As part of the new “Impossible is Nothing” Adidas campaign, a television spot was created that pits Muhammad Ali against his daughter Laila. The spot was then placed online for viewership on Yahoo and MSN’s homepages for a day each and on ESPN’s home page for two days. Those placements, along with other ESPN inside pages for two weeks, generated 5 million views of the spot. Additionally, it boosted brand association by 75 percent and ad recall by 24 percent according to research firm Dynamic Logic. There was also an average 125 percent increase in the usage of the search term “Adidas” on Yahoo the day the ad was placed with most of that increase coming in the 13 to 17 year old demo.
These results directly contradict pundits who have said television creative can not simply be “ported over” to the Internet. This does not mean that every television spot will be a success online. This Adidas commercial had several things going for it. First, it’s Muhammad Ali, a well known sports figure. Second, it’s Adidas, a well known brand among all age groups. Third, it’s Laila Ali, a good looking woman bouncing around in the ring – an activity any 13-17 year old boy would find interesting. And last, to the heightened recall numbers, it was actively requested by the viewer and not hoisted upon the viewer in the middle of a television commercial break.
