"Brands are not products. They are long-term relationships between a company and its consumers. In a global marketplace, brand is not a shoe’s logo. It’s the identity of the company, our values. We needed an easy-to-use tool that would help us effectively communicate our visual language internally and aid our global job of achieving brand consistency."
Kadie Casey
GMS/Creative, Department Head
adidas International
Client:
Internationally leading fitness footwear and apparel manufacturer adidas originated in Germany, and in the 1980s became a favorite of the emerging rap and hip-hop music scenes. It remains a fashionable, avant-garde brand, even remanufacturing vintage apparel and footwear designs that consumers demand.
Challenge:
adidas needed an intranet on which employees and vendor-partners could access the latest Corporate Identity resources and brand guidelines. The Overland Agency’s intent was to build a site that acts as the central warehouse and toolbox for the adidas brand, housing their expandable array of identity elements. adidas wanted the ID site built in Flash to allow for animation and seamless integration of sound and video. However, the brand ID site had to be housed in adidas' existing intranet structure, an XML-based content management system.
Solution:
Recognizing that the site serves as a brand-building tool, Overland needed to measure it against the highest standards of design and functionality. To develop such a site, it was essential to create it in close partnership with adidas. Working closely with their IT departments internationally, we found a way to make it all come together seamlessly. We also animated the entire Brand Guidelines area, which contains multiple subsections of deep content covering Corporate and Consumer Brand Guidelines, to allow for the easy, worldwide understanding of dos and don'ts. Most recently, Overland added video to the intranet to illustrate adidas’ partnerships with global media stars such as hip-hop artist Jay-Z, who wears adidas in a music video.
Result:
The finished product was designed to act more like a software application than a website. At the same time, it effectively supports adidas’ brand identity and visual language in look and feel. Above all else, this site presents a live, highly “connected,” and up-to-the-moment window into the adidas brand, for inspiration and accurate performance of employees and authorized vendor-partners alike.
"This job demanded dialog and buy-in from multiple groups within our organization. The Overland Agency was experienced and skilled in participating and communicating on all levels. They delivered a remarkably simple, elegant, and useful end product."
Kadie Casey
GMS/Creative, Department Head
adidas International