Winners & Shortlists

D ROSE JUMP ROSE

TitleD ROSE JUMP ROSE
BrandADIDAS
Product/ServiceADIDAS 3.5 BASKETBALL SHOES
Entrant Company TBWA\LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Advertising Agency TBWA\LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Steve Tidball TBWA London Creative Director
Nick Tidball TBWA London Creative Director
Walter Campbell TBWA London Director
Nick Gilberg TBWA London Editor
Chris Bosher TBWA London Strategy
Peter Souter TBWA London Chairman And Chief Creative Officer
David Barton TBWA London International Account Director
Natalie Spooner TBWA London Agency Producer
Petra Tiziani Freelance Producer

The Campaign

While it started life as a classic awareness brief – ‘turn NBA superstar D Rose into an urban icon for kids on council estates in London’ – the resulting campaign fused design, direct marketing, social, experiential, product trial, PR, celebrity endorsement, outdoor, and branded content into one coherent narrative that delivered social change. By connecting the stories of a generation of kids growing up in poverty and demonised by the media, with D Rose’s own childhood spent escaping one of America’s most violent neighbourhoods, we created a powerful and authentic emotional thread. We offered a role model and an opportunity to the kids most brands avoid at all costs, with a single, simple idea – free basketball shoes if you can jump 10ft. The result? Kids showed themselves, and the world, how talented they could be at a game many had never played. And D Rose was the icon who made it happen.

Success of the Campaign

Kids started queuing 8 hours before the store even opened, and over 2,500 turned up to watch the action. The kids who jumped didn’t just show themselves how talented they were, they showed the world. The resulting online film reached 370,000 views in the first 5 days, and was shared by 8% of those who watched it, including all the key basketball sites. Our #jumpwithdrose reached 327,000 Twitter users. We achieved the highest ever UK search volume for D Rose, and we delivered conversation volume 20x higher than Nike’s in the same period. We achieved 4 million online impressions, equivalent earned media value of £2million, and positioned D Rose as a vehicle for change. But one statistic outshone all others. In the following days and weeks, kids in over 30 countries around the world, from Australia to Zimbabwe, begged adidas to open a D Rose Jump Store where they lived.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

Our media challenge throughout was to craft a story that belonged on the streets. So we launched the campaign idea and #jumpwithdrose on pirate radio to build authentic hype. We put up free posters in changing rooms and chicken shops within a mile radius of the store, and we hit the streets to tell kids what we were doing, giving them business cards with event information to share with their friends. Next we converted a community centre in prime view of the local college and six residential tower blocks. On the day a massive #jumpwithdrose on the storefront directed conversation, letting kids talk to each other, our MC, and adidas themselves. After the event our online film gave kids social kudos around the world, whilst hyper local posters celebrated them on the streets, and business cards helped them carry the message of effort with them for life.