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Creative Director’s Choice: Dino de León of IN Connected on Adidas’ Futurecraft Loop

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By Kyle O'Brien, Creative Works Editor

May 23, 2019 | 4 min read

Creative Director’s Choice gives creative directors a chance to highlight the work they think is the best out in the ad world — the ads and campaigns they believe are making a difference.

Adidas Futurecraft Loop

Adidas Futurecraft Loop

This week, IN Connected executive creative director Dino de León discusses why Adidas’ Futurecraft Loop takes sustainability in footwear to the next level.

Dino de Leon

In a category like fitness apparel, the biggest drivers are technical performance innovations, who’s endorsing what, and the style opportunity of a fresh colorway. But the Adidas Futurecraft Loop is taking a different spin. In a radical effort to leapfrog into holistic sustainability, they have created a quiet campaign where purpose transcends performance and style.

The intro film starts with the literal clarion call of a bell giving way to an urgent, futuristic music bed as the narrator wonders, “if the end of one thing can be the beginning of the next.” A series of quick cuts blend athletes, urban scenes, and a shoe shockingly shredded and reassembled among more conceptual loops of regeneration and renewal. It all reaches a crescendo with the powerful line, “Made to be Remade.” After interacting with the site’s immersive UX, and viewing the mini-documentary-style designer film, you learn that not only is the shoe 100% recycled (made entirely from TPU – thermoplastic polyurethane), but 100% recyclable.

While taking such a lofty stand is typically reserved for new disruptors versus established brands like Adidas, this comes across as a refreshing vision and stake in the ground. It is also a game-changing concept that taps into consumers questioning norms while demanding responsible and proactive solutions. However, unless you are one of the 200 creators lucky enough to be in their beta program, you won’t see a Futurecraft Loop until spring/summer 2021. Which will, no doubt, only add to the demand.

The lasting impact of this campaign is in making you think not only about how your lifestyle impacts the environment, but also how the brands you support are taking accountability. The Futurecraft Loop campaign positions Adidas at the vanguard of sustainability, while enrolling consumers into their greater mission. It’s inspiring and impactful when a company can do both. In the not-too-distant future, one can easily picture retail locations and pop-up experiences where shoes and other items are sold, and recycled, and sold again.

But I’ll still probably wait until the all-black colorway drops.

Dino de León is executive vice-president/executive creative director at IN Connected, an integrated brand activation agency.

See the work by clicking on the Creative Works box below.

To see the latest creative ads and campaigns, visit The Drum’s Creative Works section. If you or your creative director would like to be featured in our Creative Director’s Choice, please contact Kyle O’Brien.

Adidas: Futurecraft Loop

By Adidas

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