I have recently begun the daunting but exciting job search in order to land my first role in PR and communications this summer. Because of this over the last month, I have been making a conscious effort to be more up to date on recent PR activity. after seeing countless recent PR campaigns, I thought I would share with you all my favourite campaign that I have seen recently: Adidas’ #SupportIsEverything.
The #SupportIsEverything campaign is driven by the goal of providing every woman the chance to find a supportive, flattering and comfortable sport bra in which she can participate in physical activity whilst wearing. It is research driven, with their researching suggesting “over 90% of women have been reported to be wearing the wrong size sports bra”. They propose to counteract this by redesigning 100% of their sports bras, to celebrate women, their bodies and provide everyone with the opportunity to participate in sport. They now carry 43 styles of sports bra with 73 different sizes for customers to buy from.
The campaign is made up of both digital, and physical tactics which is personally my favourite type of campaign as I believe it captures audience attention the most accurately. Adidas announced the campaign on their @AdidasWomen Instagram by posting pictures of topless women with marks where their sports bras had been. They followed this post with a grid of 24 topless women accompanied by the caption: “breasts of all shapes and sizes deserve support and comfort tailored to them”. The range of women chosen to feature in this picture was diverse, and well thought out. It featured a range of age, size, race and ability to deliver to the audience a realistic image of what breasts look like which helps to communicate their campaign message. They had to adapt the image for social media due to the nudity it includes, however the comments on the post praise how “proudly” they have displayed the image on billboards alongside the caption “The reasons we didn’t make just one sports bra”. This campaign was also accompanied by 8 physical statues of successful women in sport. The statues were located by City Hall on the Southbank of the Thames and were made out of recycled marine farmed waste plastics. They created statues due to research displaying that only 4% of the statues in London are of women, communicating that woman need to be celebrated more. by creating the statues in an eco-friendly manner they are establishing themselves as being sustainable and therefore appealing to a wider audience.
The reason I really like this campaign is because it is contributing something to society. In 2022, where there is a huge amount of misinformation online, I think it is essential for most campaigns to have an undertone of CSR activity to make the world a safer, and more understanding place. By Adidas demonstrating realistic imagery of different body types, it not only displays that they are catering for a variety of different body types but also establishes themselves as thought leaders. When you look at competitors to Adidas, most are inclusive with the models they choose however few use their platforms to change perceptions like Adidas have with the #SupportIsEverything campaign. In the active wear industry, we have long seen the stereotypical thin, muscular and athletic body image displayed. When representation in the active wear industry is analysed, its apparent that the reason that many people who aren’t represented by major brands don’t participate in physical activity as they don’t feel supported or encouraged by brands and therefore aren’t motivated to buy their clothing.
Active wear companies exist so people can partake in sport. By creating a more realistic body image through campaigns such as this one, alongside creating clothes which not only flatter but are comfortable to many different body types will encourage more people to get involved in sport and overall contribute to making people have a healthier relationship with exercise and food. Overall, if someone feels represented by a brand and relate to what they stand for they will be more encouraged to buy from them and Adidas have hit the nail on the head with this one. As someone who is into exercise, I haven’t shopped with Adidas before as I have never been a big fan of their clothes however after seeing this campaign I am far more likely to buy from them.
Kommentare