adidas gets londoners leaping

Joss Davidge, business director of brand experience agency BEcause, continues his weekly search for great marketing ideas.

This week looks at the latest offering from adidas – a pop-up jump shop.

This week I came across this great, simple and brilliantly on-brand pop-up activation from adidas.

To launch the new Derrick Rose signature trainers, adidas created a pop-up shop in London where fans could have a go at leaping 10ft in the air, in a bid to grab a pair off the shelf. The live activation looks brilliant. The waiting crowd were whipped up into a frenzy by the arrival of Rose, who then proceeded to help or simply laugh at people who attempted the 10 ft challenge. The video is expertly edited, giving a sense of the occasion and the brand. It is well worth a watch.


What has really struck me about this activation is the simplicity of the idea and execution. We have so many tools at our fingertips these days that it is all too easy to start to let your imagination run away with you and launch into a campaign that is too complex.  

As an agency we certainly don’t shy away from embracing the right kind of tools to extend marketing messages beyond traditional touchpoints, but with app production getting cheaper, social media more prevalent and a whole host of interesting, innovative tactics that can now be used, it is easy to start to laden a creative concept with too much.  

If you are trying to do too much you risk diluting the core message because you don’t have the right team support, or the logistics are incredibly complex and you find yourself cutting corners and damaging the actual experience. Having the wow factor is great and can leave a fantastic and long-lasting impression, but don’t simply look to wow consumers, make sure you can fully engage with them as well.

adidas, one of the biggest brands on the planet, famed for innovative and adventurous marketing campaigns has shown here that you don’t need much to create an experience that is highly engaging, fun, memorable and completely on-brand.  

Read more from Joss Davidge in our Clubhouse.