*Record Scratch* You're probably wondering how I got into this situation...

Puerto Rico Day 9

It’s finally here! HAMILTON DAY!!!! We wanted to do a whole day dedicated to the show but couldn’t fit it all in. We started off with breakfast at La Bombonera in Old San Juan for some Mallorcas (recommendation of Lin-Manuel Miranda himself...via his Twitter). So good. It’s the love child of a donut and croissant if the donut took a more dominant role. It’s sprinkled with powdered sugar and filled with a fried egg, melty swiss, and thin slices of ham.

Puerto Rico is all about those sweet/savory combos and I am here for it!

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The festival wasn’t in full swing yet so we decided to do a bit of a morning walk to the Puerta de San Juan where we entered Paseo del Morro. It’s a gorgeous path along the base of the Castillo San Felipe del Morro right along the water. You get a great view of the giant waves crashing into the rocks on one side and the towering wall structures to the right. 

Leaving through the Puerta de San Juan gate!

The path was full of cats. Literally anywhere you look there’s a cat. There’s feeding stations run by the Save-a-Gato organization which is why all the cats like to gather here.

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Once we finished up the walk we had a lovely chat with another visiting girl (and fellow Hamilton-fan) before we finally regained enough energy to officially enter the grounds of the San Sebastian Street Festival. We started off near the market centers around the Plaza del Quinto Centenario. Tio Danny had a booth set up so we picked up a Maduro (Beef/Plantain Empanadilla) and walked through some of the stalls which featured a ton of local Puerto Rican artists selling everything from painted gourds to pressed flowers to sweets. I’m not much for knick knacks and jewelry but food always calls to me especially if I have no clue what it is. This meant my 2nd purchase of the day was a tiny container of Majarete. It tasted like a blended rice pudding (though it’s apparently made with rice flour) with your typically cinnamon notes but a nice underlying coconut flavor as well. It was extremely viscous so the tiny cup was the perfect size.

The first of many street food snacks courtesy of the San Sebastian Street Festival.

We continued walking until we hit a street lined with Bounty sponsored booths. Angel still hasn’t had a chance to try one of my favorite Puerto Rican foods, Bacalaito, so we had to order one and it was GIGANTIC. This one was more crunchy and flat than my previous one, almost like a fried cracker/pancake crossbreed. But of course I also needed to try something new so a few booths down I pointed at the first item I didn’t know. I ended up with a cup of Sorulittos de Maiz. Basically corn fries. They basically taste like corn meal fries (because that’s what they are). Or corn puffs that were never fully dehydrated. Like every other item here, it was served w/ a side of Mayoketchup. 

Fried foods galore! So good but so bad for you (not that that matters when I’m on vacation!)

Some of the sweets I bought from one of the stalls. They have a ton of lollipops and these coconut/fruit combo bite things (that I clearly don’t know the name of).

We spent a bit more time wandering the festival browsing booths and enjoying the music before we headed out. Of course we needed dessert though so we may a quick trip to Chocobar Cortes so I could get a proper chocolate tasting. I got their Spiced Chocolate (Anise/Cinammon) and one of their Hazelnut. It’s pricey at about $2.50 a pop but it’s worth the occasional indulgence

The day portion of the festival is very family friendly w/ parades (main one was at 5pm on Thursday though you can catch smaller privately organized ones at random unscheduled times), giant head displays, and tons of music.

Tons of live music all around the entire city.

Sad we were gonna miss the parade, but a nice marcher asked us if we want a pic and of course we couldn’t say no.

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After so much food we decided to make the 2 mile trek back to our hotel by foot. On the way we passed by the San Juan capital and decided to take a look around. No line or entrance fee, just a quick security check. The center of the building is gorgeous and although the displays in the building were all in Spanish, it was a nice pitstop.

The center of the building sports this beautifully intricate high ceiling. Pictures absolutely don’t do it justice.

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Once we got back to the hotel, we got ready for our night out to the greatest show in the world: HAMILTON!!! First we had to stop by another restaurant Ricky/Florin recommended to us (along w/ the rest of the internet): Santaella. They do take reservations through Opentable and I would highly recommend it. They place can get very busy depending on your luck. The restaurant itself is gorgeous w/ antique style filament lightbulbs lining the ceilings and a lit tropical plant display window on the back wall. Their food was a bit more American/French w/ a Puerto Rican influence but at this point I was craving a taste of home and welcomed the familiar menu. It is a classier place so no tap, but still water is available at $2.50/person which is more reasonable than other high end restaurants I’ve visited.

Gorgeous restaurant interior. Definitely a slightly dressy place, perfect for a pre-show meal (though service is a bit slow so make sure you have enough time).

We started our meal w/ the Foie Gras Terrine which was served over a fruit jam (I believe guava) and a fresh mini baguette that spouted steam as soon as we snapped it in half. The terrine had a uniform creaminess offset by some roasted pinenuts. The salty and fatty flavors of the foie gras were nicely balanced by the jam too. For our mains my friend got the Veal Cheeks w/ Creole Fricasse and Root Veggie Puree and I got the Marinated Skirt Steak w/ Malanga Shoestring fries. The veal was practically spoonable and the veggie puree had an almost cheesy flavor. Otherwise it was like a very well-made beef stew. The skirt steak was quite tender for such a cheap cut of meat and the marinade was nicely caramelized which brought out a delicious charred sweetness. It was topped w/ a pickled chimichurri that gave my mouth a much needed break cause the meat portion was HUGE. Seriously a delicious meal and I can see why Ricky/Florin would give it the thumbs up

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With our bellies full and our wallets empty, we made the 10 minute walk over to the Luis A. Ferre Theater. Picked up our tickets (which I was freaking out about because the email stated you needed the original purchase card which I forgot), got in line, and got to our seats. Not the best seats since the side overlook obstructed my view slightly but I am infinitely thankful to have been in the room where it happens.

This part is less travel-bloggy and more Hamilton-fanny but this is more or less my diary so who cares. I didn’t think I’d cry too hard. I’ve seen the show 3 times, met Lin, met his family, listened to the soundtrack a million times, I’ve been there done that, but absolutely not, as soon as he walks out I start sobbing. I felt my face scrunch up and tears well up in my eyes as my hero took the stage. The entire crowd cheered and rawred for a solid 2-3 minutes. My voice was still raspy from the cold but I tried anyway. The entire cast is wonderful and I am so ecstatic about seeing them again in San Francisco next month. After the show we booked it to the stagedoor. I’m tagging this post w/ Hamilton so hopefully someone will see this LIN DOES NOT STAGEDOOR. The three Schuyler sisters did though as well as a member of the ensemble. They were all such sweet people and while I hoped to save my $10 bill for Lin to sign, I felt it was appropriate to get it autographed at the last show he’ll ever perform as Hamilton. 

We met some really cool fellow Hamilton fans at the stagedoor (shoutout to my new friend Alicia!) and ended the night with a very interesting conversation with an Usher about the political climate in Puerto Rico among other serious topics. We didn’t end up leaving until past midnight. I’m so fortunate to have been in the crowd to see one of Lin’s last performances.

Tips in case any Hamilton folks finds this post: 1) There are quite a few extra seats. Due to some political stuff, the venue changed and seats were reassigned. Since the new venue is larger, that means there’s a decent number of empty seats.

2) To get the seats just show up at the theater. On our 7:30pm performance night, I met 2 women who got in that started waiting at 4pm. Though they said there were people since 6am.

3) Ticket prices range and it’s easier to get a spot if you’re a single viewer. Also don’t forget the lotto!

4) GOOD LUCK! I hope someone gets to see this and takes a chance at those day of tickets. (Seriously you have a good chance, I met ~10 people this trip that got day of tickets)

Facebook, Google and Twitter C.E.O.s to Face Lawmakers Again: Live Updates Here’s what you need to know: Jack Dorsey, left, the chief executive of Twitter; Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google; and Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 25.Credit…Lm Otero Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press The chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter will face skeptical lawmakers again next month when a congressional committee questions them about the ways disinformation spreads across their platforms. The House Energy and Commerce Committee said Thursday that it would hold a hearing on March 25 with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sundar Pichai of Google and Jack Dorsey of Twitter. The committee has been examining the future of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that shields the platforms from lawsuits over much of the content posted by their users. The attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, which included participants with ties to QAnon and other conspiracy theories that have spread widely online, has renewed concerns that the law allows the platforms to take a hands-off approach to extremist content. “For far too long, Big Tech has failed to acknowledge the role they’ve played in fomenting and elevating blatantly false information to its online audiences,” a group of the committee’s top Democrats said in a statement. “Industry self-regulation has failed.” Andy Stone, a spokesman for Facebook, said the company “believes it’s time to update the rules of the internet, and this hearing should be another important step in the process.” The House Judiciary Committee announced its own set of hearings on the tech industry on Thursday. It said it would hold multiple hearings on how to update antitrust laws to address the power of the tech giants. The committee questioned chief executives before concluding a lengthy investigation into the companies last year. The Judiciary Committee’s first hearing will take place on Wednesday. An all-electric Renault Zoe. Renault’s chief executive, Luca de Meo, last month presented a plan to return the automaker to profitability.Credit…Samuel Zeller for The New York Times Renault, the French carmaker, reported a loss of 8 billion euros, or $9.7 billion, in 2020 as the pandemic gutted sales, but the company said that was profitable in the later part of the year. Most of the annual loss stemmed from Renault’s stake in its troubled partner, Nissan. Losses at the Japanese carmaker drained €5 billion from the bottom line, Renault said. In addition, Renault car sales plunged 20 percent for the year, to just short of three million vehicles. “After a first half impacted by Covid-19, the group has significantly turned around its performance in the second half,” Luca de Meo, Renault’s chief executive, said in a statement, without giving a figure. He said that 2021 was “set to be difficult given the unknowns regarding the health crisis as well as electronic components supply shortages.” In 2021, shortages of semiconductors, a problem for almost all carmakers, could cut production by as much as 100,000 vehicles, Renault said. Mr. de Meo, who became Renault’s chief executive in July, last month announced a plan to return to profitability that includes cuts in production capacity, sales of fewer models and increased parts sharing among vehicles to simplify manufacturing. Manessa Grady and her sons Zechariah, 8, left, and Noah, 9, were among the millions of Texas residents who lost power this week.Credit…Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times In California, wildfires and heat waves in recent years forced utilities to shut off power to millions of homes and businesses. Now, Texas is learning that deadly winter storms and intense cold can do the same. Bill Magness, the president and chief executive of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, said on Thursday that Texas was “seconds and minutes” from a catastrophic blackout this week as rotating outages were used to control the flow of electricity. The country’s two largest states have taken very different approaches to managing their energy needs — Texas deregulated aggressively, letting the free market flourish, while California embraced environmental regulations. Yet the two states are confronting the same ominous reality: They may be woefully unprepared for the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters caused by climate change. Blackouts in Texas and California have revealed that power plants can be strained and knocked offline by the kind of extreme cold and hot weather that climate scientists have said will become more common as greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere. The problems in Texas and California highlight the challenge the Biden administration will face in modernizing the electricity system to run entirely on wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and other zero-emission technologies by 2035 — a goal that President Biden set during the 2020 campaign. The federal government and energy businesses may have to spend trillions of dollars to harden electricity grids against the threat posed by climate change and to move away from the fossil fuels responsible for the warming of the planet in the first place. These are not new ideas. Scholars have long warned that American electricity grids, which are run regionally, will come under increasing strain and needed major upgrades. “We really need to change our paradigm, particularly utilities, because they are becoming much more vulnerable to disaster,” Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California, said about blackouts in Texas and California. “They need to always think about literally the worst-case scenario because the worst-case scenario is going to happen.” Video transcript Back transcript Congressman Calls Robinhood’s Help Line and Gets Voicemail After telling the House Financial Services Committee about the suicide of Robinhood user Alex Kearns, who died believing he had lost $730,000 on the brokerage app, Representative Sean Casten called its help line. June 2020, Alex Kearns, who was 20 years old at the time, from Naperville, Illinois, killed himself, largely thanks to a bug in the Robinhood system. The bug was that he turned on the app, it said he owed $730,000 that he did not have, because of options positions that he thought canceled out but didn’t appear to. He called the help line. The help line, of course, was not manned, as we’ve discussed. He sent several panicked emails — three, to be precise — did not receive a response. Ultimately there was a response from the emails saying that, in fact, his positions were covered. But by that point, it was too late, because he had taken his own life. The — this is a gentleman who is 20 years old. Under Illinois law, he was not allowed to buy a beer, but he was allowed to take on $730,000 in positions and exposure that he did not have the liquidity to cover. Your mission, Mr. Tenev, is to democratize finance. But the history of financial regulation is to protect people like Alex Kearns from the system. As the old joke goes, if you’re playing poker and you can’t figure out who the fish is at the table, you should leave the table because you’re probably the fish. And there is an innate tension in your business model between democratizing finance, which is a noble calling, and being a conduit to feed fish to sharks. So I’m nervous. I think I got an exposure. And I call your help line now. Let’s call and let’s listen in the time we have remaining to what I’m going to hear on the other end of the phone. Voicemail: “Thank you for calling Robinhood. Please visit us at robinhood.com or on our app for support. If you have an urgent trading need, please make sure to include details of it when reaching out. Thanks have a great day.” After telling the House Financial Services Committee about the suicide of Robinhood user Alex Kearns, who died believing he had lost $730,000 on the brokerage app, Representative Sean Casten called its help line.CreditCredit…via C-Span The chief executives of Robinhood, Reddit, Citadel and Melvin Capital Management were among the witnesses at a hearing on the GameStop trading frenzy held by the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. Vlad Tenev, the chief executive of Robinhood, was the target for both Democrats and Republicans, fielding more than half of the lawmakers’ questions. “I love your company because it does, when correctly managed, provide investment opportunities for individuals who are currently frozen out of the markets for one reason or another,” said Representative Anthony Gonzalez, Republican of Ohio. He added: “At the same time, though, I believe a vulnerability was clearly exposed in your business model.” Representative Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, capped his sharp questioning of Mr. Tenev, in which he relayed the story of a 20-year-old college student who killed himself last summer believing that he’d lost more than $700,000, by dialing the Robinhood help line and letting everyone listen in as a short message was played and the call was terminated. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, said Robinhood’s decisions had “harmed customers,” and accused it of passing on hidden costs to its customers. Keith Gill — known on YouTube as Roaring Kitty — testified that his interest in the company was based on his belief that the market was underestimating the brick-and-mortar retailer’s value. His testimony included winking references — such as dangling what appeared to be his oft-worn red headband off a picture of a kitten visible over his shoulder and the statement “I am not a cat” — to internet meme culture. Several harsh questions were directed at Kenneth C. Griffin, the chief of Citadel. Members of Congress asked skeptical questions about Citadel’s practice of paying to trade against customers at online brokers like Robinhood. Mr. Griffin tried to explain the intricacies of the business but was often cut off. “Our folks are tired of bailing you all out when you screw up and gamble with the retirement fund. And that’s exactly what happens every single moment,” Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, said to him. Source link Orbem News #CEOs #Face #Facebook #Google #lawmakers #Live #Twitter #Updates

Copa América 2021 jerseys, ranked and reviewed

Photo credit should read LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images

We take a look at the best and worst kits of those competing in the continental tournament of South America

Theoretically, the nations of South America’s footballing governing body — CONMEBOL —gather together every four years to compete for the title of best national team on the continent. In reality, it happens significantly more often, with this summer’s being the fourth tournament since 2015.

The Covid-19 pandemic threw the tournament another wrinkle. Like the Euros, this tournament was scheduled to be played in 2020 and was forced to move due to the pandemic. However, there have been much bigger roadblocks ahead than their European counterparts.

The tournament was scheduled to be the first-ever to be hosted by multiple nations, with the bid going to Argentina and Colombia. However, the pandemic has brought on a poor climate in both those nations to the point where hosting a continental football tournament seemed irresponsible. In Argentina, the country has been averaging above 30,000 cases of Covid-19 cases per day over the last few weeks. In Colombia, spiking numbers in the range of the mid-20,000’s have been coupled with ongoing unrest stemming from protests against the country’s president Iván Duque Márquez.

So last week, only 14 days before the tournament was set to start, CONMEBOL chose to move the tournament out of Argentina and Colombia. Instead, the Copa America will be hosted by Brazil, whose Covid-19 rates are averaging about 90,000 per day.

This tournament is one of the biggest, brightest, and best in the world when it comes to showcasing talent. On the pitch, the talent is displayed by players both established and up-and-coming alike. They’ll be doing all of this wearing the jerseys and badges of their respective home nations.

As we have done here twice before, once for the start of the European football calendar and once for MLS, we will be analyzing and ranking the kits of the nations playing in the Copa America. The jerseys will be ranked based on their style, traditions, overall color scheme, and uniqueness.

We’ll start at the bottom:

10. Bolivia

I don’t necessarily hate these kits, I just think Bolivia has had better offerings in the past. They seem to be the most boring shirts at this tournament. The subtle designs Marathon put on the front of the shirt are underwhelming and fail to stand out, especially compared to past kits worn by La Verde.

For a country that is as culturally bright and diverse as Bolivia, they should be wearing jerseys that accurately reflect that. This doesn’t do it for me.

9. Venezuela

One of two nations to never have won a Copa America, Venezuela will be showing up to this edition of the tournament wearing the same jerseys they’ve had since 2019. After being sponsored by adidas for a long time, Venezuela switched kit manufacturers and went with Italian brand Givova. It’s unclear why La Vinotinto chose to not create a new kit for their team on the continent’s biggest stage. Despite the fact that both of these kits look rather nice, the lack of something new sinks Venezuela to No. 9.

8. Uruguay

Yes, the only pictures of these kits that exist come from Luis Suarez and his Twitter account

This is not points off for the home kit. I’m a fan of the monochrome badge and overall, it seems like a well put together jersey for La Celeste.

It drops to No. 8 because of the away kit. This new Puma template of having the name of the country written out underneath a large Puma logo on a plain white jersey is weird and in some ways unsettling. These were all over the place in our Euros kit preview and I took points off there for this design. We continue that tradition here.

7. Colombia

The bold away kit design from adidas sees them re-use a template which kinda reminds me of a Rorschach test. I love the Colombian flag at the bottom of the sleeves and the three stripes in yellow.

But the home kit looks...boring? It has the same flag motif on the sleeves, but it almost blends in thanks to the yellow on the Colombian flag being at the top. The home kits Los Cafeteros wore from the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Copa America, the 2018 World Cup, and the 2019 Copa America are all unique and fantastic. For them to go from four bangers in a row to a kit that plays it safe seems like the opposite of their brand and sticks out like a sore thumb.

6. Peru

You can’t beat a classic, and Peru didn’t decide to do that here. The iconic red sash stays on the home shirt for Los Incas and the inverse colors carry over to the away jersey. When matched with subtle gold accents, this is a great effort by Marathon to keep the tradition alive.

5. Chile

Like Puma, Nike also went down the national symbol route when they created their kits for Chile.

The home kit has a really smart collar and the traditional solid red of La Roja. The accents on the sides of the kit was inspired by Chilean textile patterns.

The away kit has a wild pattern on it. Nike doesn’t provide an explanation for the blue block in the middle of the chest, but says the red “wings” on the kit pay tribute to the national bird of Chile - the Andean condor.

And in case you were wondering, no, the Andean condor is not red. It’s the heaviest flying bird in the world and is a member of the vulture family.

Fun fact: the Andean condor is the national symbol for five different South American countries. While it’s nowhere on the jerseys of Peru or Colombia, it’s present on the crests of Bolivia and Ecuador. Chile is the only one who were brave enough to slap that bird on a kit.

At the end of it all, the wings on the jersey do look similar to those on the bird. But, it’s too garish of a design to be any higher than the top five. Nike does deserve credit for trying.

4. Argentina

Let’s start with the away kit. That same Rorschach-esque pattern is back. If anything, it kinda looks like adidas decided to just copy the Colombia jersey and apply the same principles to Argentina. Let’s see here: shoulder stripes similar to the national colors, same shoulders being a blank slate, that weird pattern, sleeves that have the pattern of the national flag - yeah no that seems like a template to me. Though I’ll say this, if it is the template adidas is going with, I like it. It seems creative enough to stand out but ties back to the national fabric of each team.

The reason it drops to 4th on this list is the home jersey. To me, those stripes of La Albiceleste are sacred from a design standpoint. To put any camouflage pattern on it is sacrilegious.

3. Brazil

These aren’t bad at all. It’s hard to screw up the Brazilian home kit, and by my estimation, they haven’t (including 1994). Keeping it simple makes it classy and elegant at the same time. The away kit reverts back to the traditional blue after the Seleção wore a white kit in 2019 to honor the 100th anniversary of their first Copa America victory. The pattern here is subtle and clean at the same time and marks as a good way to return to the norm.

2. Paraguay

The home kit wins this one for me. In Puma’s first run with Los Guaraníes they tied in a number of important national elements in the kit.

Their traditional red and white home kit has a graphic toward the bottom inspired by a traditional lace artform known as Ñandutí. Inside the collar is the phrase “Ndaipóri Khyhjé”, meaning “without fear” in Guarani - an official language in Paraguay and one from its indigenous people.

On the away kit, a simple white shirt gets the addition of two stripes over the crest - one red and one blue - alluding to the national flag.

Puma did a great job with these kits and deserve plaudits for their effort.

1. Ecuador

Back in January of 2020, Ecuador decided to rebrand themselves by dropping a new crest. They did so by creating an awe-inspiring two minute long video showing how each detail of the badge reflects the history and culture of Ecuador

Dentro de nuestro nuevo escudo llevamos la garra manabita y su fuerza a través de la silla #manteña, esa tenacidad y lucha incansable que los caracteriza, lo llevaremos en cada partido ⚽️ Va por tí #Manabí pic.twitter.com/ZSjc99EWvt

— FEF (@FEFecuador) January 15, 2020

With a logo reveal that good, they needed their first kits to be as outstanding. Marathon answered the call and made the exact kits this crest deserves. The home kit has a beautiful balance between yellow and blue stripes with solid yellow sleeves. The away kit has a monocolor badge, a fantastic turquoise color, and a great looking collar.

These elements themselves are good enough to put them at no. 1 on the list but there’s more. On the inside of each of the jerseys, under the back collar, they dropped yet ANOTHER beautifully designed logo that pays homage to the land Ecuador calls home.

While Ecuador isn’t expected to go far at this tournament, they certainly win Best Dressed.

Jake covers Bayern Munich and German soccer in writing and via podcasting at Bavarian Football Works. He also reviews jerseys for SB Nation. He can be found screaming into the void on Twitter @jeffersonfenner.

Adidas Ads in Print Magazines and The Company’s Marketing Strategy

Adidas ads? Are they good, great, bad? Let’s find out.

Grabbing attention when you’re targeting a specific or broad audience nowadays is more than just broadcasting an advertisement using the traditional methods that we know from the past.

TV ads, magazine printouts and billboards aren’t that relevant, and are pretty much invisible to the average consumer.

As people are more and more connected, capturing the attention of the audience can’t be done with the mass-media campaigns anymore.

Instead, now we have engaging, entertaining and useful content that is highly shareable, and people can be encouraged into investing their time and emotions into it. At the heart of delivering such content, we have storytelling.

Emotion drives action, and anyone knows that we, as humans, are actually pretty emotional. This means that clever brands can leverage that emotion and use it to drive sales.

By combining an idea with an emotion, customers can draw connections between brands, and their feelings, beliefs or ideas. At the forefront of such storytelling, we have Adidas. It is one of the most successful brands when it comes to using it as a marketing concept, and it makes use of the years of history and connections, to build a connection with their audience.

Back in 2015, they hired “72&Sunny”, a creative agency that had been tasked with the goal of putting “aggressive storytelling” at the front of Adidas’ advertising campaign. This differs from the Adidas print ads that were popular some time ago, and we’ll take a better look how.

Taking a look at the brand’s history

Adidas’ story as we know it has been in production for over fifteen years.

When you look back, you can think of the 2001 movie “The Royal Tenenbaums”, which has a star-studded cast, and they’re all kitted out in Adidas tracksuits, even for occasions that can be only described as absurd.

Ben Stiller’s character, as well as his twin sons, wore red Adidas tracksuits in the film, only to change them for black ones at a funeral towards the end. This might look like basic product placement, but it is actually a stepping stone in Adidas’ story, when the brand actually became a landmark of a generation, thus establishing the “cool factor” that we still know and love.

When you go back to the product appearances like this, you’ll see how this is actually enough to enhance the “story making” approach. The importance of the company in establishing a powerful and emotional impact in the lives of their customers is more than obvious.

But, how does storytelling work in Adidas ads?

The craft of storytelling is actually much bigger than just showing off how you’ve grown with your audience, and your evolution.

At the most basic level, it’s about building an emotional connection with your audience which is hard to break, and the Adidas marketing strategy has this honed to a fine art.

The “Impossible is Nothing” campaign of 2007 is something that many people remember, and you’ll find that people are still talking about it, even though it was a decade ago.

And, it wasn’t that good because it included a lot of technology, or because of the models or shoes. It was successful because the stories it told were real, authentic, and they actually made an impression on the people who saw it.

The Lionel Messi Adidas advertisement was the basis of the Adidas ads campaign, and it spoke of the battle that he faced with growth hormones, serving as a reminder that even bad things may sometimes lead to positive outcomes.

The phrase “Impossible is nothing” tells the story of glory from defeat, and people are actually associating Adidas with that triumphant spirit ever since.

Making a connection with social values

Adidas has also dipped their toes in the social awareness waters as well, and they’re connecting with important and deep global values. For example, the “#MyGirls” project from 2013 was actually made to support women by celebrating female athletes and young girls who enjoyed being active.

The Adidas marketing campaign began on the International Woman’s day, and rolled out piles of content across multiple advertising channels, thus sharing stories of sportswomen from all around the world.

You could even find Adidas magazine ads in the #MyGirls online magazine, which was made to educate and inform young people on the truth of female sporting success. This campaign, out of nowhere, added an entire chapter to the story, one that pushed women to feel pride in what they achieve, and it also eradicated inactivity in younger people.

Adidas continues to tell stories that help their customers associate their brand, not just with a star sporting presence, but with a great dedication to athletic individuals on a whole.

The “Superstars” campaign by Adidas that was made in 2015, was made as a short-form video format, targeting the mobile environment, and encouraged conversations between celebrities and athletes, thus redefining the way in which people identify superstars.

Thanks to the positive connections between the brand and its customers, Adidas has begun to help the consumers to start feeling better about themselves.

The Adidas story today

Using their own story, as well as the story of others that are connected to them, you’ll find that the primary focus of Adidas’ approach to marketing is in fact storytelling. They have sporting superstars and everyday athletes, and this creates a sense of community with their consumers and fans, turning the brand into an uncompromising household name.

Their latest Adidas advertisement campaign, “Blah Blah Blah”, focuses on the brand’s value of creating a positive message, and it asks people to ignore the “haters”, and try to remember what is really important in the first step of the “First Never Follows” strategy.

Storytelling is everywhere, and the Adidas promotional strategy has established them as one of the best sporting brands around. From real, authentic stories to celebrity endorsement, their narrative has remained consistent, from conception, to the company that we all know and love nowadays.

Chances are that we’ll see more of the storytelling world as we continue to move forward, and we’ll also learn more about the spirit that is behind each individual brand. However, taking a look at the Adidas advertising efforts, you’ll find that they are way ahead of the trend, embracing these solutions long before they appeared as a hot topic in marketing.

Let’s take a look at the numbers

Adidas ads campaign succeeds in driving awareness, as well as engagement, through YouTube takeovers across the digital screens, and with astounding results. The channel views on Adidas’ YouTube channel jumped 26 times, and the subscriber count doubled over the course of the campaign.

The YouTube roadblock got to 4 million more consumers on their mobile devices, and the “All-In” video got over 2 million views in the US.

Adidas advertisements are killing it on social media as well

Analyzing their social channels

Twitter

Adidas are actually a huge company, and they have several sectors in the business. Each of them requires its own social media presence, and Twitter is a part of that. In this specific situation we’ll focus on the general Adidas channels, instead of the sector accounts.

The @adidas Twitter profile is verified, and this means that all of their followers, currently almost 3.5M, can easily find them. The account mostly retweets the other brand accounts, and serves to bring together the Adidas brand as a whole. The retweets are usually of the images and videos that are posted on the other accounts.

Some tweets are also planned for real-time usage, such as the UEFA Champions League final. During that match, there were images of the athletes that used Adidas equipment, which were used in case there was a key event in the match.

For example, Alvaro Morata and Luis Suarez both scored, and they tweeted an image of the athletes, using the hashtag that was trending for the match. As a global brand, they did get a lot of engagement, meaning this is actually very good planning and Twitter marketing.

Facebook

Adidas has quite a lot of channels here as well, and their Facebook page shows the same header image branding, albeit with a different logo. However, the logo is similar to the Twitter profile picture and is still very recognizable. Their fan base on Facebook is extremely large, mostly due to the fact that their brand name is very well known worldwide.

One of the ways that Adidas uses to have such a successful social media campaign is by incorporating their brand channels in their existing channels. For example, the videos tab on their Facebook page has the same content from the YouTube channels, and, so do the other Facebook pages within relevance. This is fairly similar to sharing a blog post through the social media accounts of their staff, known as cross promotion.

The video content they have is posted, and so is the other visual content that they’ve used, thus getting the full use out of any content they have. They also like other pages, and also share the content from those pages, which results in their content being shared there as well.

These pages are mostly created for the clients they have, the sportsmen and women they work with, as well as their national teams, clubs or associations. If Adidas release something new, the pages share the content to their audience if they think they’ll be using it, and it comes as news for both parties. Adidas has a new product, and the athlete will be using a new piece of equipment.

YouTube

Adidas goes with a matching header image and logo again, resulting in a very connected social media structure. The ‘featured channels’ section is useful here, as well as the profile information. Their featured video is a campaign that is running currently, but is also relevant for the channel.

Each channel has a specific campaign focused featured video, but as the general account, this one won’t be as focused on one area. Therefore, it becomes the leader of the brand accounts, and influences the audience to take a look at the other accounts for more specifics.

The account doesn’t have a lot of videos, but there are playlists for the videos from the other accounts, and in this way they can collate the relevant content without favouring one sector over the other.

Instagram

If you have one (or more) great product(s), your social media channels can turn into very visual ones pretty quickly. Visual social media such as Instagram has to be taken seriously, which Adidas does, and their results are also very serious as well. Their products are awesome, which results in thousands of likes, and they also use this to create content around the athletes and products they’re working with.

And, it’s not always about selling products. Their Instagram is used to generate brand awareness, and the great visual content drives enthusiasm and thirst from the users who want to get Adidas products. They have a high influence from the huge amount of engagement they get, and their Klout score is pretty high, resulting in making their other social media channels more influential as well.

Instagram is only one of the channels that Adidas uses well. For example, Adidas supplied the match balls for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Montreal. They posted a picture of the ball for the final match, as well as a view of the stadium, and used Montreal as a location. Therefore, people who are searching for the location will discover the content, and this gets them even more brand awareness.

Great content

Adidas does have an advantage over other companies with the fact that they already have amazing products. In a way, the things they want to sell aren’t really a hard sell, and they already have deals in place for huge stars to endorse and wear their products. Sport video is something people look at pretty often, which is another thing that goes so far for Adidas.

The “There Will Be Haters” campaign with the launch of the new Adidas football boots is a great example, as the adverts and videos created with the stars Adidas uses went viral because of the profile of the stars, as well as the product.

This doesn’t mean that the campaign itself wasn’t excellent, but there was a bit of assistance from the pre-existing profiles that both the players and Adidas have already.

Aside from that, Adidas want to inspire you, and make you want to become like them, which results in you buying the same equipment they do. But, even without that, the content is just so good, that people watch it either way. Avid football fans want to see their favorite stars in a football advert anyways, because these athletes are in-demand, and Adidas makes use of that in their videos.

People want to see and hear these athletes, and get close to them. Even if they don’t want to buy the products themselves, by sharing the content, their connections might want to. That is part of the value that Adidas has from the industry standing, and the way they can work with these stars.

What makes them different?

Their main competitor is perhaps Nike, which is well-known to anyone who knows a bit about sport and brands. However, Nike focuses on the athletes that use their equipment and are contracted to do so, and this separates the two brands. Adidas’ methods are similar, they both share amazing content, and get huge responses. But, what makes Adidas different?

Adidas actually sticks to an enforced company culture, and compared to Nike, they aren’t that fierce as a brand. Their equipment and products are good for the all round sportspeople, from the beginner level, to professionals. They’re more of a “good guy” brand, and this is important.

By no means are Nike the “bad guys”, but they have premiere athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo which can be portrayed in such a way, and this gets swept into the Nike brand too often. As an example, for the launch of Cristiano Ronaldo’s new boots, Nike produced a video that portrayed him as an “out of this world” superstar.

Adidas, on the other hand, recognize their athletes as global stars, and don’t go for the “best in the world” moniker. They don’t commit to debatable statements, such as Cristiano Ronaldo being the best in the world. Sure, he has won an award that lets him claim that, but Messi is contracted to Adidas, and he’s won the same award a few times with no such claims.

As far as social media goes, Adidas has a hierarchy for their channels. The general account oversees and collates all of the content of the other channels, thus promoting the content as a part of the brand. Just like on Twitter, the Adidas account shares the content from the other channels.

This both elevates the brand, and draws attention to the specific areas as well. If you’re attracted to the leader account, you will also be inclined to pay more attention to the other brand accounts as well.

Things to remember about Adidas Ads and their marketing campaigns

Based on the research above, you’ll find that you can actually learn a few lessons from the way Adidas uses marketing and social media. The key ones would be:

Have a clear strategy (Adidas’ use of separate accounts)

Visual content is amazing

Real-time marketing can get you results and engagement

“Superb content” is absolutely essential

Ending thoughts on Adidas ads

Adidas is a leader in the sporting goods market, and at the heart of the brand there is passion for athletes, sports and products. The brand is built on cutting-edge design, and it’s a brand that is respected for its authentic, inspirational values. This can be seen in their print advertisements.

Organized into three-consumer oriented divisions, Forever Sport, Originals and Equipment, it’s also committed to incorporating the importance of lifestyle which is constantly growing, as well as that of fashion and music inspiration into the sports arena and products. This strategy lets them have a unique Adidas experience, and mean much more to their consumers.

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