Is Adidas’ Battle Pack a stylised version of Nike’s pre-FIFA campaign?

The spot looks great and sounds tough, meaning it should appeal to its target market…if image advertising works and honestly, why not?

Adidas Battle Pack, is the official footwear of the FIFA World Cup 2014 games. The overarching theme, and the tagline, of the advertising campaign is “All in or Nothing”. [Nike’s is “Risk Everything”]

There is a black and white visual mnemonic throughout the ad. Each boot (one from each of the four ranges is shown) has a unique, exactly 50-50 black and white pattern, “Inspired by the war paint of native warriors and the iconic pavement patterns of ancient Mesopotamia perfected on the Copacabana beach,” Adidas noted (!!!). The individual patterns are designed to express the attributes of each boot, as well as the attitude and abilities of the player type who wears them as they fight for victory (again, !!!). The gold colour of the three stripes on each boot represents the World Cup trophy.

Markus Baumann, senior vice president for Global Football added, “For Battle Pack, we wanted the boots to be highly visible on pitch and stand out from the extreme range of colour everyone expects to see in Brazil. Our FIFA World Cup campaign is ‘all in or nothing’ and this mindset is represented perfectly through the black and white colourway chosen for the boots. In addition, we wanted to pay homage to a unique Brazilian design and the powers associated with the boots and style of the players wearing them. They will help prepare our players for battle in Brazil, as they aim for glory.”