Adidas - Countdown - (2008) :60 (China)

“Countdown” is the TVC running predominantly in HK but also a bit in China. No print.

Imagine the pressure when the hopes and wishes of an entire nation are on one's shoulders.
adidas certainly understands the moment, which is why the film depicts thousands of the athletes countrymen sharing it together.
Together in 2008, Impossible is Nothing.

Title/Headline: Zheng Zhi / Hujia/ CVA/ Sui Fei Fei
Agency: TBWA/China
Client/Brand: adidas
Creative director:
John Merrifield – Creative-at-large
Yang Yeo – Executive Creative Director
Elvis Chau, - Creative Director
Sarawut Hengsawad, Lesley zhou – Associate Creative Directors
Copywriter: Lesley Zhou, Sarawut Hengsawad, Nicky Zhang, Michelle Wu
Art director: Elvis Chau, Nie Lang, Xia Zheng, Susie Sun, Amani Qian
Production House: Stink London
Film Director: NEO
Account Team:
Koo Yeat Mung – Group Account Director
Clare Xie – Account Director
Planning:
Sosuke Koyama – Associate Planning Director
Production Company: Corbis Artist Representation
First Launch: 1st Dec, 2007

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Neaner's picture

That stepped over the fine line into creepy.

Dabitch's picture

I thought it was just me. It really rubs me the wrong way.

brandonbarr's picture

Not nearly as creepy as the Psyop ones with the athletes walking on top of the Chinese people, in my opinion.

Dabitch's picture

That whole campaign is a tad too much IMHO.

(edit: for those who missed the commercials Brandon's talking about - you can shortcut to all four different ones from this post: Behind the Spots: A Q&A with Pysop directors Hyon and Spier)

backwrite's picture

Aaah, I guess I'm just an old sap. I loved it. I found it an inspiring "go get 'em, tiger, we're all behind you" message. I suppose you could see as over the line into hero worship or Chinese conformity or something like that, but it didn't cross the line for me.

kamari's picture

I liked it as well. Good piano score.

Dabitch's picture

By the way, more posters in the campaign here. I forgot to add them yesterday.

RLDavies's picture

I don't find it creepy, just dull, like most sport-themed ads. The theme was hard to grasp, at least for me. It was that repetitive piano that got on my nerves.

Dabitch's picture

I might be taking stuff personally due to recent events (I dunno) but I dislike that whole moving in unison bit - one giant superorganism with one mind - gets a bit too close to sci-fi horror territory. Also, bopping around your young child as basketball symbol? Tacky.