced the mobile channel globally with campaigns in many key markets," he says. "The adidas team is accelerating the pace of mobile marketing while sharing their insights and serving as an effective advocate as well."

Fidel Parente, vice president and account director, Carat (media AOR), says brands should include mobile because it can provide value back to the user. "When a mobile experience provides a consumer utility first, and that utility then also delivers against brand objectives, everyone wins," he says.

For the Brotherhood campaign, adidas empowered consumers to personalize digital content with the voices of NBA stars Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Chauncey Billups, Dwight Howard and Gilbert Arenas. Through print, outdoor and TV advertising, consumers were invited to text-in and receive calls and text messages back from the adidas basketball legends. Fans could also create and send personalized talking messages to their friends in the voices of the NBA stars.

adidas leveraged the power of mobile at retail locations by empowering consumers to text NBA players and receive an in-store call with product recommendations.

"In essence, adidas developed a consumer journey that empowered fans to receive personal calls from the players and even let them create them own uniquely personalized ring tones, voicemail greetings and viral messages," says Derek Goldberg, president, Varitalk (one of the campaign partners).

Mr.Murphy notes that the campaign was so powerful that consumers made unsolicited calls to adidas to continue their dialog with Kevin Garnett. "They didn't want the conversation to end. That's the power of relevant, emotionally powerful content delivered to the mobile phone."

Looking ahead, adidas plans to continue that success."Mobile is the most used 'screen' by our target consumer," Mr.Murphy says. "We have also found that mobile is a great connector within integrated campaigns. By connecting different elements of larger campaigns, we are able to extend the time our consumers spend with our brand and our message. It's proven to be very successful at connecting consumers to our online activations."

For more MMA Awards Coverage:
Welcome Note
Mobile Marketing: Its Time Has Come Part I
Mobile Marketing: Its Time Has Come Part II
12 Things You Must Know to Be Successful with Mobile Marketing
Mobile Metrics
2008 MMA Awards Winners
2008 Selection Committee
adidas: Award for overall excellence for company or committee
Laura Marriot: outstanding individual achievement award
Academic of the Year
The Global Award Winning Strategies
More Winning Strategies