I picked this up from LRB’s forums; this campaign features very beautiful imagery – and a message that’s a bit off from what you’d expect – “everyone has their own reason for running”. What the ad doesn’t really communicate is what the reasons are – rather there are just nice shots of people running.
You really can’t help but think “and…?” and try to figure out what’s trying to be said. To assist, I’ve added my own interpretation below. If you can think of something better, please comment. Further, if you can think of how your reason fits Adidas’s brand message – and exactly what’s being communicated (except the fact Adidas has a lot of money for seemingly frivolous ad campaigns) I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Reason: To look at pretty girls.
Reason: To look at yourself running.
![½¡Éí·¿ [Converted]](http://www.littleredbook.cn/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/gym_2.jpg "½¡Éí·¿")
Reason: To suddenly notice the hand you are lifting is not the hand that is lifted in your mirror image.
Advertising Agency: TBWA, Shanghai, China
Executive Creative Director: Carol Lam
Creative Directors: Johnson Sheng, Lesley Zhou
Art Director: Danny Li, Haoxi Lv
Copywriter: She Kai
Agency Producer: Doris Zhang
Photographer: Uwe Duettmann/ Red N Raw Asia
Executive Producer: Linda Tan
Production House: Refine Images Shanghai
Retoucher: Joo/ Refine Images Shanghai
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Haha I’m a big fan of your captions Rand.
I find these atmosphere of the ads looks a lot like Lacoste actually, don’t they? Doesn’t feel adidas to me.
@rebecca – yes they are quite quite “lacoste” aren’t they? Didn’t notice that before. The soft tones don’t seem very adidas to me either – these ads are bit dreamlike – not as clear/on target as their other China campaigns.
also a big fan of your captions: “Reason: To suddenly notice the hand you are lifting is not the hand that is lifted in your mirror image.” unless he has 2 left hands..which could have been a relfection of the Ad agency for this campaign..
@ben – yes true – its more a reflection of the agency than a reflection of the runner.
Yeh, I think its indicative of a lot of the running campaigns going on with the international brands. They’re just doing enough to stay noticed but nothing to really stamp authority and take control of the market. Saying that, Adidas has tried more community and interactive led approaches, such as their fun run campaign.
Check out the article I wrote on out here:
http://enovatechina.com/blog/?p=349
let me know what you think.
Rand,
I love your funny captions too. But I am sorry I don’t get your story. Maybe I am missing something here. The reasons are clearly stated in Chinese in each picture. Assuming you know Chinese, you should have seen the message clearly. So what is your point here? Do you mean the fonts are too small to make any impact? I am not saying I like the ads. But the reason for running by each individual is pretty clear to me from the ads.
thanks.
@meitounao – Well i don’t think the message is contained in the descriptions; ie: “Rather than watch TV I’d rather go run” – so whats the message there? Don’t watch TV and go running? Running competes against TV? Or: “I’d rather run with a sober mind” – what does that mean? Who is it targeting – do you feel an affinity with the Brand? The messages generally seem light and airy and dreamy – without a sense of the concrete; the other ads TBWA did covered previously really tapped into the Chinese nationalist psyche – these ads seem more focused on a daydreaming yuppie.
The message isn’t contained in the text – its contained overall in the imagery, in which the text serves to enhance. The final though – is the combination of the two, and the message or impression that comes forthwith – and what is that message? I don’t think this post has a point – which sort of fits the ads: a nice diversion that you forget about in a few minutes.
Only a small part of the message is written. The major message here is contained in the pictures which say:
Nice girls, nice guys, beautiful environment, be part of this world, be Adidas.
Therefore this makes your brain associate those positive feelings to the brand. Is that wonderful?
Be part of which world? Brave new world ?
To me it feels a bit fake : like you cannot keep up with these perfect people having a perfect and healthy life. There is something patronizing in the ads. Nothing spontaneous. Sport is about sweat, competition, feelings, not going for a preppy run after you go to your fancy haidresser. Really they look like Welcome to Gattaca cybergs thinking they’re living the perfect life – but they will discover they have no soul at the end of the movie. How do you associate positive feelings with unconsistent creatures ? I don’t. Maybe it will work if they target a specific crowd who knows