Fight for your right to house party
December 10, 2008
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Home improvement adidas style
“It’s the house party to end all house party’s-and you’re invited,” says the iconic three stripes footwear brand as it celebrates ‘60 Years of Soles and Stripes’.
Katy Perry, Estelle, the Ting Tings, Missy Elliot and David Beckham are among the stars appearing in a new adidas house party commercial, part of the company’s “Celebrate Originality” 60th anniversary campaign. The 2-minute long commercial (directed by Nima Nourizadeh) includes“All the celebrities, athletes, and kids who have helped make us who were are today,” say adidas.
The guests at the party are all kitted out in adidas Originals clothing and footwear, and can be seen dancing to a DJ Palooksi remix of the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hit ‘Beggin’.
“adidas Originals’ biggest strength and point of difference is the ability of the Trefoil brand to be a relevant part of people’s lives – in whatever lifestyle they have – skater, rocker, artist, musician, sneakerhead, sports fan whatever,” said Hermann Deininger, CMO adidas Sport Style Division. “This is a campaign that celebrates all of them and offers an open invitation to consumers to come and join in.”
The year-long campaign will include cinema, digital, retail, events and a print campaign which will launch throughout 2009.
So what?: “Bring your ass to the party, it’s gonna be hot,” says Russell Simmons in the invitation precursor ad for the house party commercial. This in itself highlights the slight disconnect between sport personalities and musicians – they should fit like a hand in a glove, but for some reason they generally don’t work that well together. This ad however manages to shoehorn the two disciplines together by dispensing with any soundtrack from the music artists within the commercial, instead opting for a remixed classic. This evens the playing field between the celebrities, letting them flow through the ad surrounded by everyday adidas consumers.
Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst for NPD Group, suggested that TV is a particularly effective medium for the Originals brand, “since its appeal is based on a somewhat retro look, it’s trying to reach a young and old audience simultaneously.”
This campaign highlights a move away from straight-line artist and song packaged endorsements, (as depicted by the early Run DMC $1.5M deal originally taken out by the brand). Just as artists are realising there is saleability outside of straight music revenue, so too are brands.
“While using a panoply of stars is, ironically, not entirely ‘original’ this is executed with polish and the overarching house party idea feels simple and compelling, particularly if the promise of involving the audience comes good. Personally I’d like to see Ilie Nastase and Method Man arguing over who cracks on to Katy Perry in the next ad. Followed by a duel with tennis rackets. But maybe that’s just me”
Ant Swede, Creative Planner, FRUKT
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