As a major year of sport commences, adidas continues its Impossible Is Nothing story with the announcement of its biggest ever commitment to women. Driven by the belief that sport has the power to change lives, the brand will support those who are breaking down barriers and driving gender equity, on and off the field of play.
To make the global campaign relevant to the region, IMPACT BBDO helped adidas overcome not only the challenge of making the global line work in Arabic but more importantly solving the graphical integration of the three stripes into an alphabet.
In the English line, the adidas logo forms the English letter M in the word “I’m.” The Arabic word for “Impossible” is “Mostaheel,” but the letterform of the alphabet M in Arabic – the miim – cannot be converted to the three stripes. So IMPACT BBDO solved it by weaving the logo into another alphabet: the Arabic for S, the “siin,” which has three vertical bars, while keeping the original message intact.
Rani Ameyri, Arabic Creative Director at IMPACT BBDO, said: “It’s never easy to Arabise a global campaign, but we’ve made it possible.”
The Arabic line is now being used in outdoor boards all over the UAE as well as becoming the centrepiece of a social media campaign that features local influencers and athletes.
The solution, coincidentally enough, was in the word “Impossible” itself.
