adidas

The first World Cup ever staged in the Middle East would be a huge moment for the region. It would give fans from Asia, Africa and the Middle East access to the best players and teams in the world, on their doorstep. And while the tournaments were hosted in Qatar, Dubai would see significant excitement, traffic and noise. 

adidas wanted to maximize this opportunity to drive awareness of its global World Cup campaign, ‘Family Reunion’: an impossible reunion of adidas football stars from all nations. The ambition was to create a retail experience to drive sales of adidas’ World Cup retail offering; Al Rihla Football boots, federation jerseys, the official match ball, as well as limited edition World Cup collections. 

Introducing: ‘Al Rihla Avenue’ – inspired by adidas’ ‘Family Reunion’ creative, we concepted and designed a 70s themed house, complete with front drive and garden that would evolve throughout the World Cup period; filled with easter eggs to discover, evoking nostalgia through World Cup history and programmed with pop-culture. And to the surprise of fans – the house was floating in the middle of the iconic Burj Khalifa fountains.

The house hosted a program of events; private house parties for competition winners and country-themed reactive fan days based on the teams’ progress in the competition. Al Rihla Avenue became a hotspot for influencers throughout the World Cup – hanging out at one of Dubai’s prime locations in an environment designed for content creation.  

Impact 

This highly creative guerilla stunt changed the game on how retail experiences should be concepted and designed. Rather than shopfronts, the experience took customers into new worlds, on a journey of discovery; with products embedded at the heart of the experience; driving retail sales, brand love and campaign awareness.