adidas has been a sponsor of Russian football team for many years. In view of the World Cup 2010 it was planned to run an advertising campaign to support the Russian team at the championship. However, when the team lost in Maribor (Slovenia) and did not get through to the final, it became clear that adidas has to reconsider its communication strategy.

The challenge for the Agency was bigger than the tough timing. Russian football fans felt so hurt and disappointed with their team defeat that they almost didn’t want to hear anything about football.  A typical convention under the circumstances would be to lose heart and keep silence once there is nothing to celebrate.

But adidas is a brand that believes in “Impossible is Nothing”. Or - in other words - never give up. Defeat is not the end of the day. It’s no reason to stop training. This led us to our main idea for the new campaign - “Train for comeback”. Only through overcoming difficulties and defeats, through constant training and keeping faith a person (and a team) grows stronger and more experienced. Today’s defeat is a lesson to be learnt and a springboard for tomorrow’s wins.

Another sensitive point was the choice of a celebrity as a campaign’s main hero. It was decided to invite Igor Akinfeev, the goalkeeper. While the other players of the Russian team were perceived by the fans as responsible for the defeat, everyone agreed that the goalkeeper had done everything humanly possible. According to the most popular sport newspaper he was nominated the Leader of the National Team in 2009.

The new adidas campaign included TV copy, in-store materials and guerilla marketing based on augmented reality technology. Its mechanics is as follows: adidas promo personnel distribute stickers with QR-code among youngsters. The sticker allows you to take a picture or shoot a video where a real person is training together with Igor Akinfeev.  The campaign was held in April – June 2010.