Impossible is Nothing — bringing back adidas’ most iconic brand campaign with new purpose and meaning

In my role as the digital and social lead for adidas Global Brand Marketing we were tasked to create a global moment and activation framework to introduce the new brand attitude of adidas: Impossible is Nothing

20 Tier 1 partner films highlighted the Impossible is Nothing global creative offering

Impossible is Nothing still had equity thanks to iconic creative from the aughts but hadn’t been used in messaging in over a decade — we were finally ready to bring it back, with modernized strategy, for our first unified global brand campaign in 5+ years.

Impossible is Nothing became more than a tagline in 2021 — it was an expression of the adidas brand attitude — and was used to articulate our brand pillars of athletic performance/innovation, sustainability and inclusivity.

The challenge — how do we create a global moment that breaks through the clutter and unifies the adidas brand globally, while still being locally relevant and impactful in every global market.

The opportunity — adidas has thousands of partnerships with the world’s most globally and locally influential athletes, entertainers and creators — we can personify the adidas Impossible is Nothing attitude by telling their stories in a unified activation framework for the brand.

The results — Our creative, media and activation strategy led to:

• 1.3 billion+ campaign video views
• 18 million+ social engagements on personalized campaign content from 2,300+ partner (athlete/influencer) channels to resonate locally
• 1,100+ media stories related to the campaign
• Unifying our brand across all sport categories and global markets with activations across TV, digital video, social, adidas app, adidas.com, OOH, high impact digital ads, etc.
• Foundation for 2 years (and counting) of subsequent campaigns still being executed today

Partner films used archival and found footage with VO and post production — a creative solution to address time and logistical constraints from the pandemic that led to personal and emotive content

The Beyonce Impossible is Nothing film debuted for a cultural moment during the Oscars and quickly gained traction across social.

Watch the Beyonce Impossible is Nothing film on Twitter by clicking above

Over 2,300 adidas partners published personalized Impossible is Nothing campaign content — ensuring this global campaign had reach and impact in every market

Digital activation within the campaign framework to celebrate reactive moments

Local activation with meaningful impact that transcended into digital content

Unifying the adidas brand globally beyond the screen