Edison Media recently partnered with Adidas and JD Sports to deliver a culture-led campaign across four cities celebrating the return of the iconic Adidas Superstar, and it made an impact you couldn’t ignore.
The campaign featured a centrepiece of two giant eight-foot Superstar trainers suspended from the ceilings of the Trafford Centre, Manchester and Westfield, Stratford. The installations became instant talking points, stopping shoppers in their tracks and flooding social feeds with over 400,000 tagged story impressions in just days, sparking thousands of organic shares and conversations online.
But the guerrilla approach went far beyond a single moment. In London, hand-painted murals featuring Ghetts and Jade Thirlwall connected directly with the campaign’s target audience – music-driven, fashion-conscious, and culturally plugged in. Lenticular flyposting takeovers transformed key street-level locations, while a special build in Newham, saw a Superstar bursting off the board, creating one of the campaign’s most talked-about activations.
Across Manchester, Newcastle, and Paris, the story continued. From the Princess Road special build and a full Trafford Centre takeover featuring giant trainers, balustrades, and flag banners, to 1,000+ sites across Paris featuring a flagship 64sqm billboard and premium kiosks, the campaign dominated high-footfall locations and cultural touchpoints across four cities.
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Built around a stripped-back black-and-white creative identity, the work celebrated three icons: the Superstar trainer, the Firebird tracksuit, and the talent. In the UK, this included Ghetts and Jade Thirlwall, connecting Adidas Originals directly to its target consumer.
The result? Just 65m+ impressions, viral social traction, and a campaign that blurred the line between OOH, street culture, and guerrilla marketing.
“This campaign was about creating moments people couldn’t scroll past,” said Nicola Orrell, MD at Edison Media. “From giant trainers hanging from shopping centre ceilings to murals, wraps, and special builds, everything was designed to connect culture, audience, and brand in a way that felt unmissable.”
The summer has barely seen adidas off social media, thanks in no small part to a partnership with the massively hyped reunion of a certain pair of musical Manchester brothers and the biggest football kit launch in history at the other end of the East Lancs Road, though its safe to assume a further 65m+ impressions won’t have done the brand any harm.
