An Original Outdoor take-over for Adidas

Adidas wanted to take an original approach to mark the launch of their new Original shoe in Copenhagen. They wanted to do something truly special and memorable. EssenceMediaCom knew Adidas wanted to take over the city, but in a different way and together we realised that traditional outdoor media wasn’t enough. We needed something that would get people talking both on the streets and in digital spaces.

So EssenceMediacom decided to take a different approach to a city "outdoor take-over" by using technology in the physical world and sending 200 drones into the night sky to celebrate Adidas - and showcase the heritage of originality with iconic brand symbols and well known emojis. This together with inviting key influencer to capture content and have that be our way into digital spaces.

The drone show was supported by 2 large scale projections in the city ( executed by Ocean Outdoor) and an event at Mikkeller Baghuset on Refshaleøen for 40 fashion and sneaker focused influencers to complete the city takeover on 21. Oktober. All the influencers captured, and shared their content in their style to make sure it reached the intended audience in a personal and relevant way from people they trust and look to for advice.

The drone show was the first of its kind in the Nordics and only the second branded drone show in Europe - to help the create a truly immersive brand experience for Adidas and an original way of doing outdoor take-overs.

To create attention about the launch of the new Original shoe reflecting the Adidas brand experience:

It started with a dream of something bigger…
Since it was first introduced to the world over 50 years ago, the Adidas Trefoil has lived a thousand lifetimes, trading feet with everyone, from athletes to cultural pioneers. Marking the arrival of a new era for the brand, in 2023, adidas Originals pays homage to those that have continued to transport its iconic signifier – the Trefoil – to the forefront of culture, over and over again, with a new global brand platform: “We Gave the World an Original. You Gave Us a Thousand Back.”

We also knew that the “Original” audience is difficult to get the attention of and traditional advertising / media like a take-over of Nørreport is not enough to make really take notice, or even look up from their phones combined with the fact that influencer and creator content performs better than native paid ads, especially knowing how important authenticity and trust is for the audience.

One night in October takeover of the sky and outdoor spaces - through projections.

We needed to create something memorable ( maybe even Original) and extraordinary to keep up with the overall brand mission.

A coordinated effort between 200 drones ( and their two operators), 2 large scale projections, and 40 selected guests each with their own platform for expression gave us a wide reach across media channels where typical ad buys don’t really cut through. This helped Adidas not only take over the skyline of Copenhagen but also the social footprint of night. We purposely played into the exclusive side of sneaker and fashion culture by keeping the drone show a secret from the public until the last minute, but also made the show public, and a surprise to people seeing it. This ended up giving the brand over 1,2 million impressions, through organic shares alone, much more than we would have been able to reach with a two-week outdoor at Nørreport Station. And ultimately delivered on the brand platform of Giving the World An Original with a truly original execution for Adidas.