In 2017, the new Adidas PROPHERE sneaker sports a “challenging”, “underground” and “disruptive” design, so far unprecedented even at Adidas. To convey that leap to Japanese, we needed a similarly mould-breaking promotion. However, Japan is famous for some of the lowest crime rates in the world("Top 10 safest country in the world" - Lifestyle9.com), a country full of good boys and girls. For an underground brand like this, a daring activation to make them get their hands dirty was crucial. We provoke their hidden desire.

We announced the event on Dec. 5th, prior to the product release, and 200 guests were invited to what appeared to be a simple sneaker release event. We rented out Tokyo’s most popular club, and as the first ever ‘legal theft’ event on Dec 10th, guests couldn’t hide their surprise. Successful ‘thieves’ were presented with a mugshot-style portrait plus the sneakers. 22 hidden cameras at the venue captured video of guests ‘stealing’ PROPHERE, delivered in real-time via Facebook Live to share the atmosphere of this thrilling project. Post-event, video footage of the ‘stealing’ was edited and expanded for advertising use.