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Marketing and Sponsorship

Adidas Releases 'Original Is Never Finished' Ad Campaign

Adidas' "divisive" new campaign, "'Original is never finished,' reframes Frank Sinatra through the lens of high fashion, youth culture and jarring visual flourishes," according to CAMPAIGN LIVE. Love it or "hate it, it is certainly unforgettable." Released last week, the spot begins with a series of "arresting images." Sportswear-clad teens "hanging like bats from a pole." A cloaked man stares out at the camera with white laces draped across his shoulders. Masked kids swing flaming torches. If this all "sounds like material for a post-apocalyptic Mad Max film, then you're not far off." Aesthetically, "Original is never finished" is "ambitious in the extreme, preferring a profoundly memorable aesthetic over any easily-summarised plot." Directed by Terrence Neale, who lent his "ragged sci-fi look" to previous adidas campaigns, the spot is "intended to be a cross-cultural pot pourri." With "plenty of big-budget sports advertising to compete with," adidas has taken the "clever route" of differentiating itself by creating its own marketing genre. If Nike produces the "blockbusters" of the ad world, then adidas "seems to be the arthouse alternative" (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 1/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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