Adidas vs Puma: when communication makes the difference

Memories

Summer 2016.

Sweden, Gothenburg train station, Hertz car rental. I remember the exact moment when the advertisement for The Get Down dawned on me. With the same excitement as 10 years ago, when I had to seize the moment otherwise it wouldn't come back, I pulled out my iphone and waited for the rotation of commercials to replay it, just to capture that discovery so dear to me. I watched the first episode under the duvet with the happiness of someone who grabs an extra piece of knowledge. Like when I used to record moves from MTV videos to dance better than the others. I was in Sweden, in Italy nobody knew The Get Down....

But come on, how long was it going to last? All of a sudden the underground, so under that you had to dig to get there, in the hands of Netflix. It couldn't be. Devoured. Not even time to go home. Of the history of hip hop, there is very little in the show and it is so fictionalised that the difference between this and a 'Save the last dance' is perhaps only in the fact that the love story is between two blacks, there is Jaden Smith and that the ghetto is really the ghetto. Oh sure, it's a series created by Baz Luhrmann. RIZE by LaChapelle doesn't anyone remember that? Still, come on, it's LaChapelle.

It doesn't matter. There is one thing no one can ever take away from lovers of the genre; that soulful urge to react to the beat, to remember that you were born to rebel even if you are peaceful and that the articulate syntax of words over rhythm is exactly your way of revolution. This is The Get Down an instant publicity vehicle for a specific target audience.

At the dawn of declining social values, here comes hip hop back into fashion.

We know that every social status has its values encapsulated in objects and clothing. Hats, glasses, beards, tattoos... we are reviewing them all. The trainers were missing; or rather, there was a bit of a struggle between Adidas and Puma.

PUMA takes the history of hip hop and adapts it to its company's desire to relaunch the Clyde. Or rather, the Clyde signature Suede. For collectors, that signature is everything. I decide to buy them. Not as shoes but as totems.

So convinced was I that the marketing worked well and that my now distant Swedish awareness was within reach, I went to PUMA and asked about the Clydes. THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE. Not just the Clydes but The Get Down. Now, if I were the marketing manager of PUMA and I were to focus a TV show on relaunching my brand, the first thing I would do is at the very least send out a newsletter to all employees. Since I'm not the marketing manager I simply told the salespeople 'watch it'.

Nothing, the PUMA Clyde can't be found. I make my peace with it and continue to hide my soul behind unquestionable loafers.

ADIDAS, January 2017. The 'ORIGINAL IS NEVER FINISHED' commercial is released.

The challenge begins.

It is like a western film where you first frame the looks,

then the hands,

then the looks,

then the hands again.

Then the shot.

DIFFERENCES:

1- PUMA

Product: Puma Suede (Clyde)

Aim: to focus on the relaunch of a best-selling product, the Suede, but to add a signature Clyde basketball player.

Audience: All classic Suede lovers + collectors

Medium: Netflix

Retail outlets: Footlocker

2- ADIDAS

Product: ADIDAS

Objective: revival of values at a time in history when values are no longer present.

ORIGINAL IS NEVER FINISHED:

- It is in the concept that the 'Original' model is at the origin of the company

- the company is original because it was born before its brother PUMA

- Throughout the campaign, the etymological concept of the word 'original' is analysed, i.e. that its source is unknown.

UNIQUE. It talks about social symbolism, discredits the word creativity, draws parallels and reminds mankind how ADIDAS is only interested in original people. That's what you're interested in. What you think doesn't matter to them.

In the ADIDAS commercial, a line of shoes is launched that I would never buy. I did, however, buy ADIDAS, Superstar.

If before a testimonial was enough to make us buy a product, as it could be Clyde for PUMA, or RUN DMC for ADIDAS, today it matters what values a company carries and how it communicates them. The choice of ADIDAS to support those who have always remained themselves and have not compromised, therefore with stable values, works in a society that seeks them.

I chose ADIDAS because in the morning when I wear them I remember what makes me feel really good, I remember my values, and that is irreplaceable. I am a victim of this commercial because I am a victim of symbolism and I think Johannes Leonardo did a great job. 

Taking the collective all-in-one visual culture and making it into a 90-second commercial is not for everyone and I don't mean technically.

I believe that awareness and values are what move us to choose between things we have no need for. Emotions and values make an object come alive.

Whatever choice you make, be aware of it.