Campaign of the Month: Adidas Originals MakerLab

Every young designer hits a wall right after coming out of design schools. Unfortunately, it’s a wall quite comparable to the one in Game of Thrones, a frozen wall. Although this “wall” isn’t built by cold northerners to repel dangerous creatures, it’s a wall built by brands, whose fear of having decreased sales in the coming trimester, has made stale.

Fortunately, some brands embrace the risks, look for the difference and let themselves be pioneers even though that might cost a little more. A perfect example is Adidas commissioning three upcoming talents – young designers who are looking to prove themselves to the world – and giving them the opportunity to represent themselves and the brand during one of the biggest fashion events, Paris Fashion Week.

This campaign goes beyond a simple narrative of Adidas vision, it acts on two levels:

How people perceive Adidas:

This campaign’s target audience is the creative industry, the artsy people, the fashion vanguards, all kinds of people that push walls and that are used to “the wall”. They look up to big brands like Adidas and they are happy to know that when they buy an Adidas product, they finance the promotion of their culture, a positive attitude towards creativity and not the contrary. This is how Adidas includes itself in the circle of vanguards and therefore is perceived as a forward-thinking brand.

How Adidas perceives itself:

Allowing outsiders to play around with the brand genetics and include their own message in a new collection is a sign of Adidas’ open-mindedness. Not only does it inspire people inside the company, it also provides the brand with a forecast of upcoming industry challenges. Here, the designers tackle two topics: sustainability and the new processes of fashion identity, giving answers that’ll enrich Adidas’ vision of the future.

Overall we got a campaign that profits Adidas and its audience, a wise move from a company whose messages are widely heard, proving once again how fashion is a dynamic and inspiring industry.