John Terry, Juan Mata Get Covered In Blue Paint For New Chelsea-adidas Kit Launch

A new campaign from adidas is urging fans of Premiership side Chelsea to pre-order the football club's new home kit - before actually seeing what it looks like.

But to distract people from asking the obvious question - 'just how bad is it?' - they have come up with a novel way of promoting it.

They asked members of the squad, including John Terry, Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Juan Mata, to get their kit off and then covered from head to toe in blue paint. The message of the commercial is simple: 'it's blue, what else matters'. 

It's a fair point. Football breeds such loyalty and unswerving devotion, football supporters will buy just about any old rag to help support their team.

Why else would anyone have bought Coventry's terrible brown away shirt or David Seaman's 'tube of Refreshers' goalkeeping shirt from Euro '96? 

Plus the ad actually works. Blue is definitely the colour for Chelsea.  

adidas's Golden Ad Celebrates Messi's Fourth Player-Of-The-Year Award

In the world of football there are good players, there are great players and then there is Lionel Messi. The Barcelona star has broken countless scoring records and is the only player ever to be named the world's best four times. To honour this monumental achievement, adidas has released this golden-hued ode to the Mighty Messi.

He's rarely the biggest player on the pitch, but the diminutive striker has a massive reputation, scoring a record-breaking 73 goals in the the 2011-2011 season. He's also the 11th highest paid sportsman in the world and his name is quickly becoming a by-word for footballing excellence.

The adidas ad takes footage that showcases Messi's talent for creating goal-scoring opportunites out of impossible situations. Illustrator Richard Swarbrick created the animation, replacing colours with tones of gold, simplifying the details to make Messi's footwork all the more impressive.

Viewers can follow a link at the end of the video to Messi's official Twitter page, with the chance to win a sign print of art from the video.

The clip has scored nearly 1.6 million views since it was launched three days ago. Produced by Iris Worldwide, the clip has won over 105,000 shares and trended on Twitter.

It seems that the only left thing for Messi to achieve is to lead Argentina to a World Cup win in 2014.

Ebenezer Snoop Wishes Viewers A 'Happy Holidizzle' In New adidas Ad

 

At Christmas time, are you all 'Happy Holidizzle' or 'Bah Humbizzle'? Have no idea what I'm talking about? Well, read on...

This year's Christmas campaign from adidas has put a bit of a twist on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and has none other than Snoop Lion, (formerly Snoop Dogg) as the star of the ads. 

The main clip in the star-studded campaign, named The Cautionary Tale of Ebenezer Snoop, is packed full of famous faces.

Gonz, the professional skateboarder, waits on Snoop, performing a trick or two whenever the King of Rap demands it. The ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future also have impressive representatives, played by Stan Smith, David Beckham and Rita Ora/Derrick Rose, respectively.

In a puff of magical smoke from his pipe, Ebenezer Snoop is taken on a journey through time to show him the error of his ways. He used to be a party animal, but now the infamous rapper is losing his touch and his reputation. The ghosts show him what will happen if he stops partying as hard as he used to. The future looks bleak. 

The journey is illustrated by Beavis and Butthead's JJ Sedalmaier, and you can find plenty more clips of old Ebenezer Snoop on the adidas YouTube channel, which are just as entertaining.

The campaign has a strong online presence. You can check to see if you are an Ebenezer Snoop on the campaign Facebook page, where you can also send a Snooped-up Christmas card to friends. Plus, Snoop Lion will be sharing his Christmassy feelings on the @adidas Twitter channel for the next few weeks. 

This revamp of the classic literary tale may not be for everyone, but it certainly will be popular amongst Snoop fans. It seems like he has had a lot of input into the campaign. For example, the short film is exactly 4.20 mins in length...

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.

Team GB Dance Around To Queen Like Giddy Idiots For New adidas Campaign

Winning an Olympic gold medal is the pinnacle of any sport star's career. It's the realisation of a dream they have had since they were a child. It's a reward for all the blood, sweat and tears they have shed in training and the sacrifices they have made growing up.

But what do you do when you have won a gold medal? No matter how many glasses of champagne you drink, the taste of victory will never be any sweeter. So what do you do next?

Well, if you one of the members of Team GB, you dress up, dance like a loon and mime badly to the Queen classic Don't Stop Me Now for a new ad campaign for official sponsors adidas.

Yep, fresh from their golden success at the London 2012 Games, GB stars including Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Jess Ennis let off some much-needed steam by featuring in the most wooden performance of the seminal Queen hit since Shaun Of The Dead's zombies.

But after their starring roles in the greatest Olympics in living memory, in which GB finished third with an incredible 29 golds, who are we to begrudge them a little bit of silliness?

The ad has already attracted a staggering 269,129 views and almost 100,000 shares since it was launched yesterday, no doubt boosted by the now huge Twitter followings of the athletes involved.  

It certainly has the Olympic spirit and will benefit from the rampant post-Olympic patriotism currently coursing through Britain, but it will not win any gold medals in the near future.

Disclosure: Unruly is distributing this video on behalf of adidas. This post is not part of the commercial plan and is written by the editorial team at Unruly, whose opinions are- always independent, sometimes scurrilous, and never knowingly under-researched.

David Beckham Surprises Team GB Fans In New Olympic Ad From Adidas

How would you react if the world's most famous footballer jumped out and caught you frolicking in a photobooth?

Well, that is what happened to 60 people at the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, who were asked to don the shirts as part of the Adidas #takethestage campaign ahead of the Olympics.

But as they were pulling their cringy poses, little did they know that David Beckham was just around the corner waiting to surprise them.

As the hysterical reactions here show, Beckham's still got it, despite not being picked for the Olympic team.

Everyone loves a prank ad, and Adidas has been extra clever by roping in Beckham, who was part of the effort to bring the Games to London.

There are few footballers who could be recognised by literally everyone involved in the prank, and evoke reactions of sheer excitement. One young boy and his mother even burst into tears at his appearance!

Beckham is at the forefront of a number of London 2012 advertising spots, including Samsung's official Olympics campaign, and is obviously still a public favourite, with the ad gaining 412,671 views and 13,795 shares in just 24 hours.