Pogba & Stormzy Weren’t Built In A Day: A lesson from adidas in Commitment, Confidence & Celerity

I read an article that summed up most of what had spread across the internet in the previous 48 hours; near unanimous applause for adidas’s Paul Pogba x Stormzy freestyle announcing the biggest transfer in football history; Pogba’s £89 million move to Manchester United.

This was brave, and it was fluid, and it was ground-breaking, inspiring/disruptive/guerrilla and a whole host of other buzzwords that come off of the back of the usual industry reaction to a marketing tactic like this. What was more crucial than the above in making this campaign impressive, wasn’t simply that the announcement was video-lead and highly sharable, not unusual in the underground passion points of music (grime especially) fashion and more intimate football communities, but that this content, which felt very grass-root in its execution, was unusually placed at an international level around a moment in history. This could only be achieved through fearlessness, a commitment to championing cultures, a considered approach when it comes to creating assets and monopolising on a marketing asset that seems harder to get right the bigger the player; Timing.

Despite being worth $25.6 billion as of May 2016, when it comes to storytelling adidas’s fluidity and territory-specific execution resembles a creative start-up more than a brand with offices on almost every continent. Be sure that this clicked into place only because adidas had the brand DNA to ensure this made sense as a tactic. Had Puma done it, it wouldn’t have felt authentic, had Nike done it it wouldn’t have felt in line with their ethos – yes they marry music and sport like the heavyweight sector-leader they are, but they don’t create stories for their fans – had Under Armour done it as the rising sponsor/player in the sport sector it would have felt strong but premature and much less relevant to the FA and UK.

There are but a few brands in the space between commercial and creative that are as connected to both the established and budding creators of the world as adidas are. Looking at the development of their content over the last few months you can see clear properties and themes that have contributed to the Pogba x Stormzy moment.

First Never Follows- bespoke track Here We Go Again

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Cutting edge in its execution and already setting up the story with themes of boundary pushing, innovation & difference, adidas warm us up for the season – should also be noted that we can see the same shots of Pogba in this video as the Stormzy one.

There will be Haters directed by Ernest Desumbila

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We begin to see the morph into a more colloquial and particularly south-east England/London tone of voice and dialect. Emblazoned hashtags, popular culture language and icons make this powerful content, highly relevant to its audience.

BLAH BLAH BLAH directed by Rollo Jackson – music by Dusky ft Wiley

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As the ideal precursor to the Stormzy content, playfully highlighting the speculation around the Pogba move ‘Blah Blah Blah’ which features Pogba reading a paper, snuffing and instructing (in French for effect, obviously) ‘Don’t believe everything you read in the papers’. Building more on the London specific theme, the music is by Dusky, EDM duo from North London featuring Wiley, Grime legend from Bow in E3.

And this is just the football side.

On the side of music and Stormzy, adidas have had a long-term and intimate relationship with the Grime star since his early days as a hybrid YouTube personality and stayed alongside him as he rose quickly, establishing himself as a leader in the London Grime scene. Stormzy’s affiliation to adidas is near-unquestionable and highlighting examples feels futile, but some cheery-picked moments include his video for Know Me From that features his mum and literally boxes of adidas, his adidas Originals x Nigo duppy that showcased the Japanese designer’s collection, shot in Tokyo. And his recent birthday party at Thorpe Park where he, guests and 200 fans enjoyed the park on his birthday – complete with adidas customised t-shirts, adidas branded Snapchat filter, adidas cake and adidas goodie bags.

Stormzy was the key vehicle in delivering monumental news to the sporting world, Pogba was catapulted to popular culture stardom through the cross-vertical online hype this received. This was as a consequence of adidas connecting 2 relevant influencers, massive in their areas but not mammoths to fans outside of those arenas, and connecting them in a creative and edgy way which was so effective that people who don’t connect with grime or football or either were sharing both the content and hype around it because of the power cultivated from the surrounding conversation.

For all the marketeers that will be holding this up as a reason to ‘throw out’ the old approach to marketing, this isn’t achievable overnight and isn’t relevant to every brand. There are quick and disposable wins in the sector that can be earned by reacting quickly to moments and having the foresight to plan for them but the Pogba x Stormzy content is proof of a handful of valuable lessons. Investing in your tastemakers and nurturing them until they become powerful team players means you can create exciting opportunities with them. The art of Sharability is intricate and elusive; getting it right will take time and would benefit from the former or the equivalent. And global giants cloaking their size and moving fluidly when executing in creative cultural moments, staying connected to artists, directors and tastemakers that will bring value to their overall brand story will mean that they’re able to affect people more deeply with their campaign and create true moments.