IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING

In the summer of 2004, in the occasion of Olympic Games in Athens, Adidas, world famous brand in the field of sport clothing has made one of the most inspiring campaigns I have ever seen. With claim “Impossible is nothing” they have placed focus on the values they wanted their products to transmit and represent. This international company adapted itself to a trend that, in an occasion such as Olympic Games are, inevitably, sees in competition not only the athletes but also the brand they wear; it is a battle led through campaigns in various mass media.
Focus of my analysis is placed on three TV commercials, videos each of which lasts 30 seconds. I find it necessary to describe them before proceeding with my analysis in order to provide a better insight in the material I will discuss and to present the way I saw and understood this campaign. Each of the videos has famous athletes as its protagonists and they are all made in the way that with digital trickery present day athletes are matched with champions from the past.
First of them is Olympic champion Haile Geberlassie. In the video we find this Ethiopian athlete preparing himself for a surreal, 10 000 meters long race. He is surrounded with his clones, all dressed slightly different but all in Adidas. In the background we hear his voice talking in first person saying that despite all medals won and the records broken it is necessary and possible to always improve yourself and beat yourself one more time. The video closes with Adidas logo and the suffix “com” added to the name of the brand.
In the second video of the campaign the role of main character is played by famous gymnast Nadia Comanci. She performs a utopian exercise simultaneously with another Russian Olympic heroine Nastia Luikin on two uneven bars. As in the previous video, different filmings are united in one spectacular composition accompanied by the voice of Luikin who says that with a lot of exercise and strong will it is possible to achieve perfection, even if only for a moment (referring herself to maximum number of points that Nadia got not once but incredible seven times). This video too is closed with apparition of Adidas logo with added suffix “com”.
Third and the last video is maybe the most spectacular of the three. Again a challenge, presented through a union of different shootings. In an incredible race on 100 meters Jesse Owens competes against other athletes among which Kim Collins. Persona of Kim Collins is surely indicated more than any other as embodiment of the Adidas philosophy. Fiscally, Kim is somewhat inferior to his colleagues, almost a common man that unexpectedly becomes a champion. The voice we hear in the background belongs to him. He talks about the dare, the challenge he accepts every time there is a possibility to run under ten seconds. Two last shots of the video are: a still image of different Olympic champions arriving to the finish line and then a hug between Kim and Jessie. As a closure, once again, we have the logo and the suffix.
Having presented the images I wish to interpret I can now proceeded with the analysis of the text composed of images, textual elements, music, voices and everything that is perceived by our senses. I will begin the analysis underlining analogy between the three texts. Analogies that are explicit guaranties of the continuum of the message Adidas wants to transmit to the audience – potential clients.
Three videos feature celebrities, that are champions in their sport disciplines and, mostly important for the campaign, celebrities that wear Adidas clothes. The last two notes are synthesized by images that present various protagonists in action wearing clothes with discrete Adidas signs but still very easy to note. What is being promoted in each of the videos is not a specific item but a concept or even philosophy of the brand that is synthesized in the slogan of the campaign: “Impossible is nothing”. And really, in each of the videos there is common message sent by images and stories: “try to overcome your limits and beat your own records”.
Author of the videos resorts to the “cut up” technique. Spectacular effect of utopian, simultaneous competition is achieved by putting together pieces of different videos. In the case of “Haile” it is referred to only one character, while in other two there are several different subjects.
Another element that these videos have in common is the voice in the background that captures the attention of the viewer, supplemented with a discrete incidental music.
At the end there is the same closure for every video, logo and the name of the brand (with the suffix “com”) on the black background without any additional comments.
All these elements are those that we can see. Let us now look at the texts from another standpoint and analyze the allusions and implied meanings of each text which are far more difficult to transmit and perceive.
If we start from the beginning but look at the texts in a different way we see that Haile, beating his own record 9 times, Nadia and Jessie that complete their Olympic challenges in the past contrasted or better to say united to the present of Nastia and Kim, all bring us back to one common element, tradition. This is the element that in a placid way relates the brand to that mysterious quality every winner and champion has in him. There is no need for special emphasize of the name. It is enough to put it in the right context and the strong relation of the brand and the concept is guaranteed.
The use of voice is of extreme importance for this analysis. The voices of the characters are dense with interesting implications that influence the meaning of the images. It is the use of the voice of the athlete, champion talking in first person that gives a different, more direct and immediate dimension to the texts.
This way the viewer feels related to famous protagonists who talk about the sacrifices they had to endure to achieve their goals and dreams. It is impressive how these legends are “humanized” and brought to an equal hypothetical level of the audience in such a simple and subtle way. This is how the brand, through the athlete – protagonist, tries to get closer to common people, in a dimension in which a champion is great and does great things only because he is placed in his own dimension, implying by various messages, that each person can be a champion in his or hers own dimension or reality by not surrendering when faced with difficulties that seem impossible to overcome.
This is how Adidas chooses to present itself. Like an instrument of the “I am able to…” and not as a sort of magical formula that turns common people into champions. The essence of the message that Adidas wants to communicate is: “buying our products will not make you champions automatically, but if you want to become champions, our products are here to make it easier for you and to help you achieve your goals”.
Elements emerged until this point are of fundamental importance for this analysis. We have only begun to observe the tip of the iceberg and a small part of what lies under it. Every text is written by certain rules of hierarchy, more or less casual, that introduce or subtract new elements within its content, narration. It is important to outline the course of narration and to analyze all of its elements in order to understand the way in which the brand involves the audience and relates it to the message it wants to convey.
What is it that these texts narrate? Three videos I have so far analyzed seem to suggest, in no uncertain terms, that the main prerogative has to be the one that tells us we must not surrender despite our own limits. The important concept underlined by this is the determination to improve ourselves.
Another element that emerges is that an “additional value” is being given to every protagonist making a hero out of him or her. This is how advertising usually relates the brand to the concept of success in whatever the hypothetical undertaking of the target audience could be. As I already noticed, in these three videos Adidas has a role of an instrument that helps to achieve goals and dreams rather than make them magically come true. The brand does non make athletes champions but it does help them and therefore has and important role in succeeding. The basic idea is surely to bring viewers to identify themselves with champions, who are, as we should remember, “humanized”, by drawing inspiration from their example.
By looking at the final faze of narration it is important to notice that all athletes succeed in trying to reach their goals, highlighting that way, that the statement, “impossible is nothing”, has its foundations in real world. Again there is a strong implication of the brand as the helping instrument, and in this case too, the viewer is led to comparing and identifying himself with champions. It is almost as if viewers are being challenged to ask themselves: “Can I too be like them?” This challenge is launched by the athlete – champion that talks in first person, sending the message to the viewer directly, as well as the brand that comes out very discretely throughout the text and works its’ way up to presenting itself in a more decisive way at the very end of every video, by placing the logo on the simple black background.
The range of target audience of this campaign is very wide. It is obvious that viewers related to the world of sport, who love challenges, which are competitive and don’t give up easily will relate themselves to Olympic champions. But this campaign does not aim to them only. The inspiring dimension we find in the slogan and the videos as well as the “humanization” of legends and heroes, involves those of us who are less competitive and need a “little push” to reach goals. What we have here is a simple and convincing textual strategy used to attract those who are estimated to be prototypes that corresponded to certain canons and live by certain philosophy, in this case that presented by Adidas brand.
By analyzing the narration of the text we have seen how Adidas has succeeded in creating a universe parallel to ours, governed by its’ own rules and laws. We have been witnesses to a different world being created, in which champions from the past challenge those from the present and in which everyone can compete against his own clone. Semiotics made it possible for us to understand and analyze this world in a more sophisticated way and from a different perspective. It also allowed us to have, certainly not a good insight, but at least a little peak in the social dimension of communication phenomena in advertising.