How adidas Went From Loss-Making to the World Cup
Inside the adidas Marketing Factory
About this episode
The turnaround from a loss-making brand in 2023 to owning the World Cup and the sub-two-hour marathon. The “brilliance at speed” engine behind the London billboard blitz, why adidas retired “Impossible Is Nothing” for “You Got This”, the contrarian bet on brand while much of the industry chases performance, the relay-race model behind being a global brand with a local mindset, why it refuses the single-agency model, and how it partners with creators rather than using them.
Key themes
- 01
“Brilliance at speed”
The reactive-marketing machine that let adidas own the sub-two-hour marathon moment, blanketing London with hundreds of billboards within hours, for a race it did not even sponsor.
- 02
The turnaround (2023 → World Cup)
The three building blocks behind CEO Bjørn Gulden's revival of a then loss-making adidas.
- 03
“Impossible Is Nothing” → “You Got This”
Why adidas retired one of advertising's most iconic lines, built on the insight that pressure is what stops people enjoying sport.
- 04
Brand over performance
adidas's contrarian bet on long-term brand-building while much of the industry pours ~60% of budgets into short-term performance marketing, informed by Byron Sharp and Binet & Field.
- 05
“Global brand, local mindset”
The 400m-relay operating model for passing ideas between global, market and country teams without losing coherence.
- 06
Agencies, creators and AI
Why adidas refuses the single-agency model, treats creators as long-term partners rather than one-off hires, and uses AI as a copilot to enable craft rather than replace it.
Links, books & references mentioned
Transcript
0:00
Two weeks ago, Sabastian Sawe broke the 2-hour record in the London Marathon. An historic performance 59 wearing an adidas. The ideal recipe is you've got a moment, you got an athlete and a product. And if you can put all of that together, you've got the magic. The example of this last film is the opposite of performance marketing. 5minute film is one of a full suite of
0:30
things that we're going to deploy in and around the World Cup. And of course, it's a peak moment, but there's lots that surrounds what we're doing. Your role is really to to get this big idea from global and see how you can effectively cascade it. Think about it as a as a relay race, like a 400 meter relay race. We're
0:47
dependent on each other. So, you know, global might be running the first leg, the market might be running the back straight, and then the countries are bringing it home. Let's be very clear in in 2023 adidas was essentially a lossmaking brand. Again, if I think and step back and go, you know, one of the things that challenges that brands have is how well known they are, how well recognized they
1:09
are. It's not a problem that adidas has, but what did adidas stand for? Could consumers play back for you a really clear or sharp understanding of what the brand was about. It's also the time that the brand shifted from impossible is nothing to you've got this. Maybe we should be a brand that should be about championing
A look inside the adidas factory
Related links
Enjoying this episode?
If you find this episode interesting, follow us to receive all the upcoming episodes.
Behind-the-scenes.
