Adidas reveals superhero tube spot

Leagas Delaney has taken over London’s Covent Garden tube station

for its latest poster campaign for Adidas, which borrows from the world

of the cartoon superhero, epitomised by comics such as Marvel.

The single execution, in the shape of a cartoon strip, covers the

frontage of the tube station. The campaign is part of a Europe-wide

Adidas push targeting major cities and features sports stars such as the

tennis player, Tim Henman, the boxer, Prince Naseem, and the footballer,

David Beckham.

In the strip, called ’target London’, the capital comes under attack

from evil alien forces, with only Adidas superheroes able to save it

from an atomic disaster. Naseem receives a distress signal in Madison

Square Gardens, Henman hears of the impending disaster in Florida and

Beckham joins the others from mid-game in Manchester. Naseem punches the

missile away, preventing a near-hit on earth. Henman, who answers a

coded signal from Adidas HQ, smashes the atomic device to Beckham, who

uses his skill to boot it back in to space - a direct hit on the alien

craft. In true cartoon style, the earth is saved - for another day.

Tim Delaney, the executive creative director of Leagas Delaney, said:

’The strategy is to use our icons to connect with people at stations in

an interesting way.’

He added: ’The campaign will be seen by London people and by tourists,

and is targeted at the core 16- to 24-year-old market.’

Lisa Broomhead, the youth communication manager for Adidas, said: ’The

comic strip adds a new dimension to advertising in the underground and

will show our athletes in an adventurous way. All the illustrators

involved in this project have worked with Marvel Comics and we believe

it will create a buzz across the capital.’

’Target London’ was created at Leagas Delaney by the art director, Steve

Turner, and the copywriter, Jason Macbeth. It will run for one month.

This article was first published on Campaign