While launching adidas’ football kits in the run up to the 2022 World Cup may seem like a simple brief, the reality is that a Gen Z football fan is vastly different from a traditional fan. They are more interested in personal stories than traditional news coverage and are more likely to follow individual players than pledge loyalty to one club or country (Ronaldo has more Instagram followers than the 20 Premier League teams combined).

To generate hype, TBWA\London aimed to speak Gen Z’s language and hide the adidas kits in plain sight. In Japan, the ‘leaked’ kits were illustrated on two of the country’s biggest football manga magazines; in Argentina, the barber known to cut footballers’ hair wore it casually one day; and in Mexico, it was quietly placed in a taco shop.

To reveal that adidas was behind the launch, the agency worked with all seven local markets to create a high-energy film bringing all the drops together in one place.

Credits:
adidas: The Official Leak of the adidas 2022 World Cup Kits
Category: Social
Entrant: TBWA\London
Agency: TBWA\London
Chief Creative Officer: Andy Jex
Creatives: Lauren Coates, Harriet Russell-Vick
Head of Design: Aaron Moss
Designer: Aaron Janagal
Account Director: Katya Hanbury-Williams
Producers: Megan Sutton, Felicity Bingham
Head of Strategy: Marie Conley
Post: Electric Studios
Post Executive Producer: Ben Honour
AFX: Geoff Parsons, Stefano Ottaviano, Simone Giorgetta, Kristian Duffy, Rebecca Tzouliou
Colourist: Megan Lee
Sound: Wave Studios
Sound Engineer: Ben Gulvin
Producer: Ellie Brandwood
Editing: Trim Editing
Editor: Vid Price