How Do You Bring Football Fever From Moscow to Central London?
adidas found sport and music were the perfect match to reach their Creator fan base in London.
For five weeks every four years, the best of the best arrive in one country (ok, maybe three countries over 8 years but that’s for another time), to battle it out for football’s greatest prize: The FIFA World Cup.
But being 1,800 miles away, how do you translate what’s going on so far away into something that relates to your community? How do you win on your local streets?
adidas in London focused on five activities to bring football fever to heart of the English capital.
1. We set up our own place to create: Football Creator Base
Our answer came in the form of the adidas Football Creator Base, set right at the heart of London in Shoreditch. We brought together some of the best creative talent from across the country to showcase how ‘Creativity is the Answer’, using football as the enabler to do it – from Stormzy to the F2, Playboy Carti and Tango League.
Football was the inspiration and at the heart of everything we did, however it was more than that: It was a celebration of culture and creativity which only sport and music can bring together.
2. We blended football with music
Music played a massive role in this five-day extravaganza. During the day, the Creator Base was all about the beautiful game, at night, it became its very own gig space with a mix of international headliners and the best of British taking to the stage to an intimate crowd of 300 fans, whilst Brixton’s Reprezent Radio broadcast live from the Base throughout the event.
3. We opened the floor for co-creation: Create Your Own Glitch
At adidas, we’ve been taking a more open source approach over the last few years, so we used this event engage the football masses, opening the doors to external influences by inviting a host of Creators to design their very own Glitch Skins.
4. We played the best street football ever: Tango In The Night
Back to football: The event also saw the national finals the Tango League Energy Mode. But not only was the tournament trophy at stake. The MVP of the tournament – chosen by none other than Stormzy himself – received the prize of a lifetime: A trip to Moscow to compete against the rest of the MVPs from across the globe and tickets to the World Cup Final!
During the week, 38 teams from across the country competed to become national champions. King5’s were crowned champions in a pulsating final, with Lil Hass taking the title of Most Valuable Player.
5. We created a lasting legacy
The event itself ran for five days, but we wanted to make sure that we left a legacy so as one final hurray, we let our London Creators design their own style of pitch for two London cages which will be built in 2019.
Looking back over those five days I’d say we truly nailed it, with over 2,600 people joining us in Shoreditch for the event to celebrate all things football, bringing the atmosphere of the World Cup from Russia all the way home.
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