ADIDAS MAKE SOME MAGIC

As I prepare to return home after more than a week of travel, I stopped to think back to all that I have seen and learnt in the last couple of days.

I have met people from the biggest brands and media companies, I have spent time with businessmen and web gurus but the thing that sparked off the trip in the first place was one of the biggest highlights. My first port of call: Adidas’ launch of the new Bafana home jersey.

I love jerseys. Every year there are new jerseys released; home, away and third kits. A lot of clubs have worked it so that they release a new jersey every year. One year a home, and the next an away. For me it’s as much fun as watching the transfer market. As the release date nears, photos are sneaked out giving you a sniff at what the shirt will look like. Posters and ad campaigns start filtering out into the new media segment.

And then comes launch day! Those who aren’t invited to the launch or who live in another country, wait expectantly for a site to post pictures of the latest addition to the apparel market.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the launch of the Bafana jersey in Johannesburg, South Africa last week.
The venue was an old theatre, tucked away in a square filled with hawkers (people selling things on the street; cheap knock-offs etc).
There was such an atmosphere!

Upon arrival at the entrance, I was greeted by a massive Adidas branded truck. I figured it was just advertising or something. It wasn’t, but I’ll get back to the truck later.
A swarming foyer of media personnel and soccer celebrities was the next stop. My name was finally found and I received my bright yellow pass.
After grabbing a free bottled water, (who grabs free water! Take the Coke man!) I headed for my seat in the auditorium.

It was a beautiful old theatre, complete with a balcony. My seat was in the middle section and while I sat, waiting, my eyes scanned the room. Slowly people continued to drip in. Face after face was met with a familiar tick in my mental excel spread sheet. Presenters, ex-players, organization presidents, writers and editors.

Final, last-minute fine tuning was happening, camera men were checking their sound levels, props were being placed on the stage, photographers clicked away.

Obviously something was going on here…

(A few minutes late…) The start arrived. We were welcomed and then told about what would happen throughout the presentation. We had two ladies sing us a song. They were very good but no one seemed to listen when they (eventually resorted to) begging us to stand and dance.
I was a few rows behind Aaron Mokoena. He was pulled out of his seat and forced to shake a hip or two. (Thank goodness for not being famous!)
Dance and drama followed before, in a clever plot, the shirt was revealed as part of the show.

The plot may have been too clever for us, or we may have fallen asleep, (I’m not sure…) but when it arrived we didn’t even seem to notice.
Once the penny had dropped, the newly designed yellow and green shirt was met with applause from all.
Being a little further away from the action, my first response was, ‘ah, chaps I think you forgot the old one on him…’

After the model was joined by two more shirt wearing young men and walked to the end of the stage, I realized it was in fact very different. And very nice!
The conclusion of the presentation was an interview with members of Adidas as well as the SAFA president and team skipper Mokoena.

In the middle of the play we were shown a video about the new campaign Adidas have launched to ‘unite the nation behind Bafana’ called ‘Unite Mzansi Unite’.
The basic idea is a huge replica shirt that will travel the country in the big truck (remember the truck?). The truck will travel from host city to host city and ‘everywhere’ in between. South Africans of all shapes, sizes and colours are encouraged to sign the shirt.

Brilliant, I thought!

We were released and had to choose between lining up to the sign the giant shirt, grabbing food or claiming our free replica shirt. I went with the shirt. Although the food was tempting…
The location was a brilliant thought. The campaign: a stroke of genius. The food was good. The people were… there.

Walking around afterwards, surrounded by cameras and interviewers, photographers and celebrities, my thought was this: ‘this is football’.
And it is. Soccer is loved not because it is sport (which it is…). Soccer is not watched because of the emotions it stirs within you. Shirts are not bought because we need them.
Football is what it is because it has status. It’s lights and camera’s and people and hype.
It’s fashion and money and cars. It is a dream.

The fans standing on the other side of the metal railing were craning necks to just catch a glimpse of someone. Or even something. They didn’t care what or who. They just wanted to see fame.
And for South Africa, a country with so much poverty and strife, the chance to just see, just experience something, anything, can change someone’s life.

I was lucky enough to be on the inside of the railing. To be amongst the famous and the powerful. I was shaking hands with ex-players and originations presidents.

It changed my life…

High 5’s all round to Adidas. They put on a great show. They created a beautiful jersey. They made magic. And that’s what football is all about.