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Adidas Advert Traces Firm's History














A new Adidas TV campaign charts the company's development from its origins in founder Adi Dassler's workshop to its status today as a global sports and fashion brand.

The ad campaign, which breaks this week, features references to famous tie-ups or fans that Adidas has had down the years, including Liverpool football club, Liam and Noel Gallagher from Oasis, Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali.

Adidas' new campaign, created by ad agency 180 Amsterdam, depicts a painstakingly reconstructed miniature version of Dassler's original workshop shot using stop-frame animation.

It tells the story of Dassler, whose name was shortened to create the Adidas brand name, creating his first sports shoe in 1925 and, through a tour of his workshop, how over the years the company has grown.

The camera moves past objects including a 1980s ghetto blaster, a reference to Run DMC helping to make the brand cool with the rap My Adidas; a skateboard signed by Mark Gonzales; pictures of Bob Marley and Oasis; and a Liverpool flag.

Some of the references to sports stars have been made obliquely as there are rights issues around using their actual names.

A picture of some boxing boots is accompanied by the line "He made boxing boots for the greatest of all time", a reference to Muhammad Ali, and mention is made to the creation of "Signature shoes for some of the most colourful tennis players to grace the sport".

There are also pictures and clips of the 1954 German World Cup football winning team, who were kitted out in Adidas boots, Jesse Owens, and Dick Fosbury, inventor of the modern technique for the high jump, the Fosbury flop.

The creators of the ad also had to make sure the Liverpool flag did not appear next to the picture of the Gallagher brothers because of their fierce allegiance to Manchester City.

Dassler's workshop was recreated by 30 people and took more than a month to build.

The ad features an original piece of music composed and performed by the Prague Symphony orchestra and is narrated by Das Boot actor Jurgen Prochnow.

"It could have been an impossible task given Adi's hallowed status at Adidas," said Richard Bullock, the executive creative director at 180 Amsterdam.

"Fortunately our client was particularly brave and understood the respect and charm the stop frame technique would lend to his story."

Watch the video by clicking here

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

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