Adidas 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup Kit Drop Targets Gen Z In Physical & Social Hotspots

Adidas primarily targeted the Gen Z demographic with the collective physical and social launch of its new FIFA Men’s World Cup by hiding the strips in plain sight at Gen Z cultural hotspots around the world so young fans could discover them for themselves.

The Qatar 2022 national federation kit campaign launch, developed in harness with agency TBWA\London, eschewed the more traditional superstar soccer player reveal event and instead gave the audience a sense of ownership of the launch programme and around the moments that the new designs were seen in public for the first time.

For example, in Japan, the shirts appeared in specially commissioned editions of major Manga comics ‘Blue Lock’ and ‘Giant Killing’, while in Argentina kit was hidden on the wall of the national team’s favourite barbershop and in Mexico it was worn by a chef at a famous taco shop.

While the global activation leveraged the theme of football kit fakes and shirt leaks within social media in order to engage Gen Z consumers in their own worlds.

For a few months after the first new shirt images began to be socially shared the German sportswear giant deliberately avoided making any official comments: choosing neither to confirm or deny the conversation and speculation raging across the social side of the soccer world.

Eventually, to reveal that adidas was indeed officially behind the subtle social and local physical launch programme, TBWA\London worked with all seven local markets (in which it is the official supplier of the national team) to create a high-energy film bringing all of the kit drops together in one place.

To add an element of authenticity and local personality, regional influencers were filmed revealing the hidden kits: for example, in Spain it was a pair of Spanish national team stars – Pedri and Ferran Torres – who publicly messaged each other about how and why they had missed the official launch and how they could get their own kits for the tournament.

Folder unlocked! Ready for Qatar.
Introducing the official @FIFAWorldCup national team kits

Hit the -link in bio- to get yours now.#adidasfootball #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/NjlmcReNTT

— adidas Football (@adidasfootball) August 29, 2022

Folder unlocked! Ready for Qatar.
Introducing the official @FIFAWorldCup national team kits

Hit the -link in bio- to get yours now.#adidasfootball #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/NjlmcReNTT

— adidas Football (@adidasfootball) August 29, 2022

“Culture became our secret weapon,” explained Adidas Head Of Global Football Brand Marketing Matt Davidson. “Gen-Z is ‘Gen-Z first and national identity second. They don’t follow the rules set by generations before them so we used the global stage to shine a light on the culture they are shaping at the crossroad with football.”

The campaign was created for Adidas’ Director of Brand Partnership Activation Jose Brasa and Paulo Oliveira by a tem at agency TBWA London which included Chief Creative Officer Andy Jex, Account Director Katya Hanbury-Williams, Creatives Lauren Buggins and Harriet Russell-Vick, Chief Strategy Officer Marie Conley, Head Of Design Aaron Moss, Designer Aaron Janagal and Producer Megan Sutton. Editoiral was handled by Vid Price At Trim, sound by Electric Studios and Ben Gulvin of Wave Studios and music by Record Play.

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Rivals Nike boast 13 partnerships with teams qualified for the tournament, Puma have 6, with one each for Hummel, Kappa, Le Coq Sportif, Majid, Marathon and New Balance.