Leagas Delaney has taken over London’s Covent Garden tube station
for its latest poster campaign for Adidas, which borrows from the world
of the cartoon superhero, epitomised by comics such as Marvel.
The single execution, in the shape of a cartoon strip, covers the
frontage of the tube station. The campaign is part of a Europe-wide
Adidas push targeting major cities and features sports stars such as the
tennis player, Tim Henman, the boxer, Prince Naseem, and the footballer,
David Beckham.
In the strip, called ’target London’, the capital comes under attack
from evil alien forces, with only Adidas superheroes able to save it
from an atomic disaster. Naseem receives a distress signal in Madison
Square Gardens, Henman hears of the impending disaster in Florida and
Beckham joins the others from mid-game in Manchester. Naseem punches the
missile away, preventing a near-hit on earth. Henman, who answers a
coded signal from Adidas HQ, smashes the atomic device to Beckham, who
uses his skill to boot it back in to space - a direct hit on the alien
craft. In true cartoon style, the earth is saved - for another day.
Tim Delaney, the executive creative director of Leagas Delaney, said:
’The strategy is to use our icons to connect with people at stations in
an interesting way.’
He added: ’The campaign will be seen by London people and by tourists,
and is targeted at the core 16- to 24-year-old market.’
Lisa Broomhead, the youth communication manager for Adidas, said: ’The
comic strip adds a new dimension to advertising in the underground and
will show our athletes in an adventurous way. All the illustrators
involved in this project have worked with Marvel Comics and we believe
it will create a buzz across the capital.’
’Target London’ was created at Leagas Delaney by the art director, Steve
Turner, and the copywriter, Jason Macbeth. It will run for one month.
