The Return Of Derrick Rose Unfreezes Chicago In adidas's New Ad

 

When Derrick Rose stopped playing basketball, the world stopped. Literally. Well, Chicago stopped, at least. The 23-year-old Chicago Bulls player went down in April, after tearing a ligament in his left knee. But now it seems he is starting to make his comeback.

Now, I know nothing about basketball, but this dramatic adidas ad is really effective. From the moment Rose gets injured on screen, and the commentator roars, "holding on to his knee....holding on to his knee and down", you have to feel some kind of emotion.

Then the slow drum beat starts. We flash between different scenes and everyone but everyone is frozen to the spot. Businessmen, bar punters, hot dog servers, children. Newspapers fly around the statue-like people, leaves blow around, bike wheels are left spinning; but still no one moves.

Flash to D Rose starting to train again. The drum beat quickens. Citizens of Chicago slowly start moving again. D Rose keeps training. The drum beat gets even faster. People move a bit more. The stadium comes into view. Fans start screaming. Cheerleaders start cheering. Enter D Rose, high-fiving fans as he goes. And with a cheeky last glance at the camera from Rose, the ad closes on adidas's logo.

This is the first of a series of Derrick Rose commercials for adidas, dubbed #TheReturn. Three more have been released, but this one has created the most hype and excitement for his return to the court.

The ad has already amassed 38,289 shares and 257,221 views in the past 3 days. That's a share-to-view ratio of about 1:7 - and a massive slam dunk for adidas.