Adidas continued a marketing campaign tied to its 60th anniversary with the official "Customize Your Life" kickoff party for its online shoe customization program on Thursday in Miami. The five-day Customize Your Life event piggybacked on the campaign’s message of promoting individuality and originality by bringing consumers into the store and directing them to the company's Web site to custom design their Originals sneakers. The sporting goods manufacturers partnered with Modern Luxury Media for the event, which also took place on Thursday in New York, Atlanta, and Chicago and on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
“The goal was to establish Originals in our core lifestyle market, and Modern Luxury hits that [group] with all their local magazines,” said Adidas America’s vice president of retail Mark Friedman in reference to Modern Luxury's Miami, Manhattan, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles titles. “They really have a strong local presence in those key markets.” The series continued the brand's Celebrate Originality campaign, which launched in New York in November as a celebration of the company's 60th anniversary and its original sneaker design.
Nearly 150 people stopped by the South Beach store during the two-hour event, many leaving their mark on a six- by six-foot graffiti wall of Originals' shoe design outlines, which guests could color in with Sharpie markers. Local artist Chelly Peyrefitte, accompanied by artist Frankie Cruz, personalized 10 of the 23 pairs of new Originals sneakers purchased at the event with colored Sharpies.
Two guests won Adidas bags designed by Miami artist David "Lebo" Lebatard at the end of the night. The store conducted another raffle throughout the weekend, with one person winning a gift certificate worth $125 to create their own pair of Originals—choosing the shoe structure, fabric colors, and monogramming—at the Adidas Web site, miadidas.com).
All of Adidas' 15 stores nationwide participated in the Customize Your Life activation, though launch parties took place only in the company’s five biggest markets. The program continued throughout the weekend with local DJs and artists in stores Thursday through Sunday.
