OPPORTUNITY

Joining the brand in 2016, it hit me: adidas had no voice. A lot of guidelines and mercurial copy examples, sure, but nothing to point back to positioning and values that without question was the Brand with the Three Stripes. When it came down to it, the brand viewed its products as its branding, which works in a visual landscape, but when it comes to having a conversation with athletes, it had nothing to point to. 

So, it came down to a self-brief to: Create an own-able brand voice that celebrates adidas’ values and creator positioning.

process & approach

Over the course of a year and countless coffee meetings, an official brainstorm was in the books. Rebellious Optimism was created after hours of research, rifling through company history books, and examining what our mission statement really meant.

Something that came out of it was this collective feeling of all of these amazing truths: tales of the founder’s grit from colleagues who worked with the brand for decades…its CMO at the time’s commitment with sustainability, and the breadth of artists who gave a voiceless brand a voice within culture.

Rebellious Optimism now serves as the North Star to the look, tone, and feel of the brand, and is indoctrinated into every single brief, from product development, to innovation, to communications.

The video shown was created by our team to illustrate what Rebellious Optimism looks and feels like, when words aren’t enough.

Due to this project being embedded with strategic pillars, the video is all I can show, but I’m happy to discuss the project’s process and results in greater detail.