Adidas
The Business Challenge
Adidas has a significant share of the sports market, and was seeking to access a new niche consumer – athletes that are missing one or both of their legs.
The Prosthetic Limb Community
The community is a growing one
– There are 2.1 million people in the US living with limb loss; the number is expected to double by 2050
The prosthetic community faces more than physical challenges
– With an intense desire to regain their independence, they push themselves to be able to do all that fully able bodied individuals can
– 30%+ of people with limb loss are experiencing severe depression and/or anxiety.
As helpful as a prosthetic limb can be, there are also hindrances
– Misuse of prosthetic can cause cumulative trauma disorder/overuse injuries, arthritis, shoulder pain, back pain, and/or muscle and joint pain in the residual limb
Consumer Profile
– Millennials with prosthetic legs
– Digital natives with high fluency in applications and technology tools
– Working professionals who enjoy sports and staying active
– Worried about their independence and autonomy
– This may lead them to go too long between checkups, causing damage to their bodies/prosthetic
Key Consumer Insights
– They do not feel represented and celebrated in athletic shoe and sports advertising campaigns
– They crave a sense of community, and may feel lonely
– First and foremost, they see themselves as athletes
The campaign
#MoveBetter with Adidas
MoveBetter App + Stickers
We partnered with Microsoft to develop an app to assist young athletes with prosthetic limbs track several key data points associated with the performance of their prosthetic such as vertical alignment, footfall impact pressure, balance, etc. These metrics are evaluated using the MoveBetter app, which uses the runner's smartphone's camera to track the motion of custom stickers that can be placed on both shoes and blades. This allows athletes to monitor their performance in real time, and be alerted to any loss of function in their prosthetic.
Influencer Marketing
Our audience trusts the organic presence of influencers more so than branded advertising – they view the people that they follow on social media as both their friends and trusted resources.
We partnered with a variety of athletes with prosthetic limbs to help our audience feel seen. We asked them to test a beta version of the MoveBetter app, and to plug it on social if they liked it, using #MoveBetter. That's it.
Special Olympics Sponsorship
We sponsored 100 Special Olympics track and field athletes with prosthetic limbs, and gave them free access to the Move Better app and gifted them Adidas merchandise.
We used Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to promoted the event, using the #MoveBetter hashtag to create community and hype surrounding the event.