adidas: Sacred Ground

adidas is not an official sponsor of the Cricket World Cup. During India's 2015 campaign, the challenge was to make the brand feel like an essential part of the biggest cultural moment in Indian sport, without the rights to be there.

In India, cricket is not a sport. It is a religion. And like all religions, it has rituals. The act of touching the ground before a daunting task is a deeply held cultural prayer offering. adidas didn't need to sponsor cricket. It needed to sponsor belief.

Sacred Ground. adidas invited fans to photograph themselves touching the ground to send their support to the Indian team. Then the campaign went further: Indian players began performing the Sacred Ground gesture as they walked out to bat at every World Cup match, including India vs Pakistan, watched live by one billion people.

Millions of social impressions. Hundreds of fan submissions. Thousands of mentions. A gesture performed in front of one billion viewers during the most watched sporting event in history. Kyoorius Digital Award winner, 2015.