Adidas 360° Interactive Brazil '14 Ball Ad Ambushed By Nike

FIFA partner adidas and Nike began a football marketing battle in the first week of December as adidas unveiled its new Brazuca ball for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and Nike aimed to disrupt the official sponsor’s space with a viral launching its own latest Ordem ball.

On 3 December, adidas unveiled the Brazuca at a launch event in Rio de Janeiro featuring 3D projection light mapping and a gathering of football stars and celebrities from around the world (including former winning captain Cafu, Dutch legend Seedorf and Flamengo forward Hernane).

Adidas’ new ball, , also used the launch party to announce it is giving away Brazuca balls to all babies born in Brazil on that Tuesday.

Parents of every baby born on the its launch day can redeem a Brazuca – an informal Brazilian word often used to describe national pride – this weekend by presenting a birth certificate at selected locations in all of Brazil’s 12 World Cup host cities.

The name itself came after last year’s public vote by Brazilian fans

The giveaway spearheads the PR phase of a marketing campaign based on the idea that every Brazilian is born with a football by his or her feet

The new ball is composed of six interlocking symmetrical panels made of a polyurethane casing material and features a colourful all-over swirl pattern of red, blue, green and black. The pattern echoes traditional multicoloured wish bracelets often seen on the wrists of Brazilians and aims to reflect the fun and energy associated with Brazilian football.

This theme is also explored in the product’s marketing, including the launch TV commercial which features young Brazilian playing on the beach as well as some of the biggest World Cup teams and star players (all of whom are adidas partners or brand ambassadors of course).

The TV spot includes the copy ‘Love me or Lose me’ and the tweaked adidas hashtag ‘#AllIn or nothing’.

The commercial is set to The Kinks track ‘All Day and All Of The Night’.

The official World Cup ball underwent a rigorous two-and-a-half-year testing process with input from some of the world’s top players (many of whom appeared in the ad) including Messi, Schwieinsteiger, Casillas, plus adidas teams such as AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Palmeiras and Fluminense.

There is also a innovative 360-degree interactive version of the ad, which allows viewers to see the world (well the ad’s creative anyway) from the ball’s point of view or from that of various players.

This version drives consumers to follow the ball’s own Twitter feed with the line ‘#See what I see @brazuca’.

Other promotions for the ball range from an online production video

to traditional ads and work right across the adidas football channel that includes exclusive access to brand ambassador players, behind-the-scenes team content.

As ever, rival Nike ambushed the adidas by unveiling its own new ball – the Ordem – by launching viral on YouTube on 2 December (the day before the official adidas launch event).

Nike’s new ball launch commercial film sees Wayne Rooney surprise Rory McIlroy at the first tee by taking him on for a round of golf: Mcllroy plays normally, while Rooney kicks the new ball at the hole (of course, it doesn’t actually fit in the hole).

The underlying message aims to showcase the new ball’s high quality flight control through its aerodynamic grooves.

The film for the ball, which is available on sale via digital Nike channels from 5 December, was shot on a Cheshire golf course and also features a cameo from former Brazilian football superstar Ronaldo (thus linking it indirectly to the Brazil 2014 and ambushing adidas World Cup ball).

Thus tweaking a creative approach it took with its Johnnie Wilkinson/David Beckham kicking viral back in 2003.

Nike’s new ball is being used in a set of pre World Cup friendly matches played by the 10 Nike sponsored teams in the 2014 World Cup, including Brazil.

Comment

A Nike ambush of an adidas official global event sponsor campaign has become something of an international marketing tradition.

It seems, as so often is the case in the early stages of a Nike ambush versus official adidas campaign, that the guerrilla creative is leading the way.

One week after the ads were posted on their official YouTube sites, adidas’ Brazuca spot had racked 371,249 YouTube views, while Nike’s Ordem viral boasted 674,990 views.

Links

Adidas Brazuca TV Spot YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PImQsVsXCrI

Adidas Football On YouTube

YouTube – http://a.did.as/17hC6R2

Adidas Football Twitter

Twitter – https://twitter.com/adidasfootball

Adidas Football Facebook

Facebook – https://facebook.com/adidasfootball

Adidas Football Tumblr

Tumblr – http://adidasfootball.tumblr.com/

Adidas Football Soundcloud