The Superstar Conchas campaign’s creative strategy hinged on deep audience insight, harnessing the dual meaning of 'Concha' to connect with Mexican culture and humor. By engaging local creators to generate relatable content, adidas ignited a movement where consumers became brand ambassadors. This strategy reshaped the Superstar's image from a vintage sneaker to a culturally relevant icon, sparking conversations and revitalizing its presence among Gen Z and young Millennials. This blend of cultural authenticity and strategic content creation led to a significant increase in brand engagement and a revival of the Superstar’s legacy in the Mexican market

SITUATION: Ever since its debut, the adidas Superstar has been an iconic shoe and one of the company’s best sellers. However, in México it has lost relevance, mainly with a younger consumer, experiencing a decrease in demand (*) over the past years.

BRIEF: Positioning the Superstar as a cool shoe for a new generation in Mexico, regaining its place on the culture and streets through a hyper local approach to product and communication, leveraging in the power of young people’s creativity and conversation.

OBJECTIVES: Increase Superstar franchise demand and mitigate the gap of brand consideration versus main competitor in lifestyle segment.

(*) Additional business and brand data, including produce total volume, at “Confidential information” section.

Historically adidas has excelled at engaging and resonating with diverse cultures globally. However, a challenge arose in Mexico with the Superstar, a +50 year old iconic sneaker franchise which has significantly lost its energy within a new consumer generation impacting its demand in the past 3 years (*).

In Mexico people affectionately called them "adidas Concha" due to the resemblance of the sneaker toe to a “Shell” or “Concha” in Spanish. In fact, “adidas Concha” is the 4th most searched term in adidas Mexico website.

This connection was further emphasized by the beloved Mexican Concha sweet bread (named after its shell/concha shape), deeply entrenched in the nation's culinary landscape. Mexicans consume an average of 30 kilos of bread per year and Conchas are undoubtedly the most iconic, #1 in popularity and consumption, to a point of having their very own National Day.

Additionally, Mexico's humor played a crucial role into the insight process acting as a language in itself. Mexicans adeptly used humor to navigate situations and to showcase their patriotism with levity.

Recognizing Mexico City as one it’s most important markets worldwide, adidas realized the need for a special connection with the Mexican market to reenergize the Superstar. This led to a deeper engagement strategy aimed at forging a meaningful relationship with consumers. Thus, the "adidas Superstar Concha" was born, embodying the culture and humor that resonated with Mexican consumers within a hyper local product.

(*) Additional business and brand data at “Confidential information” section.

adidas Superstar’s relevance and presence was waning among Mexico’s youth, both in business growth and brand/franchise consideration, challenging a legacy of aligning products with cultural zeitgeist and calling for a strategy shift to re-engage the key demographic.

Insight-driven action: Historically adidas has excelled at engaging and resonating with diverse cultures globally – from crafting unique brand communication moments to translating the culture into products. Leveraging into this rich background of possibilities, we aimed to spark a connection with young consumers by weaving the Superstar into Mexico’s vibrant street culture narrative, pivoting from traditional campaigns to authentic storytelling based in local creation of a product and a communication plan both infused with local flavor and originality to cut through the competitive lifestyle segment.

Outcome: Transform the Superstar from a classic to a contemporary icon with direct impact into 2023 sales and brand consideration.

Facing the Superstar's diminishing appeal in Mexico, data analysis identified a cultural opportunity: 'adidas Concha,' historically the fourth most-searched term on adidas Mexico and a common colloquialism that refers not only to the shell shaped toe of the shoe but also an iconic local sweet bread, as a gateway to re-engage with the local consumer.

The insight crystalized into an innovative strategy: create a product to celebrate Mexican culture. The 'adidas Superstar Conchas' emerged as a symbol of Mexican identity, cleverly fusing the sneaker's design with the concha's bread cultural importance and pop status.

Strategic use of social listening and close collaboration with cultural connectors confirmed that embedding the Superstar within this cultural context could rekindle its allure, driving both the product design and its communication strategy, guaranteeing it’s embedded with the local culture and Mexican characteristic and inherent humor.

The creative idea for the Superstar Conchas translates the strategy into both product design and communication plan, connecting to Mexican culture and humor to capture audience attention and disrupt the sneaker market.

Embedding the sneaker with textures, colors and completely reimagining the Superstar iconic shelltoe as the Concha bread with a kitschy and quirky aesthetics, created a Mexican statement—a fusion of iconic footwear and culinary delight that enticed both sneakerheads and cultural enthusiasts.

The communication plan was crafted to emulate this blend of tradition and playfulness, inviting content creators to interpret this confluence in their way. This openness to organic creativity inspired consumers to join the conversation, turning individual experiences into collective storytelling. Such engagement ensured media outlets across all niches—from fashion commentators to mainstream news—were eager to cover this unique narrative, celebrating the Superstar as not just a trend but a cornerstone of national culture.

More than 700 social media posts, +320M organic impressions, +200M organic video views (no media investment)

+950 media articles, +480M earned media impressions

USD 2.2M ad value

Superstar Conchas sold out in 1 week (5x faster than forecasted)

#1 best seller product in Latin America during the launch week

+7p.p in brand consideration (Kantar Brand Health Tracker, Q3 2023)

(*) Additional business and brand results at “Confidential information” section.