Adidas successfully implement the #Messi370 marketing campaign

#Messi370 | You may have heard, among other things in the World of football, Lionel Messi broke yet another record and this one was probably the most special one yet. At only 26 years of age, the Argentine magician became Barcelona’s all-time top scorer, leapfrogging Paulinho Alcantara as he scored a hat-trick in Barca’s 7-0 win over Osasusna.

German Sports & Apparel company, Adidas, has been promoting the #Messi370 campaign since the early parts of March 2014 as Lionel Messi was etching closer to the record. As expected, Team Messi‘s Social Media team ran a successful campaign on Twitter and Facebook with regular teasers. The hashtag #Messi370 was used in every goal update as the Argentine was getting close to the 370 goals mark.

Above is an example of one of the promotional techniques used in the campaign as Leo Messi scored his 368th goal against Almeria. One must pay attention to the design used in the image above as Adidas continued to tease fans about the new boots. Sports and marketing often go hand in hand as is shown by the use of Custom Basketballs in numerous promotional campaigns worldwide. The successful use of a sports star like Leo Messi only enhances this perception further.

He was widely expected to get the record against relegation threatened Real Valladolid, and one can imagine Adidas and Team Messi’s teams itching to get the campaign out in full swing. Unfortunately Leo failed to score as he and Barcelona had a dismal game, losing 1-0 and the campaign was consequently put on hold.

But he finally got among the goals against Osasuna as the Catalan giants thrashed their opponents 7-0 at the Nou Camp, Messi bagging a hat-trick. The #Messi370 campaign was out in full swing again.

The above two images were tweeted as Lionel Messi scored his 369th Barcelona goal in all competitions, thus tying the all-time record. It was through the image above that we got the first glimpse of the boots, and understood the campaign design before. The number #370 was seen printed onto a pair of boots, the new ones that were to be released by Adidas to commemorate his record. When we look at the history of the Adidas predator football boot and compare it to this new teaser, they’re somewhat similar, so you can predict the excitement that will come with the new boots release. It was a successful teaser, and although only a part of the boots were seen, fans were beginning to get an idea of how the final piece would look.

The other image that was promoted was after Messi finally broke the record and consequently went on to score another. Adidas were seemingly unprepared for Messi to score even his 371st goal as on Facebook the image displayed 370 goals and the message carried the number 371. Even Adidas couldn’t handle Messi’s scoring record!

The #Messi370 campaign finally reached it’s end when the new limited edition adiZero f50 boots were unveiled. The boots do have a nice appearance but details about the boots were unveiled later which stated a deeper story.

There will only be 369 boots put up for sale with each boot uniquely numbered #001 – #370; Messi himself will use the boot with the #370 number on it and the numbers before it offered to customers. The design on the left and right foot will also be different depicting Lionel Messi’s goal-scoring stats depending on the number of goals scored with his left foot, and right foot. The boots will also bear a special mention for Messi’s son and his birthdate. The colour scheme on the boots is a play on Barcelona red and blue traditional colours, with a light blue scheme at the back of the boot to depict the Argentinian colours.

Adidas, as ever, have impressed with their campaign. They have particularly been successful with their Team Messi campaigns owing both to the popularity of the player himself and creativity of their campaigns. They’ve set the benchmark for others to follow on Social Media and the internet in general. With the World Cup round the corner, you can certainly expect them to get more innovative and creative with their approach; they’ll certainly do a better job than Nike did here.