Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Z.N.E. was the hero of the athleisure category, inspired by athlete’s off-court mentality to get their head in the game. adidas’ new Z.N.E. hoodie embodies a “Born Ready” attitude, represented by a fast release zipper that opens with one hand. In an ideal world, a global campaign is one-size-fits-all across all markets. But in China, where the development of sport is still in relative infancy, the elite “Born Ready” attitude would be too hardcore and professional to be relevant to the wider audience. We needed to reinvent the global proposition to connect with our more mass, stylish athletes.

Background

Our task was to transform global Z.N.E. 3.0 “Born Ready” in an approachable manner without losing the sports credibility of the brand. The standout product feature of the Z.N.E. hoodie – a fast release zipper that can be ripped opened in a single movement – was not highlighted in the global campaign. Knowing the hunger for innovation and novelty Chinese consumers have, it was paramount to create product consideration of Z.N.E. beyond a brand attitude to meet our business targets. 1) OUTHYPE THE HYPE: create excitement and increase the desirability of the Z.N.E. 2) TAKE OVER: Achieve same levels of campaign recognition as a brand campaign despite one tenth of the media budget. 3) BUSINESS: Achieve a 20% increase in sales with Z.N.E. compared to the same period last year across key sales channels.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

The essence of Z.N.E. is the “Born Ready” spirit–we needed to connect this to our stylish athletes. Without a natural appetite towards sports, we needed to compel our audience to identify with Z.N.E., inspiring their action. A single-minded focus on the unique product feature of the fast release zip to make the product stand out in consumer minds. The idea: RIP, UNLEASH. Every time you RIP open a Z.N.E., you UNLEASH what you were born ready for. A manifestation of ultra-readiness in any situation. Building in an attitude, product demo, and call to action all in a single-minded message.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In China, sport is still in infancy, with just over half of our target exercising at least once a month. This meant that our target was not the elite, but the stylish athlete – they see sport as a trend, not a focused pursuit, a social currency to standout, and style is valued over form. As savvy ad-avoiders, they seek authentic experiences to express passion for sports lifestyle. We needed to curate an environment that empowers KOLs to influence and shape authentic – not commercialised – UGCs. Borrowing from the culture zeitgeist, we identified core passion points for Chinese consumers– sport, fashion, gaming, lifestyle, where they could express their “born ready” spirit through the action of RIP, UNLEASH. We sought out innovative new media partnerships with TikTok, the it-platform of the year, focusing on creating synergy with product feature to gain exposure and spark organic experiences, eventually driving to commerce.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

To launch into the sportosphere, we featured 4 celebrity athletes. In animation style, RIP, UNLEASH. was visualised, demonstrated by the athletes’ unique attributes, creating talk-ability and increased relevance among sport fans. We turned RIP, UNLEASH. into a social challenge, kicked off with 20+ KOLs in different passion points to connect with stylish athletes. From celebrity athletes to actors to street style stars, we selected influencers that maximised the engagement within each passion. A seamless digital journey with Alibaba sustained the campaign driving conversion with keyword buy. This was sustained throughout the campaign period with programmatic Youku pre-roll, WeChat video ads and OTT ads to drive targeted awareness among the relevant passion points. Programmatic digital media buys targeted our elite and stylish athletes, generating high interest and driving a surge in clicks. On PR, 360º GQ exposure and 200+ mass medias featured our athletes and passion points for increased relevance.

List the results (30% of vote)

1)Across multiple touchpoints, exceeded estimated impressions and clicks at 1783% and 41808% respectively. TikTok was a core driver, generating an astounding 13.3% CTR from social ads, versus benchmarked 0.5%. On PR, 941.7m impressions and 7.93m media value, exceeding campaign benchmark targets by 188% and 158% respectively. 2)The TikTok challenge generated over 2 billion views, 46.8Mil engagement & 295k UGC that was organically re-shared on Weibo generating a further 76.9m views and 119k engagement, awareness levels of a brand campaign, despite no TVC and a tenth of the media investment. 3)The social challenge and impactful creative and programmatic grow e-commerce sales value up to 71%. In-store activation attracted an average daily traffic of 63.8k that converted to an incremental 21.5% sales. Consumer demand for Z.N.E., drove purchase in-store and online, contributing to an overall net sales value growth of 52% versus the previous year.