Adidas Celebrates Sports

The advertising rivalry between Adidas and Nike is as intense as their commercial rivalry. The two sportswear giants have both made a slew of award-winning ads in the last 10 years, like Nike’s “Dream Harder” ad and Adidas’ “Your Shoes” campaign with Billie Jean King. It’s no surprise that both have made ‘COVID Comeback’ ads as competitive sport has gradually returned in the wake of the pandemic.

We covered Nike’s technically brilliant ad on Ad Of The Week a few weeks ago. Now it’s Adidas turn – the latest instalment in their “Ready For Sport” campaign was released this week. The campaign has been running since April, building anticipation for the return of sport to people’s lives. In this ad, though, the message shifts – now that sport is back, let’s not forget how great it is and miss the opportunities we once again have.

The ad lands at 3.8 Stars – which is exactly the same Star Rating as Nike got. It’s a strong score, in the top 10% of our Test Your Ad database, but what could Adidas have done to breach the 4-star threshold? A look at the second-by-second FaceTracing, which shows the audience’s emotional journey through the ad, reveals happiness which rises steadily, but slowly. A stronger peak of emotion at the end and “Ready For Sport” could easily have hit the 4-Star mark.

But in other areas, Adidas’ ad takes the gold. Its Brand Fluency and its short-term Spike Rating are both exceptional, and higher than the Nike ad scored. Adidas’ straightforwardness and simplicity is probably working in its favour here – it’s an ad which makes you want to get out of your seat and hit the track, field or gym, not one which invites you to sit back and marvel at its cleverness. The Star Rating may be a photo-finish, but Adidas is still the winner in this heat of the brands’ long rivalry.