180 lands Adidas digital

by Noel Bussey, Campaign 29-Aug-08

Omnicom consortium of agencies beats three to take Adidas' global digital brief.

180 has scooped Adidas' global digital advertising account following a
four-way pitch.

The agency, which worked with other Omnicom agencies including TBWA and
a number of independent digital specialist agencies for the review, is

understood to have beaten Avenue A/Razorfish, Droga 5 and Isobar to

secure the business.

The process was run from the Adidas headquarters in Amsterdam.

It is thought the winning agencies will be briefed to create a more
focused approach to digital advertising for the brand.

The decision to appoint 180 to the digital business will come as a
relief for the Amsterdam-based agency following last week's news that it
had lost a pitch for Adidas' global running account.

The business, on which 180 was the incumbent agency, was handed to Iris
Worldwide.

The appointment will see Iris managing strategy, advertising, retail and
experiential marketing for the brand's running products.

Last week, Adidas announced it would be taking part in an initiative
with Facebook in the US that will see the social networking site
trialling an interactive advertising service.

The system will differ from Facebook's current ads by allowing users to
comment on so-called "engagement ads", "become a fan" of the product or
service, or send a brand-related virtual gift to a friend, all without
having to click through to a separate page.