To publicize the launch of its new ‘Team Signature’ line of shoes, Adidas ran an integrated campaign which featured some of the biggest NBA stars teaching young players the value of playing as a team. The campaign included TV, in-store, print, online, and mobile components.

From the Adidas press site: ‘Basketball is a Brotherhood’ is the integrated, digitally led marketing and advertising revolution that does something no other brand has done: it allows today’s greatest players to interact and inspire the next generation of athletes.”

The first part of the mobile component was text link ads – up to 5 million per week – run by AdMob. The ads were basically invitations for people to participate in the campaign. As an example, one of the ads proposed a call to Kevin Garnett, a player for the Boston Celtics, and one of the NBA stars that was part of the campaign.

A text link ad: Call Kevin Garnett


Subscribers that clicked on the text link ad were brought to a dedicated landing page on the Adidas mobile site which included an opt-in form. Fans who joined received 4 SMS messages, plus 4 phone calls from Kevin Garnett.

Throughout the campaign, mobile outperformed all other media for driving opt-in sign ups, and at a significantly lower cost than other media.

Landing page to collect phone number
and get user “opt-in”



Another very interesting feature was the capability for a subscriber to call and leave a message for one of the NBA players. Thousands of fans called and left messages about what it meant to them to be “part of a team.”

Interestingly, a high percentage actually called two or more times. This plus the voice messages that they received from the players made it feel like there was a conversation going on, and it acted to build a relationship between Adidas and their customers.

Adidas mobile site menu
and Click-2-Call KG


The mobile site was also used to build purchase intent, by providing dedicated pages for each NBA player and his shoe, plus customized ringtones and wallpapers.

Tracy McGrady’s page
and his shoe, the T-MAC 5

Another major component of the “Basketball is a Brotherhood” campaign was the adidasbasketball.com website. The site featured an 11 part web series which showed 12 young players at a summer basketball camp. They are taught by the NBA players, and during the series they learn to shift their focus from individual stardom to becoming a team.

In addition to these mobile and online components, the integrated campaign also included print, in-store, and TV spots. You can see one of the TV ads below, and it gives a good idea of the style of the campaign.

‘Basketball is a Brotherhood’
30 second TV ad




According to Chris Kyle, vice-president of global brand communications at Adidas, “‘Basketball is a Brotherhood’ is about the on- and off-court moments that make a team more than just the sum of its individual players.”

05.03.2008    Tags: Integrated-Campaign