adidas Warns Fans: You May Be Kidnapped When Trying On That Running Shoe

adidas is known for its superior running shoes, but in France, the brand was having a hard time reaching its target demographic, young people ages 14-19. adidas learned that this group simply didn’t like to run- so much so that they weren’t even interested in trying-on running shoes, much less purchasing them and using them.

But adidas also knew their target demographic loved action-packed movies, so with the help of Sid Lee Paris, adidas created a campaign to give the young people of France a reason to run– by making them the stars of their very own Mission Impossible-esque adventure.

In the ‘Ready To Run’ campaign, anyone in France who tried on the adidas Climacool running shoe was subject to a kidnapping- burly men would snatch a young person from the store, throwing him into a van. As the van sped off, the young person was given earphones and briefed on a mission- all he’s told is that he only has one hour to run through the city and complete a mission. He’ll get instructions on the tasks he needs to complete via his earphones by world judo champion Teddy Riner, but its up to him to successfully get to the other side of the city before the hour is up.

Once he’s accepted the mission, the young person is given a pair of Climacool running shoes and dropped on the middle of the street, where Riner starts to bark instructions on how to complete the tasks in the mission. Tasks include anything and everything from delivering pizzas to a man in a helicopter to sneaking into hotels to skydiving- if the young person can successfully complete all of his tasks in the mission, he’s rewarded by getting to meet French adidas celebrities.

The astounding result of the campaign? The target demographic couldn’t try on climacool shoes fast enough- adidas saw a 500% jump in Climacools tried during the campaign, as young people were eager to become the heroes of their own running mission.

Watch a video of the campaign below:

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