The Return of an Icon
In 2025, Adidas Originals breathed new energy into the Superstar trainer with the launch of “Superstar: The Original.” Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the campaign featured a mix of cultural icons including Missy Elliott, JENNIE, Anthony Edwards, GloRilla, Teezo Touchdown, Mark Gonzales, and Gabbriette. The campaign celebrated the trainer’s rich history while presenting it to a contemporary audience. The Superstar has transformed from a basketball classic into a streetwear staple, showing that products with strong cultural roots can re-emerge and engage fans across generations. The relaunch demonstrates how brand resurrection works when a product’s past is embraced and presented in a way that feels fresh and globally relevant.
Breathing Life into a Brand
The Adidas campaign shows that reviving a brand is about more than launching a product. Jackson’s narration emphasised the cultural impact of the Superstar, turning it into a symbol of creativity and achievement. By including influential figures from music, fashion, and sports, Adidas engaged existing fans while reaching entirely new audiences. The London launch transformed 180 Studios into an immersive experience, allowing people to connect with the product and its story on a deeper level. Their storytelling and cultural engagement show that presenting consumers with meaningful experiences is at the core of bringing a brand back to life.
Out-of-Home advertising can extend this effect on a global scale, as exemplified by Adidas’ usage of billboards globally for this campaign. Using buses, taxis, billboards, airports, tube stations, roadway networks, supermarkets, sports arenas, radio, and cinema screens gives brands visibility where audiences live, work, and spend leisure time. Through combining creative storytelling with strategic placements across these channels, a brand can turn cultural moments into physically memorable experiences and ensure a resurrection resonates across different markets.
Lessons for Brands Around the World
The Adidas Superstar relaunch offers guidance for brands looking to revive products. Out-of-Home advertising provides a way to make a brand present and tangible in the everyday lives of audiences. Campaigns can honour a product’s heritage while reflecting local and global cultural trends. When storytelling, immersive experiences, and media placements work together, a brand feels vibrant, relevant, and exciting to audiences. Across the UK, the UAE, or anywhere in the world, this approach strengthens cultural presence and creates meaningful connections with consumers.
Looking Ahead
The Adidas Superstar campaign proves that brand resurrection succeeds when heritage and contemporary culture come together. Out-of-Home advertising gives brands the chance to make a lasting impression in a digital-first world, embedding products into the rhythms of everyday life. By combining authentic storytelling, influential partnerships, and global visibility through buses, billboards, airports, and other channels, brands can relaunch products in ways that feel alive and memorable. A carefully executed revival does more than return a product to the market, it elevates the brand’s presence and ensures that it continues to inspire and engage audiences worldwide through mixing nostalgia and newness.
