Mother’s Raffael Kormann on adidas’ Ad with Lionel Messi Family
When adidas approached Mother Berlin to launch its refreshed Essentials collection, the brief was clear: Make comfort the hero. For art director Raffael Kormann, this meant breaking away from traditional sports narratives and embracing a more human, relatable angle. Featuring global icons Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo, the ‘Essentially Family’ campaign captures their intimate bond while pushing the boundaries of OOH advertising.
In this Q&A with LBB’s Olivia Atkins, Raffael shares the creative vision, collaborative process, and why out-of-home remains an irreplaceable medium in today’s digital-first world.
LBB> What was the brief that adidas approached you with?
Raffael> adidas asked us to create a campaign to launch their refreshed Essentials collection which is an accessible range for people with an active lifestyle. People that don’t want to compromise between style and comfort.
LBB> How did you decide to interpret this brief? Why did OOH feel like the right way forward?
Raffael> We wanted to create something that moved away from classic sports narratives and focuses more on the comfort aspect. Rather than speaking about performance, pressure and competition, we preferred a very different angle: showing the world how being comfortable actually brings out the best in us and unlocks our full potential.
OOH felt like the perfect medium for the kind of iconic imagery we were planning to create. We wanted to build something that felt super bold, striking and unignorable. Showing images like that in a physical space, especially in large formats, helps to create this visual power and the impact we wanted to achieve. It’s like an iconic, larger-than-life magazine cover that people will see on buzzing city streets.
LBB> At what point did you decide to get Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo on board?
Raffael> We realised they would be the perfect fit for our ‘Essentially Family’ campaign already quite early in the creative process. We were inspired by their strong connection and the incredible things they’ve achieved in their life with the support of each other from a very young age. Showing them together as the power couple they are has never done before, particularly for such a big campaign, and we just loved the idea of bringing Antonela in the well-deserved limelight for the first time. Focusing on their bond and highlighting their human and relatable side felt exciting to us as we usually do not see global icons like them in this way.
LBB> The campaign centred on their intimacy and familiarity. Why do you think featuring both of them strengthened the campaign's concept?
Raffael> Their bond brought a warmth and depth that really amplified the message and felt very authentic and true. Without Antonela, Messi would not be who he is today and vice versa. We never doubted our decision to work with them, but getting to know them and experience how they were towards each other on set was incredible and their relationship really aligned with what we were looking for.
LBB> adidas has a reputation for creating work that is both culturally relevant and creative. How did you work to ensure that this work continued to push the brand's legacy forward?
Raffael> We took inspiration from various iconic visuals and worked closely with adidas to make sure the campaign felt visually fresh and bold, while conceptually breaking against the norm of how most photographers or brands portray stars like the Messis. As Messi is such an integral part of adidas – and has contributed to the brand’s growth as one of the biggest and most culturally relevant brands in the world – we had no doubt that their involvement will push adidas’ legacy forward.
LBB> How collaboratively did you work with adidas on this campaign?
Raffael> It was a super collaborative process – even from the very early strategic and creative sessions to being on set together with Messi and Antonela in Miami. We had constant conversations, and they really pushed and inspired us to come up with something truly special. Our vision was very aligned and we worked together very closely.
LBB> In a world of oversaturated online media space, how impactful do you think OOH advertising is today?
Raffael> OOH has this incredible ability to cut through digital clutter. It creates those larger-than-life, memorable moments that people experience in a more focused and tangible way. When you think of ‘great advertising’, chances are you think of something that happened in real life, in your city, that made you stop and then think or smile before you continue with your day. There is no other medium that does that as successfully as OOH. I just love it.
