Adidas Originals Celebrates Their Evolution With Hong Kong Sub-Cultures in New Campaign

Part of a wider global celebration of the authentic journey and the many who have embodied the brand’s spirit along the way, “We gave the world an original, they gave us a thousand back”, the Hong Kong campaign, developed by DDB Group Hong Kong, is a uniquely local collaboration, connecting subculture icons and retailers with their communities.

The adidas Originals shoe range consists of some of Hong Kong’s favourite footwear, the Samba, the Gazelle and the Superstar. Originally designed for football, track and basketball respectively, each have transcended these intentions and are now loved among skateboarding, breakdancing and hip-hop communities in the city. The brand is celebrating this story by partnering with specialty stores and interest representatives to encourage their communities to continue embracing and expressing their own originality, in an era of fast-fashion and copycat culture.

The trio of shoe, local store and creator together provide relevant experiences for corresponding subcultures. Each specialty store will become an “Originals” pop-up venue, offering shoppers the opportunity to create their own personal iconic Originals image instore, as well as Gatcha machine giveaways, including vouchers, skateboard stickers and tattoo stickers. Selected representatives will appear in different campaign videos promoting their pop-up, celebrating their original spirit and offering a glimpse into the authentic world of their passion.

The Superstar collaboration pairs the shoe with local hip hop artist, Novel Fergus, and neighbourhood vinyl store, White Noise Records. The Gazelle collaboration comprises breakdance athlete, C Plus, and Kabo Burger, a favourite venue in Tsim Tsa Tsui district amongst those frequenting the renowned street dance area nearby. Meanwhile, Samba teams up with Dong Dong, a known actress/model who is also a passionate skateboarder, and neighbourhood skate shop, Psyroot.

Flagship adidas stores in both TST and Causeway Bay will also feature Originals experiences including photo opportunities and Gatcha capsule giveaways, as well as customised artwork displays. Promotional posters of the campaign, showcasing the three Hong Kong collaborations will be seen around town, with a strong presence in neighbourhoods of the specialty pop-up stores.

Felix Fong, head of digital at DDB Group Hong Kong, said, “Localising a global campaign can be challenging but identifying strong intersections across brand, community and culture, and leveraging existing connections the brand has nurtured over time, enabled us to take a global platform and activate it at a very local level.”

Cherry Wong, Creative director at DDB Group Hong Kong, added, “The localisation of this campaign wouldn’t work unless we found authentic spaces for it. Truly understanding the skating, hip hop and dance communities in Hong Kong was the creative key to legitimise the brand’s message for this campaign. We knew we were in the right places when we realised how happy everyone we approached was to be working with the brand.”

The local initiatives will run for 6 weeks, in conjunction with the global campaign.