adidas officially opened its first-ever flagship store in the region. Located in The Dubai Mall, the new adidas store symbolizes the start of a new era of sports – one that is embedded in digital advancements and sustainable practices and embodies the future of retail experience. The launch offered an opportunity to drive high impact buzz around the brand in the region, while reinforcing Dubai as a key city for the brand at a global level.

To announce the opening of the flagship, the news of the opening phased over three key waves. To tease the arrival of the store, we embedded adidas into the fabric of Dubai through strategic branding partnerships with local hotspots, as well as leveraging brand ambassador to create unique content moments that highlighted the brand. This included branding takeovers with local F&B venues, as well as collaborating with local concepts to create custom adidas branding – i.e – an adidas logo fade at a locally renowned hair stylist, and a customized gold grill from a local jeweler. These partnerships were amplified via social media and through local influencers.

The second wave consisted of a content stunt to create excitement around the launch event. We visited key macro influencers with a robot dog, adibot, to invite them to the event. adibot created a huge buzz on social media and became trending on TikTok as each influencer was able to interact with a robot and create content with it.

Finally, the big moment – the in store launch event, where several guests were able to get the first view of the adidas flagship store prior to opening to the public. The invitees, which included macro influencers, media, and the local creative and fitness communities, were engaged through a number of in store immersive activities that allowed them to delve deeper into the brand. Select influencers were also gifted adidas outfits to wear to the event, and others were provided with exclusive Dubai adidas merch. Guests ended the night with a spectacular projection on the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, where global brand ambassador Mo Salah appeared to announce the opening of the flagship to the public and share an inspirational message around sustainability, community, and female empowerment in the region – all values by which adidas stands.

Huge buzz across social media where several notable influencers joined the journey to launch the adidas store, driving strong visibility for the brand over a sustained period between pre-launch, launch, and post launch. Media titles who covered the event include Vogue Arabia, Elle Arab World, Hia Magazine, Sports 360, Lovin’ Dubai, GQ Middle East, Buro 24/7, and Haya to name a few.