Wednesday, July 16, 2008

All Blacks & adidas Go High-Tech


adidas, the official kit supplier of the New Zealand All Blacks, has launched an interesting fully integrated campaign including the traditional above the line channels, viral and online. The most interesting and innovative channel, in my opinion is that of nanotechnology.

The use of nanotech allows the brand to garner even more involvement and allows All Blacks fans to submit their name, which will be etched via nanotechnology onto the Adithread, as well as sharing their ‘This is Not a Jersey’ mantra via the website www.thisisnotajersey.com.


The thread will be stitched into the fern badge of an All Blacks jersey which will be presented to captain Richie McCaw, and the virtual thread with all of the submitted names is be available to view online.

The site is also highly interactive and has a dedicated section that showcases mantras from the entire team, with their own statements written on a jersey, navigatable through a beautifull dark and moody flash interface.



The introductory film on the site also stirs up all the feelings of belonging to a tribe and supporting a team, and the significance of wearing your country’s colours with emotive statements such as ‘this is not a uniform, but a country unified’ and ‘this is not a souvenir, this is a reminder of all who have worn it before us’.

The campaign places adidas, as well as the All Blacks’ day to day supporters, firmly at the heart of the team, using the jerseys as membership to a distinct tribe and installing in them some responsibility for the team’s success.

Perhaps they may have the best kit sponsors, with the use of cutting edge technology and a wonderful campaign to boot, but stopping Ricky Januarie is clearly a whole another matter entirely.

via: Contagious