ADIDAS YUNG 90S CAMPAIGN

TitleADIDAS YUNG 90S CAMPAIGN
BrandADIDAS
Product/ServiceADIDAS YUNG 90S WEBSITE
Category A03. Durable Consumer Goods including Automotive
Entrant MEDIAMONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation OPINIONATED Portland, USA
Media Placement MEDIAMONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
Production MEDIAMONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS
Credits
Name Company Position
Mark Fitzloff Opinionated Creative Director
Rob Palmer Opinionated Creative Director
Scott Fish Opinionated Copywriter
Chean Wei Law Opinionated Art Director
Gina Keough Opinionated Account Director
Michael Dalton Opinionated Account Director
Dave Daines Opinionated Strategy Director
Bryanna Woll Opinionated Client Lead
Sue Kim Opinionated Producer
MediaMonks MediaMonks MediaMonks Creative production partner
adidas sound Labs Detroit adidas Music
Elias Music Elias Music Music

Why is this work relevant for Media?

We used a multi-pronged approach for the campaign: from a website, custom video game, posters and other supplemental material, to glitchy product videos and influencer strategy - everything was informed by the theme of 90s nostalgia, built with 21st-century insight and tech.

Background

The insight we were working from was this: Street Culture is Reference Culture. The objectives we identified were to combine authenticity with artful references from the past, to create the new. In this case, a project that would contribute to the street culture in authentic and unexpected ways. Because the Yung series is intrinsically and aesthetically linked to the 90s, we set out to identify what the visual signifiers of this era looked like, and built an approach taking these into account.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

“We’re from the future. Hello, 1990s. We’re sorry to report that your Beanie Babies are worthless. But the good news is, we come bearing sneakers. Sneakers from the future. We made this website about them, with the best 90s tech will allow (plus a little sprinkling of 21st-century magic).” In an old school collab with adidas and Öpinionated, we crafted a new school integrated campaign that challenges the typical shoe drop — launching the new adidas Yung 90s colourways in a manner that speaks to nineties kids and modern-day sneaker addicts alike. In addition to a nostalgically 90’s website, we developed a music rhythm game, designed rad wallpapers, and dropped glitchy product videos. Taking the retro vibe to the streets, we posted pagers with custom packaging to influencers and turned a pair of Yung 96 sneakers into playable miniature arcade games for an in-store activation.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We identified several goals, which then led to the development of the separate parts that ended up comprising the project. The immediate call to action was to build short-term hype for three different shoes, as well as long-term equity for the Yung franchise. The approach we took as to tell stories, inspired by the 90s, in order to both set the tone for years to come and sustain interest in several launches during the fall season, as well as forging a deeper connection between consumer and creator by crafting an experience that was rooted in the belief that the past empowers the future. This led to the creation of an exclusive experience rooted in novelty and discovery, meant to unfold into an ecosystem of content across adidas and partner properties over time, and to generate qualified traffic to the Yung series e-commerce page.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We designed a nostalgic 90’s website that served as a hub for the many facets of our campaign: the Yung Rappa music rhythm game, glitchy campaign videos, an image viewer for promotional photos, and wallpapers fit for several devices. As soon as we had finalised the design, remixing visual elements of 90s street culture, we designed the website using state-of-the-art WebGL code. Simultaneously we were designing the Yung Rappa game, playable on both the website and – literally – inside of a pair of adidas Yung sneakers, for an in-store activation designed by our Singaporean team. The game allowed players to dive into the world of an adidas Originals shoe box, and aesthetically it looked straight out of the school notebook of a teenager in the 90s. Finally, in order to generate some hype, we sent old-school pagers to influencers with secret teaser messages. Influencers were also invited in-store.

List the results (30% of vote)

We received plenty of influencer response, as well as a lot of positive coverage online from media and design blogs: Creativebloq “absolutely loved it”, Sneakerfreaker called it “the Greatest Website of 2018”, Run2 called it “brilliant”, Sitemanager praised the “very impressive modern code” the site ran on, and Weblium awarded us third place (!) on their list of the top 20 Best Modern Website Design Examples. And there were some strong reactions on Reddit as well.