Title	A VALENTINE FROM ADIDAS
Brand	ADIDAS
Product/Service	ADIDAS PURE BOOST X
Category	B01. Corporate Communication & Reputation Management
Entrant	HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement	HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR	HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production	HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Claire Holden	Hill+Knowlton Strategies	Managing Director
Laura Byrne	Hill+Knowlton Strategies	Account Director
Lizzie Drogman	Hill+Knowlton Strategies	Senior Account Manager
Alex Preece	Hill+Knowlton Strategies	Associate Director
Caroline Broadribb	Hill+Knowlton Strategies	Team Assistant

The Campaign

We wanted to avoid the usual Valentine’s Day clichés, so we rejected the obvious romanticised images and looked for something bolder to cut through the clutter. We wanted to appeal to women with a traditional message of love, shown in a new light. Something that would stir feelings and get people sharing. We created a simple image that was instantly recognisable and told a universal story. Focused on the feet and legs of two people, the pose suggests a kiss and love between two women. The caption reads: “The love you take is equal to the love you make”. This positive visual statement demonstrated Adidas’ belief in the principles of diversity, which are core to its philosophy. It showed that Adidas is a brand for everyone and celebrates love in all its forms – between any two people. Most people would love it. And for everyone else, we were prepared.

Execution

Our image went out on Valentine’s Day on the global Adidas Instagram channel, and the responses immediately started rolling in. Our community manager was ready and our social team were on-hand. Most fans congratulated us, and the mainstream media embraced the story, universally praising Adidas for its support of the LGBT community. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with our message of love and diversity, and negative comments appeared: “Shame on you Adidas!!!! I’m going to Nike now” When this hater threatened to desert us, we didn’t falter, retract or regret. We offered a simple, sweet emoji reply – waving bye bye and blowing a kiss. Another added: “WTF Adidas? This day is for boys and girls…not for lesbians.” We simply replied, “No, this day is for LOVE. Happy Valentine’s Day.” The positive thinkers loved it and kept on sharing. The mainstream media embraced the story and praised Adidas for our response.

Our iconic image became Adidas’ most liked post ever across all their Instagram channels, even defeating posts featuring big-name athlete ambassadors. People embraced our response and responded with highly positive comments. People were still talking about the post a week later – and it even attracted celebrity interest. Rita Ora re-posted it and gay celebrity chat show host, Ellen DeGeneres shared the image with her 26 million fans. This Valentine’s Day post celebrating love challenged messages of hate and intolerance with a positive, cheeky response. And in doing so it shattered all previous campaign results, achieving: • 360% higher engagement than an average post • Over 1 billion reached through 150 pieces of earned media coverage • And a few new fans All with: • Zero paid media spend • No media outreach • No paid ambassadors

The Situation

The adidas Valentine's Day post put the reputation of the brand at stake. By taking a risk with a bold piece of content, we were both building a stronger connection with a specific community and its supporters, as well as potentially alienating a segment of our target audience. However, a carefully strategised, but fast response based on guidelines created by the public relations team ensured the brand was protected, and that media coverage around the post was overwhelmingly positive. The response built even more trust with our public and showed solidarity with our community.

The Strategy

We engaged our target audience, women aged of 15 - 35, on their favourite social channel on the most Instagramed day of the year: Valentine’s Day. We knew our audience would have our back, as 73% of 16-35 year olds support same-sex marriage (Pew Research Center). We also knew some people wouldn’t share our views and we’d have to be ready for how they might react. Not every brand is brave enough to invite a social media storm on the day the world celebrates love. We knew that negativity could spiral and would be hard to contain – but that the most important thing would be the way we responded. It would be important to keep our heads, stay firm and stick to our guns. We agreed that openly accepting the different responses and opinions our statement might invite, would ultimately have an overall positive effect on the brand.