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adidas • Canadian Down Syndrome Society

Adidas - Runner 321 (case study)

Agency: FCB Canada

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To celebrate World Down Syndrome Day, adidas collaborated with creative agency FCB Canada and director Jason Van Bruggen to tell the story of adidas’ first sponsored athlete with Down Syndrome, Chris Nikic. As Chris is a triathlete, marathon runner and the world’s first Ironman with Down Syndrome, the campaign reserved the runner BIB 321 for Chris to race with in the Boston Marathon this year - with extended plans to allow all neurodivergent athletes to wear BIB 321 in next year’s event too. Why 321? 95% of people with Down syndrome have trisomy 21 — a full copy of chromosome 21, leading to three copies instead of two. This number is iconic to the Down syndrome community and the reason why we celebrate World Down Syndrome Day on 03/21. Andrew MacPhee, executive creative director at FCB Canada explains: “Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21, hence 3-21.” The number is widely used by the Down Syndrome community and marks World Down Syndrome Day annually on March 21. “The initial spark came from our desire to create visibility and representation for neurodivergent people in running,” says Andrew. “We wanted to create a beacon for others to see what’s possible. In a sea of thousands of runners, our runner needed to be easy to spot. That’s where the idea to reserve BIB 321, a number that resonates with the Down syndrome community, became the centre point for this campaign.” FCB Canada has a history of working with the Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) and brought its experience in this field to the campaign. Runner 321 is just one of the agency's recent projects aiming to improve inclusion in fitness for the Down syndrome community. “Fitness is often discouraged by doctors for people with Down syndrome. MinDSets, our global research study is tracking the impact of fitness on cognition for people with Down syndrome so we can change that and make fitness a key part of prescribed therapy.” The shared ambition between adidas, FCB Canada and Jason was the advancement of inclusion in sport - and already they have received “an overwhelming, positive response” from parents of neurodivergent children, who are seeing themselves represented for the first time. Andrew says, “A particularly poignant post from a mother of a two-year-old said that the video made her hopeful for her son and she would use it to show him what’s going to be possible for him. We’re also seeing people step up to support it. An Olympian has offered to train any Down syndrome person to be the next Runner 321. So we know that this initiative is already making an impact in showing people what inclusion in mainstream sports looks like.”

This professional campaign titled 'Adidas - Runner 321 (case study) ' was published in Canada and United States in June, 2023. It was created for the brands: adidas and Canadian Down Syndrome Society, by ad agency: FCB Canada. This Content, Direct, and Integrated media campaign is related to the Sports and Sportswear industries and contains 1 media asset. It was submitted 11 months ago by LLLLITL.

Brand: adidas. Advertising Agency: FCB, Toronto (Canada). Production: 456 STUDIOS Toronto. Post Production: Alter Ego Toronto ; School Editing Toronto. Music & Sound: Oso Audio Toronto ; Citizen Music Toronto. PR: Current PR Toronto. adidas Director, Brand Communication Sport Footwear and Apparel: Dustin Geddis. NAM Sports Marketing: Hygie Ordono. Sr. Manager, Brand Communications, Running Footwear: Josie Johnson. Running Footwear: Andrew Lemoncello. Asst. Manager, Digital Publishing: Emily Crueger. Manager Digital Content: Sally Rubey. Sr. Manager Digital Content: Rene Hirschbolz. FCB Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna. EVP, Global Creative Partner: Danilo Boer. Executive Creative Director: Andrew MacPhee. Executive Creative Director: Cuanan Cronwright. Executive Creative Director: Leonardo Barbosa. Associate Creative Director: Sally Fung. Associate Creative Director: Sara Radovanovich. CSO: Shelley Brown. Sr. Strategist: Audrey Zink. VP, Managing Director: Tim Welsh. VP, Managing Director: Ricky Jacobs. Account Supervisor: Chris Flynn. VP, General Manager Content: Ian Buck. VP, Content Development: Yotam Dor. Director of Project Management: Emily Mihalek. 456 Studios VP, Integrated Production: Stef Fabich. Director, Broadcast Production/Producer: Sarah Michener. School Editing Executive Producer: Sarah Brooks. Editor: Lynn Sheehy. Asst. Editor: Fiona Alvarez. Alter Ego Colourist: Andrew Ross. Colour Assistant: Ebi Agbeyegbe. On Line Artist: Sebastian Boros. On Line Assistant: Nupur Desai. Producer: Spencer Butt. Oso Audio Creative Director: Daenen Bramberger. Producer: Lauren Dobbie. Executive Producer: Hannah Graham. Sound Engineer: Dylan Groff. Citizen Music Junior Producer: Kai Rizzuto. Head of Production: Molly Young. Creative Director: Tomas Jacobi. Composer: Nico Barry. Current PR Sr. VP, Client Experience: Shannon McGovern. Account Director: Sara Koerner. CEO: Virginia Devlin.

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adidas: Runner 321.

When people with Down syndrome don’t see their community represented in sport, they aren’t able to see what’s possible for them. adidas had a goal to change this by creating a global movement for neurodivergent athletes within the world’s most accessible sport: running.

adidas has a unique mission to break down barriers for marginalized communities and demonstrate to the world that ‘impossible is nothing.’

As part of their goal to partner with the best athletes in the world from diverse backgrounds, adidas had recently sponsored Chris Nikic—the first athlete with Down syndrome to complete the Ironman — making him the first globally-sponsored athlete with Down syndrome.

To showcase their continued commitment to neurodiversity, adidas asked us to create a social movement to include neurodivergent athletes in the world’s most accessible sport: running.

Sports fans idolize and identify with those who achieve the impossible. One of the most common symbols for inspiring the next generation of athletes is an iconic number. Michael Jordan’s 23, Lionel Messi’s 10 or Wayne Gretzky’s 99. Iconic numbers that represent perseverance, dedication and the pinnacle of athletic success.

Iconic numbers have been revered as a symbol of the best athletes of all time.

But in reality, they’ve only represented athletes that fit within the confinements of mainstream sport.

 Strategy & Approach.

We set out to create the first iconic number to represent an entire community of neurodivergent athletes who are exceeding what society thinks they can achieve.

Introducing Runner 321 , wherein adidas asked the world’s largest organized marathons—including four that are sponsored by Nike, New Balance, and Asics—to reserve Bib 321, representing Trisomy 21 for people with Down syndrome, for a neurodivergent athlete who qualifies.

Our audience: neurodivergent athletes, aspiring and current, who are often relegated to separate competitions. These events signal that neurodivergent athletes are incapable of participating in mainstream competitions, which is far from the truth.

Our strategy was to partner the right brand and the right athlete to create a social movement of inclusion.

Chris Nikic— the first athlete with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman— was the perfect person to lead a movement to inspire the next generation of neurodivergent athletes.

Runner 321 launched on World Down Syndrome Day with an inspirational video showcasing adidas-sponsored athlete Chris Nikic and a landing page where we encouraged other races to get involved, offering a Runner 321 toolkit with race instructions, social posts and more.

With the announcement coming just weeks before the Boston Marathon, we offered interviews with Chris to local and national media, securing interviews and coverage with four Boston broadcast affiliates and Forbes right off the bat.

Coverage rolled in.

Chris Nikic is breaking down barriers in mainstream sports. Journalist, Forbes

At the Boston Marathon, Chris debuted as the first Runner 321. At the finish line, he handed his bib to the next Runner 321, Kayleigh Williamson.

We held live activations at the New York, and Boston Marathons and the effort has gone global with all six of the world’s major marathons (Boston, New York, Tokyo, London, Berlin and Chicago) reserving BIB321 for a neurodivergent athlete, and additional races continuing to join the movement.  

Results & Learnings.

Chris’ partnership with adidas made him the first globally sponsored athlete with Down syndrome. Chris shows what is possible for the neurodivergent community.

adidas’ Runner 321 campaign started a social and media movement that continues to grow. Our campaign hero Chris is a Down syndrome athlete who is also an Ironman, ESPY winner, Special Olympics Ambassador, public speaker, published author, adidas-sponsored athlete and an inspiration to the global neurodivergent community. All other athletes featured in our communications have Down syndrome, creating visibility and awareness of what athletes with Down syndrome can accomplish.

Other campaign results:

• 252 races including, all six of the world’s largest marathons, including four that are sponsored competitive brands, including Nike, New Balance and Asics, reserved a spot for Runner 321 in their 2023 events.
• 278 athletes, and counting, have signed up to be the next Runner 321.
• 59 pieces of earned media: 269 million earned media impressions across titles including Forbes, CBS, Fox News, NBC, ABC, Yahoo!, AdAge, MSN, Barstool Sports.

adidas Runner 321 has won multiple global awards: no fewer than seven Cannes Lions in 2023 (including the Grand Prix for Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility); four Clio Sport trophies; PR Week Purpose Awards for Best Advocacy and Best Accessibility campaign. PRWeek US named it the “Best in Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Media” campaign in 2024.

This is not about me. It's about everyone that needs to be included – because if Chris Nikic does the Boston Marathon, I can do it too! Chris Nikic, Runner321 athlete and ironman

Current Global worked with FCB Toronto to deliver this campaign.

Runner 321: a purpose-led campaign to champion neurodivergent runners

A global movement for neurodivergent athletes within the world's most accessible sport: running.

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Runner 321: a purpose-led campaign to champion neurodivergent runners. (copy)

By Current Global

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Who Is Runner 321? The Campaign Increasing Visibility for Neurodivergent Athletes

To celebrate World Down Syndrome Day, adidas collaborated with creative agency FCB Canada and director Jason Van Bruggen to tell the story of adidas’ first sponsored athlete with Down Syndrome, Chris Nikic. As Chris is a triathlete, marathon runner and the world’s first Ironman with Down Syndrome, the campaign reserved the runner BIB 321 for Chris to race with in the Boston Marathon this year - with extended plans to allow all neurodivergent athletes to wear BIB 321 in next year’s event too.

Andrew MacPhee, executive creative director at FCB Canada explains: “Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21, hence 3-21.” The number is widely used by the Down Syndrome community and marks World Down Syndrome Day annually on March 21. “The initial spark came from our desire to create visibility and representation for neurodivergent people in running,” says Andrew. “We wanted to create a beacon for others to see what’s possible. In a sea of thousands of runners, our runner needed to be easy to spot. That’s where the idea to reserve BIB 321, a number that resonates with the Down syndrome community, became the centre point for this campaign.”

FCB Canada has a history of working with the Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) and brought its experience in this field to the campaign. Runner 321 is just one of the agency's recent projects aiming to improve inclusion in fitness for the Down syndrome community. “Fitness is often discouraged by doctors for people with Down syndrome. MinDSets, our global research study is tracking the impact of fitness on cognition for people with Down syndrome so we can change that and make fitness a key part of prescribed therapy.”

The FCB team reached out to adidas over a year ago, which spawned Runner 321 amongst other projects. Facilitating Chris becoming the first neurodivergent athlete with a global sports sponsorship was the first action in their collaboration, setting the groundwork for what would become Runner 321. Andrew says, “adidas has been an ideal partner as they share our vision of inclusivity and the work really lives into adidas’ ‘Impossible Is Nothing’ platform. While we came up with the bib initiative, we have worked together to create the partnerships to bring it to life, from Chris Nikic to the Boston Marathon.” Thanks to adidas’ partnership with the Marathon’s organisers, the BAA,  and the campaign’s good cause, the BAA “immediately saw the importance of [the campaign] and supported it”, providing a springboard to call other races to get involved with the initiative as well.

“The initiative is about visibility, so the more marathons that get on board and the more people we see represented, the better,” says Andrew, “We will inspire a new generation of neurodivergent athletes to create a legion of Runner 321s to pass the baton from race to race, country to country, and show the world, and others like them, what’s possible.” Race supporters and organisers alike can head to runner321.com to see how they can support the campaign.

When creating the promotional film Andrew says FCB and adidas wanted to maintain the “rebellious and optimistic tone of voice” that the sportswear company is known for. “Inclusion means inclusion. We were conscious of not creating a sense of otherness in the way we portrayed Chris.” Highlighting the importance of capturing Chris “as the professional athlete he is, as well as his personality” Andrew says that Suneeva’s Jason Van Bruggen was the ideal director to execute this vision “based on his incredible ability to capture candid moments that showed the charisma of our athletes as well as a rawness to his action shots.” Always conscious of inadvertently ‘othering’ Chris, Andrew continues, “What was most important to us, and Chris, was representing Chris and his friends in the same way we would for any other elite athlete. Confident, full of belief, and heroic!”

Despite being “rip-o-matic with a lot of stock footage”, Jason recognised an inspiring message at the core of the campaign and signed up to help give Chris’ story “emphasis, beauty and truth.” He says: “I wanted to make sure that it maintained authenticity but also felt like a sports commercial. While this is changing (happily), I often find that projects featuring para-athletes tend to have weaker concepts and smaller budgets than those which feature mainstream high-performance athletes.” After suddenly getting the call less than two weeks from the first shooting day, Jason prioritised narrowing the film’s focus and generating visual intrigue, “These compelling stories can often be a tree falling in a forest if they aren’t supported with a fresh approach, beautiful film, and of course human interest and expression… I ultimately based my shot list on the locations that I found in a city that I had never been to, and only had a very short time to scout. The opportunities unfolded from there, but I had a real point of view on where and how we should see Chris at all times.”

An element that Jason enjoyed most was working with Chris and the other athletes, exploring Chris’ story and truth through conversations with him and his dad before shooting. “The other athletes were so charming, funny and smart,” he says. “I wanted to capture the attitude that they brought to the shoot and to their lives. I’ve connected with a couple of them on social media, and just love following along.” During filming, Jason wanted to capture Chris’ speed and intensity, “mirroring the visual lexicon of sports commercials” and pushing Chris to dig deep physically. “Chris responded. Man, he was spent at the end of the day. I hope he feels it was worth it, and I’m told he was very proud of the spot.” After filming - always involved in the edit -  Jason reviewed footage and put together some LUTs that allowed for some ambitious editing and seamless integration of stock footage, before handing back over to FCB.

Previously having limited experience with neurodivergent athletes, Jason says he learned a lot about their individual capabilities and the nuances of Down syndrome from Chris and his dad Nik, whom he calls pioneers for expanding expectations for neurodivergent people. “We are only scratching the surface of what neurodivergent people are capable of,” says the director. “They are all about pushing the limits of the known, the expected, and the accepted. It is very inspiring. One of their mantras is ‘be remarkable’. They live and breathe it every day.”

The shared ambition between adidas, FCB Canada and Jason was the advancement of inclusion in sport - and already they have received “an overwhelming, positive response” from parents of neurodivergent children, who are seeing themselves represented for the first time. Andrew says, “A particularly poignant post from a mother of a two-year-old said that the video made her hopeful for her son and she would use it to show him what’s going to be possible for him. We’re also seeing people step up to support it. An Olympian has offered to train any Down syndrome person to be the next Runner 321. So we know that this initiative is already making an impact in showing people what inclusion in mainstream sports looks like.”

Jason adds, “My hope is that it helps shift both internal expectations and ambitions within the community, but also outside of the community. After spending a couple of days with this remarkable group, I am a believer in Chris and Nik’s philosophy. I’m excited to see how we, as a broader society, can work to expand our inclusion of neurodivergent people in myriad ways.”

Cannes Lions

Adidas and fcb canada win direct grand prix at cannes for ‘runner 321’, stella artois wins creative data grand prix while almapbbdo wins second-ever creative b2b grand prix.

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An inspiring runner with Down syndrome helped Adidas and FCB Canada take the Grand Prix at Cannes for the Direct category.

“Runner 321” is a campaign that urged marathons and race organizers to save bib No. 321 for runners with Down syndrome—the number represents trisomy 21, a full copy of chromosome 21, a number that correlates to Down syndrome.

Adidas was looking to make sports more inclusive, and they found a perfect star for the campaign in Chris Nikic, an Adidas-sponsored athlete with Down syndrome. Nikic is the focus of a short film, Rebellious Optimists, and he talks about running in the Boston Marathon, saying that every marathon should have a runner 321.

Chaka Sobhani, Direct Lions jury president and global chief creative officer at Leo Burnett, said that picking a winner out of the nearly 2,000 entries was a difficult task, stating that the winning work had to be authentic and scalable—not just a solution for one country. “It’s become one of the most creative and innovative and broad categories,” Sobhani said of the Direct category. “We saw absolutely everything.”

Direct gold winners

• Mondelez Europe (Oreo), “Oreo Cheat Cookies” by Saatchi & Saatchi Dusseldorf
• Marmite, “Baby Scan” by adam&eveDDB London
• Solar Impulse, “Pret a Voter” by Publicis Conseil
• Lalcec, “The Postponed Day” by Grey Argentina
• Oreo, “Oreocodes” by VMLY&R Commerce New York
• Mastercard, “Where to Settle” by McCann Poland
• Fondation Anne de Gaulle, “Anne de Gaulle” by Havas Paris

Creative Data Lions

Stella Artois has the oldest logo in the beer world, dating back to 1366. That’s a lot of history to cull from for any campaign, and Gut Buenos Aires decided to put data to good use to imagine what the drinkers of the beer from various eras would have looked like. Their efforts, which utilized art from over the centuries, landed them the Creative Data Grand Prix.

Gut developed an algorithm that analyzed paintings from different eras that cross-referenced data with the brand’s historical records to find the probability of the presence of Stella Artois in the paintings analyzed.

The campaign, which was created in partnership with the Bellas Artes Museum, was titled “The Artois Probability,” a collection of print and outdoor ads that showed the percentage probability of a work of art containing a Stella.

Creative Data Lions jury president Samantha Hernández Díaz, chief strategy officer, Gut Mexico City, said that with this campaign, playing with data doesn’t have to be boring.

“It speaks in a different language for the product in that category. It brings something fresh. It’s capable of connecting with young people,” she said in a press conference.

Creative Data gold winners

• Chipotle, “Chipotle Doppelganger” by Gale New York
• Show Racism the Red Card, “Fabric of England” by McCann London

Creative B2B Lions

In its second year of the award, the Creative B2B Grand Prix winner went to “Eart4” by AlmapBBDO in Sao Paulo. The creative, which made the Earth into an IPO, was designed for the B3 Stock Exchange in Brazil.

The campaign’s goal was to encourage new signatories to the UN Global Compact. On April 26, in a ceremony that featured the heads of major NGOs and businesses, the Brazilian branch of the UN Global Compact launched an IPO, which transformed Earth into Eart4, or Terr4 in Portuguese. It portrayed the Earth as a global company with 8 billion clients, many of whom are not performing up to task for the planet’s existence. It essentially made the Earth a publicly traded company, and it paralleled the environmental crisis and the financial market to help create a sense of urgency.

Creative B2B Lions jury president Tom Stein, chairman and chief growth officer, Stein IAS, said the idea of turning Earth into an IPO was an “‘Oh my God’ moment” that has stuck with him since first seeing the creative a couple months ago.

“It’s a fantastic idea, beautifully designed, fully integrated. It leaves you with a feeling of what the potential for b-to-b truly is,” said Stein.

Creative B2B gold winners

• Intel, “Certified Human” by Dentsu Creative Chicago
• Workday, “Rock Star” by Ogilvy Los Angeles and Chicago

Paul Hiebert contributed to this story.

Follow all of Adweek’s Cannes Lions coverage   here .

Publicis Joined by Edelman, IPG, Omnicom and WPP in Working With Cancer’s Next Action

Kyle O’Brien

• [email protected]

Kyle O’Brien is a staff reporter for Adweek and editor of AgencySpy.

The Adidas Runner321 Campaign

• Post author By asherwoo
• Post date January 15, 2023

By Celina Aalders, Taylor Adair, Emily Koppers and Alex Madill

Our communications case study looked at the Adidas Runner 321 ad campaign. The number 321 represents Trisomy 21, which is the medical identifier for Down Syndrome. Accordingly, the campaign calls on marathons to hold bib #321 for runners with Down Syndrome and/or “other neurodivergent athletes.”

The campaign was strategically launched on March 21, 2022, which is World Down Syndrome Day. The campaign was centered around one main video featuring Chris Nikic, Adidas’ very first sponsored athlete with Down Syndrome. Adidas produced this video in collaboration with FCB Canada, as well as the Canadian Down Syndrome Society. The goal of the campaign was to encourage representation and inclusivity in mainstream sports. By having Nikic as the ambassador for this message, other athletes with disabilities would hopefully be inspired to follow their dreams too. 

Adidas and FCB understood the responsibility they had to ensure that this campaign was carried out in a respectful manner, specifically toward folks in the disability community. Andrew MacPhee, the Executive Creative Director at FCB Canada states, “we were conscious of not creating a sense of otherness in the way we portrayed Chris. The work needed to showcase Chris with the same respect and stature as any other Adidas sponsored athlete.” We would argue that the campaign was successful in doing so. 

With the support of Adidas, Nikic ran the 2022 Boston Marathon sporting the #321 bib. By tackling the Boston Marathon, one of the top five most famous marathons in the world, 3 Adidas was able to get their key messages of representation and inclusion out to an extremely wide audience. The goal here was also to inspire other marathons to follow suit in reserving the #321 bib for a runner with a neurological disability.  

The campaign has some critical missteps. As we analyzed the various components of Adidas’s strategy, tokenism, inspiration porn and isolation stood out to us. Furthering the discussion with our classmates was an aid to our materials, as they presented us with perspectives we hadn’t considered yet.  

Tokenism is a major concern in this campaign. The focus of the campaign zoning in one runner and one specific bib number presents multiple opportunities for tokenism to be abused. The campaign specifically calls for races to hold bib #321 for a neurodivergent athlete.

Through this strategy of emphasizing the one bib for an athlete with down syndrome, it may leave organizations with the impression that if they include that one athlete, then they have done their part. This is not a long-term option for creating accessibility in sport.  

Inspiration porn is defined by Stella Young as “making people feel good in a not-so-good political climate” 4 . A major aspect of inspiration porn is appealing to the viewer’s emotional reaction. Adidas is taking advantage of an outdated stereotype that views individuals with disabilities as lesser-than. This is a manipulative tactic and can take advantage of athletes with disabilities. These athletes are just as capable as anyone else in taking part in these races. The campaign has been framed in a way that wants to push inspiration porn onto the consumer, and Adidas is profiting from that.  

The goals that Adidas set for this campaign centered around increasing representation in the sports community. One of the first issues presented here is that they use terminology such as “neurodivergent.” This is an umbrella term and with the campaign’s emphasis on athletes with Down Syndrome, using that terminology can take away from the original focus.

As discussed by our peers, using the term “neurodivergent” can be damaging to individuals with disabilities. By having races save one singular bib for a runner with Down Syndrome, it does create a semblance of isolation. Isolating and calling out that one runner with a specialized bib is not a common practice. It does not lead to the most inclusive practice.  

This campaign had its pros and cons, while we focused on the negatives of the campaign, they did do some things well. One of the major positives of their work was the collaboration with other groups. This ranged from outside ad agencies to the Canadian Down Syndrome Society.

It is valuable for organizations to work with thought leaders and representatives of the communities that their campaigns are focused on. Adidas did this well,  and continued to highlight their athletes in their typical style. There is room for improvement, as with anything, but overall Adidas executed a campaign that could have a positive impact.

Discussion Questions

• Where should the line be drawn between representation and isolation in this case? Does Adidas’s tactic cause more harm than good?  
• What could Adidas have done differently to encourage inclusion and accessible practices in their campaign?  
• A concern with this campaign is the lack of longevity, what is a suggestion that could help the campaign to become more sustainable and have a larger reach?  
• How can companies avoid the danger of inspiration porn while still producing a campaign that can inspire their audience?  

Bibliography

Brown, David. “Why #321 Represents Athletic Inclusivity for Adidas and FCB.” The Message. March 22, 2022. https://the-message.ca/2022/03/22/why-321-represents-athletic-inclusivity-for-adidas-and-fcb/ .  

Jones, Chelsea Temple. “Why This Story Over a Hundred Others of the Day’ Five Journalists’ Backstories About Writing Disability in Toronto.” Disability & Society 29, no. 4. (June 2014): 1206-1220. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687599.2014.916608 .  

Lu, Wendy. “What Journalists can do Better to Cover the Disability Beat.” Columbia Journalism Review . September 5, 2017. https://www.cjr.org/the_feature/journalism-disability-beat.php .  

“The Big 5- Make Your New Goal One or All.” World’s Marathons. January 13, 2013. https://worldsmarathons.com/article/big-five-marathons#:~:text=It%20refers%20to%20the%20biggest,London%20and%20New%20York%20City .   

By asherwoo

MMJC, 2017 Fall

Connecting brands and professional creatives

Adidas Runner 321 Pushes Inclusivity in Mainstream Sports

Getting a spot in a sports competition is very difficult – especially for neurodivergent athletes. Adidas’ latest campaign, Runner 321, tries to ensure the representation of people with Down Syndrome in every marathon.

The number 321 refers to Trisomy 21 (tri-21) – the medical identifier for Down Syndrome. Consequently, this is an important number within the Down Syndrome community and the reason behind World Down Syndrome Day (03/21).

Accordingly, Adidas’ Runner 321 is making sure that from now on, the 321 spot in marathons is reserved for runners with Down Syndrome. Therefore, encouraging representation in mainstream sports, and shaping a more inclusive future for running!

Leaning on Adidas’ sponsorship of the world’s oldest and one of the most prestigious races, the Boston Marathon, the brand is making this campaign a reality.

The ad was made in collaboration with FCB Canada, and it follows Chris Nikic – Adidas’ first sponsored athlete with Down Syndrome. Accordingly, through a powerful voiceover, he incentivizes people like him to run and compete in sports. Chris will participate in the Boston Marathon (April 18th) and show that it is possible!

When I was a kid, I rarely saw anyone who looks like me in mainstream sports… And now, we’re changing that. Chris Nikic

Indeed, the ad comes hand in hand with the Adidas’ Impossible is Nothing series – an ongoing initiative to uplift people from underrepresented groups, and be a game-changer in the sports industry.

Consequently, Adidas calls all marathons and races to take action and permanently reserve the bib number 321 for neurodivergent runners. Furthermore, they provide a toolkit to facilitate the addition of ‘Runner 321’, downloadable on the campaign’s page .

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Don’t forget to check out our articles on Duolingo’s #TattooDuoOver campaign ,  Pantone – Color of The Year ,  Brands Uplifting Black Creatives . Or, visit our blog for  more inspiration  and  brand insights !

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