We are in the middle of this wonderful time that takes place only every four years. The World Cup fever is in full motion. It is an exceptional love affair when our hearts are supporting our national team in Brazil to win the cup. To me, the World Cup is not only a special opportunity to cheer for my nation but also to celebrate a unique look that adidas brought to the world of football and to the modern culture of sport. For the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, we introduced the Battle Pack Collection. It makes me proud when I see this pack in full action. Not long ago, it was a fragile baby thought that needed much attention. As one of the nursing parents I had the pleasure to watch it growing into an impactful collection with the bold presence we’re now all experiencing. Let me share with you how we went about it.
The work on this project started in early 2012. As the World Cup usually sets the tone for the coming years in Football Footwear, we wanted to bring up the best idea for us. After the kick-off workshop in April here in Herzo, we briefed a team of talented designers in Herzogenaurach and our lead graphic team in Portland. Both teams worked with the design brief to connect the sport of football, the event location and our players seen as gods by using inspirations around the idea of black & white war paint patterns that our gods of football with their different abilities would wear when they arrive at the Brazilian football battlegrounds.
The three key inspirational ideas behind the black & white rationale
We believed that using the legendary adidas Football black & white coloration theme in a new context with the iconic Copacabana beach pavement pattern in Rio would set us apart from everybody else’s bright-colored boots on the field of play. Back then we didn’t know that for sure, yet our instincts led us to pursue. Now, in every game we can see how well this decision helped us to get past the bright-colored boot look and into a new design territory.
The evenly distributed black & white areas have another interesting side effect. The pattern type and proportion are clearly visible from the distance. You can even check with Google Maps: when you zoom in on the Copacabana beach pattern, you will be able to see it from far out in space. Later in the process, the campaign creative team translated this uncompromised absence of coloration into the wider World Cup campaign, “all in or nothing” – it is do or die at the World Cup. In general, body war painting aims to threaten and/or disguise a warrior in battle. The indigenous people of Brazil use patterns of superior animals. We got inspired by their beauty and started to link the pattern, depicting the performance abilities of our football gods in the Battle Pack shoes. It is alson known as a fact that the international youth culture worships football stars, their lifestyle and their achievements. Using this understanding led us to the third driving idea of the concept borrowed from Greek mythology. When gods came to earth or Brazil, they usually took on a human-like disguise. Now, in our creation, the football gods take on different war paint patterns that each stand for a different performance ability such as a hunting leopard for super-fast speed (Messi), a raptor for speed (F50), the full-in-control-of-things lurking Amazon alligator (Predator), the endless energy hidden underneath an armored reptile (Nitrocharge), and the elegance in shifting shape like a snake (11Pro).
A little bit of the World Cup trophy on every boot
Furthermore, we linked the World Cup trophy as the symbol of reward with our unmatched passion for football through the golden application of the Three Stripes on all boots. This state-of-the-art footwear will create a lasting impression of the World Cup as the biggest event and the ultimate football platform. We wanted to become the talk of the World Cup by being bold and giving fans a product they can have an opinion on, which is definitely entertaining for all. So far, the feedback has been incredible. The boots were kept really secret for a long time but now that the players have worn them they are really impressed and inspired by them. A BIG THANK YOU goes out to the people involved! With a collection that is exclusively worn during the Champions League Final and the World Cup, the Battle Pack is going to COMMAND ATTENTION.
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