Like Father, Like Daughter

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Client: Adidas
Creative Agency: Carat Interactive
Media Agency: Carat Interactive

Our objective was to extend the 'Impossible Is Nothing' adidas brand campaign online to effectively increase our reach to 12-24 year old consumers.  We sought to harness the emotional concepts of improvement, challenge and achievement, bringing them to life in an inspirational narrative.  We chose to activate one of our most inspiring stories, Laila Ali vs. Muhammad Ali, as the primary vehicle through which we would invigorate and excite consumers. 

We wanted to create big-impact ad units that would inspire through their narrative and imagery.  The Ali v. Ali television spot was already resonating well with consumers, but we wanted to tell more of that story online to solicit engagement and interaction with the advertising unit, the 'Impossible Is Nothing' concept and ultimately the adidas brand.  We chose to utilize rich media to stream the Ali vs. Ali television spot and allow consumers to link directly to all of the 'Impossible Is Nothing' spots to further extend our brand message online.

We partnered with highly trafficked portals and context relevant sports sites to deliver 'Impossible Is Nothing' to consumers and build awareness for the adidas brand.  Although the online campaign flight was relatively short, the four total homepage placements and supporting media performed extraordinarily well, building a strong foundation and consumer connection with the launch of our 2004 branding efforts.
--Tara Moss, Internet Marketing, adidas america

adidas was launching their first new brand campaign in over six years with an integrated media approach. The challenge was to reflect the concept of “impossibility” in all the separate mediums. Carat Interactive was chosen to bring the campaign to life online in an impactful and memorable way. The TV spot and other creative was created by a traditional offline agency.  Carat Interactive recognized that a key factor in the offline executions was the video element. We developed a media buy and created unique ad units that enabled the optimum use of a video/flash presentation, which included units on the front pages on Yahoo!, MSN, and ESPN. [It required] coordination among adidas US and adidas International to acquire the video assets and photographic components. We next had to work with the cooperation with the interactive media team and hosting Web sites. We created advertising units that included brand messaging and user-initiated or self-running video clips. This required applying the newest video technologies for serving video on the Web from the sites like Yahoo! and vendors like klipmart.

The results far exceeded expectations. The use of front page “events” on two of the highest trafficked sites provided unparalleled reach in short time and gave double the number of impressions we were hoping for. This was one of the most successful online ads in MSN and Yahoo!’s histories, respectively, measured in both raw number of clicks and click rate. In fact, many consumers posted comments to Yahoo! in response to the ad, calling it “one of the best ads I’ve ever seen on any Yahoo! front page.” We measured the campaign on reach to the target audience and number of streams viewed. The number of streams viewed was in the multi-millions, and the average view was 22 seconds (of a :30 spot).

[This campaign] shows the power of broadband video as a means of truly integrating an online and offline ad campaign. Shows that when an ad is compelling and inspiring, consumers willingly watch it, forward it, and replay it. 
-- Andy Tress, Managing Director, Freestyle Interactive

The overall 'Impossible Is Nothing' campaign works for me because it is aspirational and it subtly delivers, through the capabilities of the medium itself, on the proposition 'Impossible Is Nothing.' In the TV spots, Muhammad Ali spars with his daughter. On the Internet, you actually experience the video streamed seamlessly into a prominent ad unit. The online component required the coordination of media planners and buyers, multiple account staffs, engineers and, lastly, effective online art directors and animations specialists to create a compelling companion piece online to the offline campaign.

Given a little more time we might have been able to extend the idea further. I would have loved to have seen Leila and Ali walk out over the page and duke it out in a transparent video. Perhaps socking text, icons, even sidebars right off the page.

I am especially proud of the integration of good design and technology working together to create a super-successful and effective online campaign. It has received lots of recognition from many unexpected quarters. It was pretty darn effective. Obviously the intent of the campaign was branding. The stats were great. As I recall it is one of the most effective ad units to have ever run on the Yahoo! home page.
-- Michael Yapp, Executive Creative Director, Carat Interactive

Creative Showcase is meant to be a teaching tool and an inspiration for our readers. We comment only on creative that we really love. Our panelists discuss what makes it great, but if they feel there were missed opportunities that would have made it better, we invite them to mention those. And finally, we seek out a wide range of opinions that reflect the marketplace for the panel, in order to provide constructive, useable feedback for agencies, clients and others involved in these creative pieces.

I like this a lot. I love the striking photography and the quick initial hit of the message. The animation of the words leads me through the potent self-help message. I enjoy this 'Impossible is Nothing' campaign anyway, so I was quick to click on the banner which took me to the rich media experience. My first comment is: Thank you for letting me initiate everything. This video is a great idea! Laila literally following in Dad's footsteps. Floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee. You can't help but get caught up in the emotion of her homage. But the icing on the cake is when she connects with Ali's face. His look, her reaction, the crowd's reaction -- this video creation is priceless. This creative starts with a solid branding message, then unveils a series of user-initiated experiences that leverage the power of video to provide an unforgettable ride. Unanimous decision from this judge -- it's a knockout.
-- Lee Watters, Executive Editor

The placement on Yahoo, strong; the size, impact; the idea of streaming, smart. In the end, if you are awed still by the novelty of streaming TV spots on the Web, very nice -- if not, then you have just another streaming ad on the Web.

Don't get me wrong, the Ali vs. Ali spot is a nice way to bring to life the idea that 'Impossible is Nothing,' it just does not floor me as a digital execution. The line that sets up the idea is almost lost, "They said I would never fight my way out from under my father's shadow." For me, it is the core of what the spot is about. Instead, it pushes us to the tag, "impossible is nothing", why not push me to complete the thought by playing the ad and then pay it off?

I still find the small spaces we force TV into, loses the emotional impact they have in their intended environment of 27" or more of screen space. I also found it clunky that we go from a flash piece to a static gif, and then on click, I need to load a Windows Media Player and then stream the file. With this target, why not stay in Flash 6+? And then rather than hope I move on to Adidas site, allow me to reach for more clips/spots within the unit.

I may sound like I hated this, but honestly, I think it is fine. But I continue to see so much out there that is just that, fine. Consumers are smart these days, they don't mind if we market to them, as long as we are straight-up, but soon they will want us to show we are smarter, more courteous and give them great experiences. This one is just not there yet.
--Glen Sheehan, Executive Creative Director, AKQA

Here is an example of a great client with a great message and a great campaign. Understanding Yahoo's reputation for allowing no more than 18 fps for flash creative and extremely short time limits on how long a unit can play, it is understandable why the text has such a short display time and appears difficult to read.

Intro animation aside, three things troubled me with this ad. First: Why do I want to click on this? Second: What exactly is IIN and why do I want to go there? And third: Why is such an engaging and quite clever video buried behind such a vague call to action? 

The video itself holds a powerful message that should be seen. Simply putting a clear and prominent call to action, perhaps even a thumbnail of the video would've helped me to understand what this ad truly had to offer Had the unit given me even a hint of what's to follow my click, I would've been much more inclined to take action.
--Ted Kacandes, President and Creative Director, Glow Interactive