adidas Originals

Global press and digital campaign

Each adidas Originals product started off as a piece of re-discovered sports history. But what happened in the long stretch time between those historical moments and the day one of those pieces of kit found its way into the collection?

Since these products were creative redesigns, we also had some fun in imagining the journeys each may or may not have taken before they finally inspired an adidas designers’ own ideas.

Appearing in lifestyle and fashion-forward publications, we designed many of these to work both as fast, visual impact ads as well as stories with multiple layers of discovery.

The Titan Shoe Track —“The psychedelic colors.A sole inspired by the suction action of octopus tentacles.What else would you expect from a running shoe conceived in 1969?” — ***The Titan Shoe Track —***
*“The psychedelic colors.*
*A sole inspired by the suction action of octopus tentacles.*
*What else would you expect from a running shoe conceived in 1969?”*

Trimm Trab Trainers —Named after an animated German fitness character who was all the rage in 1970's Germany. In this story, Trimmy is found - 20 years later, with a massive beer gut - and so he needs to get himself back into shape before appearing … — ***Trimm Trab Trainers*** —
Named after an animated German fitness character who was all the rage in 1970's Germany. In this story, Trimmy is found - 20 years later, with a massive beer gut - and so he needs to get himself back into shape before appearing in our ad.

The Rio Grande Football Shoe —This shoe was originally created to commemorate a moment in the '82 World Cup.The story suggests that the original design, with its cleats still on, was actually cursed. Which of course meant it needed some major safety… — ***The Rio Grande Football Shoe*** —
This shoe was originally created to commemorate a moment in the '82 World Cup.
The story suggests that the original design, with its cleats still on, was actually cursed. Which of course meant it needed some major safety upgrades before it could adapted for streetwear.

The ZXZ Running Shoe -A humble Japanese designer creates the greatest running shoe ever made...and tragically succumbs to the seduction of its power. According to the story, — ***The ZXZ Running Shoe*** -
A humble Japanese designer creates the greatest running shoe ever made...and tragically succumbs to the seduction of its power. According to the story,

The Everest Collection -An outdoor collection inspired by the monumental achievements of the first man to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, recreated here in a museum diorama with living models and a steaming pot of yak stew. — ***The Everest Collection*** -
An outdoor collection inspired by the monumental achievements of the first man to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, recreated here in a museum diorama with living models and a steaming pot of yak stew.

The Shot Put Shoe - inspired by a Greek shotputter in the ’84 Olympic Games, this tells the story of how a bowling game, a broken locker and the sudden emergence of ’90’s Grunge rock led to the eventual release of the shoe some twenty years later. — ***The Shot Put Shoe*** - inspired by a Greek shotputter in the ’84 Olympic Games, this tells the story of how a bowling game, a broken locker and the sudden emergence of ’90’s Grunge rock led to the eventual release of the shoe some twenty years later.

We strove to individually craft the visuals of each adidas ad, allowing for interesting discoveries and rewarding engagement.

Premium insertions accompanied some ads, and codes found in the copy could also unlock promotions.

Respect to craft was very important to our audience, so we didn’t cut any corners and instead created unique styles influenced by each individual story.

For example, the Everest collection was built as a tongue-in-cheek real-life museum diorama with real people (though Chomolungma, Reinhold Messner and the yak were mere cardboard cutouts). And the ZXZ shoe was hand-painted in a merging of Japanese and European techniques. The Titan octopus tentacle was a handmade prosthesis.

ALL INTIMATE UPRISING

Print, poster, banner and web films.

A campaign to promote All laundry detergent in city markets. Competing detergents used harsher surfactants in their formulations, so this laundry uprising was led by a revolutionary (but good-natured) beret-wearing thong that called for more gentle treatment of fine lingerie and related undergarments.

DOCKERS | WINTER-IN-SUMMER COLLECTION

Press, Outdoor

Contrasting with the US market, Levi’s Dockers was positioned as a streetwear brand in Europe.

The client’s media agency had already bought outdoor space in the middle of summer. Since this was running across the EU in multiple languages while people were still beaded in sweat, we needed a simple visual idea that would convey Docker’s American roots, while also driving sales of their heavy winter clothing collection.

The campaign successfully launched the Dockers winter collection in southern Europe during a scorching August by providing some helpful suggestions of where it could be worn in the meantime.

(Photography: Stefan Ruiz)

VASELINE | KEEPING LIPS AMAZING

Global digital, press campaign, point-of-sale and packaging.

Our lips are an amazing part our bodies; exposed membranes containing millions of highly-sensitive receptors that speak through touch alone.

We merged Vaseline’s real product benefit (it forms a protective layer) with the humanity our lips convey and used the opportunity to help educate consumers on the real science behind why we need to keep our lips healthy.

The original brief was for a press campaign. But our work was so successful, we went on to redesign the entire brand line, including the packaging and product.

(Photography: Tim Flach).

THE LAUNCH OF ETSY’S FIRST HOLIDAY POP-UP SHOP

A project through Agent A, we unveiled Etsy’s first-ever official retail space, the Etsy Holiday Shop, a pop-up shopping experience in New York City. While our audience was aware of the Etsy brand, many had yet to become an Etsy customer.

50% of the buyers at the Holiday Shop had never purchased from an Etsy seller before became aware of Etsy. We promoted Etsy in a spirit true to its indie-maker platform and brought more enthusiastic and supportive shoppers into the fold.

During the ten days, we hosted over 20,000 guests in the SoHo neighborhood, one of the highest profile shopping districts in the world.

The shop hosted an activity-packed calendar of events. Depending on the time of day or night, a shopper might wander into a coffee tasting, a lecture, a workshop, or one of dozens of very special performances.

The shop was filled with creativity. Each day a new artist created a piece in the warmly-lit storefront for everyone on the street to see. As the pieces were completed, they were hung inside the shop, building out a gallery of original works for all to enjoy. Once inside, shoppers could interact with featured Etsy sellers making and selling their products.

Nine guest curators, including Martha Stewart, Tavi Gevinson, and Swissmiss, selected items that lined a wall as shoppers entered, giving surprising and distinctive perspectives on what Etsy has to offer.

ALL DETERGENT | LAUNDRY BUS ‘WRAP’

City buses covered in fresh laundry.

If you live in a city like New York, space is limited. Odds are, you have a chair draped with (clean or dirty) laundry. Since one tiny bottle of All Small and Mighty Laundry Detergent could clean 32 loads of clothes, we wanted to show just how much of a pile that would be.

Our brief was to make traditional screen-print bus wraps, but we wanted to do something more impactful.

So we covered six city buses in 32 loads of laundry which were driven around for two weeks straight. Pictures of the bus appeared all over news sites and social media. Weekly sales of the detergent exceeded their original goals by over 300%.