Sports Marketing Strategy

The FIFA World Cup is one of the most significant sporting events in the world.

As adidas Football’s Lead Global Agency, we turned our backs on the convention of creating a noisy, celebrity- studded, could-be-any-sports-brand affair.

Instead, we chose to create a series of compelling adidas ‘content drops’, designed to ‘own the internet’ on the day of publishing and blow any mention of a rival brand out of the water.

Social Impact Marketing

Kicking off, we identified human insights and truths about some of the tournament’s hottest players; Gabriel Jesus, Mo Salah and the Spanish Federation (RFEF).

Gabriel Jesus’ story focused on the change that has occurred in his life since the 2014 World Cup, when he was painting the streets of his local favela. Four years later, in the form of a giant mural, we painted the streets of that same favela for him.

Next up, ‘100 Million Strong’ revealed Mo Salah’s anticipation before representing the hopes and dreams of 100 million Egyptians in the tournament. The film was a spine-tingling reminder to fans of the pressure players faced as they prepared to perform in Russia.

Finally, the RFEF film demonstrated how football brings the Spanish nation together as one, with a succession of Spanish nationals telling their team just how they expect them to play, and how they expect them to win.

In the lead up to the final, the content reached a crescendo, as we enlisted the talents of two of football’s greatest living icons; David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane. Football fans and media across the globe were glued to their screens as they watched the friendship of the two greats unfold before their eyes.