Situation:

Despite his 2022 World Cup win, Lionel Messi had some serious competition for the 2023 Ballon d’Or in Nike-sponsored Mbappe, Haaland and De Bruyne. An eighth award for Messi, which was likely to be his last chance of winning, would cement his status and legacy as football’s G.O.A.T. - and give adidas a chance to position itself as the leading football brand in the world.

Brief:

Create a unique and iconic activation to celebrate Messi’s record-breaking eighth Ballon d’Or win and solidify adidas’ position as the most relevant and most engaging brand when it comes to player activation.

Objectives:

- Drive brand heat, talkability and shareability with the objective of achieving 15 million engagements.

- Deliver an insightful campaign that resonates with football and sports fans globally, with particular focus on appealing to the United States audience.

-Ensure strong brand association between adidas and Messi.

Our creative took the distinctly North American tradition of giving victorious sportspeople a unique Championship Ring to the world of football and Lionel Messi.

We created eight unique gold rings in the inimitable Championship Ring style, with each design honouring Messi’s achievements from a specific Ballon d’Or win.

Each ring paid tribute to Messi’s achievements by showcasing the highlights of a particular year through a combination of statistics and visual elements; artefacts of his journey towards becoming the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T.).

We then captured imagery and footage of Messi wearing all eight rings, in an approach inspired by iconic images of legendary NBA players Bill Russell and Michael Jordan proudly wearing their multiple Championship Rings.

The approach effectively allowed us to blend local market insight and cultural relevance with player-focussed storytelling that did justice to Messi’s remarkable footballing achievements and reinforced adidas’ brand message - Impossible Is Nothing.

An eighth Ballon d’Or for Messi meant more than just another record. It marked the moment where football’s G.O.A.T. debate would finally be put to bed. To celebrate this huge moment for football culture, adidas needed to create something that was impactful, iconic and memorable and would always be attached to Messi’s win.

However, the campaign needed to not only appeal to a global football audience but also resonate with the U.S. market, who might not be as familiar with Messi’s career and the significance of the Ballon d’Or.

Research was done into how similar scale awards and elite athletes are celebrated in American Football and Basketball in North America. We found that it was commonplace at all levels of North American sports for winners to be presented with Championship Rings - and this insight was the springboard to our creative approach.

The launch was adidas’ most viral campaign of 2023 and one of their best performing campaigns ever. The brand successfully managed to connect itself to Messi’s historic achievement and consumer sentiment was extremely positive for both adidas and the player. Above all, it achieved its aim of resonating with the U.S. market through the cultural sporting insight that inspired the creative idea.

To summarise the key results:

Over 26 million organic social media engagements (vs benchmark of 15 million) - the highest ever for an adidas athlete activation.

Over 54 million organic video views on social media (vs benchmark of 45 million).

985 organic media pickups of the campaign and key visual.

Over 110k examples of people sharing the creative in their own social media content.

196% increase in consumer sign ups on the adidas app vs October 2022.

Examples of fake imitated rings being created and sold online.