Adidas is losing out to Nike when it comes to resonating with Gen Z, so as a main sponsor of The World Cup, we had an opportunity to tell our brand story to millions of engaged fans. But with the controversy surrounding Qatar it felt like we could be at a disadvantage as a main sponsor. So, we made it our objective to focus on the joy of football and its ability to inspire belief in the impossible.

To leverage the opportunity, we had to win the World Cup on and off the pitch, cutting through at the busiest time of the year with an integrated plan across markets, channels and platforms.

And of course, this was probably the last World Cup for one of our greatest ever players, so Messi needed a starring role in our campaign.

We loved the insight that every four years the world’s biggest family reunites, an adidas family of players and fans brought together by one thing; the joy of football.

Our idea reframed the World Cup as the world’s biggest family reunion, a global celebration where players and fans unite around the belief that anything is possible.

Using the family concept to show our athletes in a new light meant that the whole campaign had a feel-good factor around it as we invited millions to join our impossible family. And obviously we had some fun with it…

The globalization of football has brought many successful stories, but as it becomes more accessible there is a growth of pre-determined standards in the game, making it feel more factory-made and sterile. We wanted to address this by using the World Cup to remind fans why they love the game and celebrate its journey to all corners of the globe. What better way to do this than in the first ever World Cup in the Middle East? For one whole month what better embodiment is there of the adidas brand message that anything is possible?

Our brand role was simple; reignite the fun in football through a global event that embodies the spirit of Impossible Is Nothing.

The most viewed integrated campaign in adidas history, reaching 2.6bn video views.

Adidas was the most talked about brand at the World Cup, reaching over 1.2m social conversations with 44% positive sentiment.

The Impossible Rondo was the most viewed film in adidas history, and the Family Reunion film was second.

The most engaged with sports brand at the world cup, achieving our objective of bettering Nike and PUMA on all consumer-centric KPIs, due to the successful integration of our campaign meaning we reached audiences across multiple touchpoints.

Partner activations, Fan Zone events and the Al Hilm Match Ball launch drove media cut through (64K pieces of online and social publisher content) across all markets and strong adidas only media attention (15% exclusive media coverage).

Collaboration posts on Instagram delivered strong partner publishing results (pre-WC final collab delivered 24M engagement – most engaged partner content of all time).