Adidas is teaming up with researchers from a broad range of disciplines to make its manfacturing Asia more sustainable.
The shoe and apparel company has partnered with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to take a close look at its supply chain and develop projects to improve it.
The research team, led by Professor Aleksandar Subic, head of RMIT’s School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, will include researchers from various backgrounds: Sports technology, sustainable manufacturing, sustainable development, sustainable energy, supply chain management and textiles.
The team will look into Adidas' suppliers in Indonesia, and then create projects intended to put new sustainability strategies in place. In being chosen to work with Adidas, RMIT is on the receving end of a $207,000 research contract.
“RMIT secured this assignment based on their strengths in engineering, depth of understanding of sustainable manufacturing processes and their ongoing commitment to education in the region, which is exemplified by their Vietnam campuses," said William Anderson, head of Adidas Group's social and environmental affairs in Asia Pacific, in a statement.
The ultimate goal of the project is to set up a regional Sustainable Manuacturing Institute or standardized training for manufacturing suppliers in Indonesia, China and Vietnam.
Skechers have just launched their new "Break Up 2 Shape Up" campaign during the Superbowl in the US. Kim Kardashian has been appointed to endorse Skecher's Shape Up trainers.
They've also created a "break up" game on Facebook - anyone who wants to break up can send a message to Kim on Facebook and Kim will send you a personalized video to share with friends. There is also a sweepstakes game that complement this campaign - winner will get to have a 1 to 1 workout section with Kim and a friend of your choice.
Adidas have created an in-store digital experience to showcase their 8,000+ shoe range. It can be deployed to allow almost any retailer to sell the entire Adidas product range without having to be a flagship store in a major city, which is a huge win for all sorts of retailers big and small.
The experience is defined by a large footwear wall, made of multiple LCD touch screens that use facial recognition to detect a customers gender on approach to the wall. The adiVerse virtual footwear wall then customises the product experience for that gender, and helps guide them to the perfect shoe, or alternatively, let’s them browse the entire range of products, with each rendered in real-time 3D (hence the Intel partnership). The most popular products get the full content play, with videos, game stats, product specs and even twitter feeds fed through to the customer. Customers can even add product into their virtual cart, and check out via an iPad that sales staff would hold, paying with credit card or cash. While there are a few things left to be desired with the adiVerse Virtual Footwear Wall, its a great step in the right direction that helps blur the line between instore and online experiences.
PumaPulse Curated By ZenithOptimedia, The ROI Agency Find out more at http://puma-pulse.blogspot.com Nike has launched a branded social initiative around Japan’s Ekiden long-distance relay race, a popular national winter sport.
The brand’s ‘Global Ekiden relay - RUN Fwd:’, developed by Wieden & Kennedy Tokyo, invites participants from around the world to run a minimum distance of three kilometres using Nike+ equipment and appoint the next runner - who can be anywhere in the world - by email.
The aim is to become the world’s longest Ekiden team within a set period (the contest ends on 28 February). Nominated participants failing to run the minimum distance within the allotted timeframe of 72 hours will cause their team to be disqualified.
A dedicated RUN Fwd: website provides map information corresponding to running routes recorded with Nike+GPS and shows the routes run by teammates. Appointed participants receive an invitation movie by email, which is customised to reflect the number of people who have run for the team up to that point and the distance covered. The new participant’s subsequently appears at the end of the film.
The initiative is connected to Twitter, Facebook and Mixi, enabling teammates to connect and send support messages to each other.
Credits: Client Nike Japan Agency Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo ECD Frank Hahn, Naoki Ito Director/animator Genki Ito Art director Naoki Ga Copywriter Hiroshi Kuyama, Andrew Miller Interactive copywriter Takayuki Rokutan
Adidas is a collaboration monster. They’ve paired up with Diesel again to come up with a limited edition sneaker collection. Diesel and Adidas first joined forces with a denim collection in 2008. The Diesel x Adidas sneaker collection features five classic Adidas styles re-designed by Diesel. They were launched on January 20th 2011 and there is only 10,000 pairs available globally.
Thus Stefano Rosso, responsible for Strategic Brand Alliances of Diesel (and son of the company’s founder): “I am a huge fan of adidas, they inspire me and they were my myth when I was growing up. After the amazing denim collaboration, when Diesel’s know-how was infused by adidas’ spirit, we are now starting a new chapter of the partnership: the heritage of the two brands will come together applying our spirit on adidas classic kicks!”
An adidas spokesperson commented: “Our two brands continue to share a great relationship built on our mutual respect and admiration for each others business and expertise. Following the recent collaboration in which we used the Diesel expertise in denim to create a new segment for Originals, this new sneaker project allowed us to approach the product creation in reverse. Working together with Diesel always results in a positive sharing of ideas. Their perspective makes for great products and gives us a better understanding on how others would interpret our collection.”
