Adidas goes 'all in'

A fully liveried bus ad is an impressive piece of outdoor marketing that will usually receive a fair amount of attention due to the sheer impact of the format. The reach opportunities are increased by the obvious mobility and also the ability to access retail areas where there are little or no other OOH formats available.

As with most media, it is especially effective when tied into events, such as the recent ‘All in or Nothing’ message from adidas which was timed to maximise their presence along the routes of the no.38 and no.8 buses during the World Cup.

These fully wrapped buses are high cost in terms of production which encourages longer campaigns to maximise value for money and lower media costs pro rata. There is the risk, however, that the message soon becomes stale and the impact diminished.

The latest Adidas activity is for their new Predator boots, timed perfectly to coincide with the start of the upcoming season. It’s both refreshing and intriguing to see a brand follow up on successful bus branding rather than using it as a ‘one-off’ impact piece. This willingness to spend big on the on further production augments the Adidas brand stature, especially given the assumed association with the cutting-edge Routemaster buses.

It’s good to see the use of the large format hashtag. It’s being used to pinpoint a particular product (and potentially help measure response) rather than being used for the sake of it.

Adidas has definitely kicked on and let their #predatorinstinct take over, giving them familiarity in the space and the potential to score a victory over rivals in owning the medium within London.

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Cover Wraps ... An expensive load of rubbish?

Despite the creative impact that advertising coverwraps have when attached to the paper, more often than not the bins on mainline commuter stations are littered with them, detatched from the main paper due to 'over inking'.

Today was no exception, with the NatWest ad consigned to the bin (as per the image above on the right), and another for TLC a few weeks ago (as per image above on the left).

 

Taking in to account the fact this is a high ticket item when it comes to media costs - surely the creative team and media agency should be aware of the effect of adding too much solid colour and over inking the covers. It seems to be a very expensive and avoidable mistake.

 

The example above for TESCO is a good example of a cover that survived ultimate consignment to the bin, where as the ones below for Adidas and Nike didn't make it across the finishing line. 

 

  

 

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Whose Sponsor is it Anyway?

Following the Sharapova/Evian sporting blunder another supposed brand ambassador who hasn’t quite lived up to expectation is Mario Götze, who completed his £31.5 million transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich today.

Unfortunately, he didn’t really think through his outfit, given that his new employers are sponsored by Adidas and indeed hold a 9% stake in the club.

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