Adidas Ads Throw Punches in Shanghai Subway

We've already looked at how Nike is localizing "Just Do It"  for the China market with its 用运动 "Yong Yundong" "Use Sport" campaign. Now Adidas is punching the China market in the face, or at least offering Chinese the opportunity to get a few punches in using its own "yundong" tagline.

On the Shanghai subway platforms, Chinese commuters are encountering giant Adidas-branded punching bags which tell them they waste 1,824 minutes a year waiting for the train… so why not relieve some stress and take a punch? The invite might be quite attractive to riders of the packed Shanghai Metro system, which averages 5.2 million riders per day and set a one-day record of 7.5 million on October 22, 2010. It's certainly not as if the metro is punch-free anyway.

Adidias is fully invested in making inroads in China. In addition to high profile campaigns like "Sport Your Wait," Adidias is sponsoring local camps through its Adidias Nations program. For example, in June, Adidas hosted over 60 youth in Dongguan at the Adidas Nations basketball camp, wowing attendees by bringing in NBA star Jrue Holiday.

The creative punching bag campaign uses the tagline "运动你的等待" (Yundong ni de dengdai), which translates roughly to "Sport Your Wait" (with no pun in the translation of wait/weight). Adidas is officially selling the translation as "Don't Waste Your Wait."

The broader campaign employs local famous names such as Chinese actors Ethan Ruanactor and Li Bingbing, and uses a line of reasoning that exemplifies a key difference between how the Chiense and the West see celebrity: "If even busy celebrities can find the time for sport, training with whatever is available, what's my excuse?"

It's a question unlikely to be found in Adidas' America ad material anytime soon.