adidas were about to launch their biggest football innovation in a generation - the first commercial boot without laces. We didn’t need to get coverage - the product story would be big enough on it’s own. We didn’t need to provoke controversy - for every player who loved the closer, tighter feeling, there would be a disbeliever denouncing it.

Our brief was trickier than that: harness the energy the boot would generate to tell a bigger story about adidas football, and help channel all comments towards positive sentiment for the boot and brand.

We had to change the debate from laces to football leadership.

Rather than discuss the finer points of laceless vs bits of string, we’d hero the attitude behind the innovation. We’d show you can’t stand out whilst hanging back - taking control of the game means getting up close to your opponents and showing them who’s boss.

The campaign launched with a single film - a footballing legend showing off, claiming his Bossness. Standard. Then we followed it up with another legend, and another. Each knocking the previous off their perch. Then some random kid claimed to be the boss. And that’s when things snowballed…

We released a mixture of films shot with top-tier players, well-known football influencers and some unknown but talented young players. These were rolled out across different platforms so every time one claimed to be The Boss, another would pop up to stake his own claim. Momentum gathered and our audience started ripping our end slates, or creating their own elements which mimicked the ads. Then we started phase 2 - a call to action for kids to submit their own.

All throughout, the boots formed a core part of the visual language, tying it back into the retail campaign.