Outlier’s reputation precedes itself with new team members, many of whom will come up to say, ‘I heard I have to get with you to be a part of the fun!’ Knowing our reputation erases the fear of being in front of cameras is amazing.
Problem:
Adidas retail culture is special and can be difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t experienced it. Hosting the North America leadership team for an entire week at the annual Retail Sales Meeting is a major opportunity to cement internal relationships and strengthen team culture.
But a week comes and goes quickly, making it challenging to preserve these special experiences. The leadership team needed an effective way to package the great things they were learning so they could share this knowledge with the next generation of leaders.
Approach:
Prior to these annual events, our team works closely with adidas leadership to develop a series of “hype” videos designed to build buzz about the development opportunities that await attendees. These videos star leadership members and provide an opportunity to get managers excited about reconnecting with teams, friends, and peers across the organization.
We also pre-produce videos that will be used to open the event. The tone and creative of these pieces changes year to year based on the meeting’s theme and schedule of events. For example this year’s theme, “Change is a team sport”, featured the heads of retail in a powerful spoken word piece written by another team member.
Once we arrive at the destination, cameras are ROLLING! We capture every event, photograph every moment, interview and grab audio bytes, and generally throw ourselves into the meeting as if it’s a family reunion. After 11 years, it is!
Services Provided
Event Video
• Creative planning
• Script writing
• Logistics
• Video production
• Video editing
Event Photography
• Professional headshots for all attendees
• Spirit of the week photography
What We Deliver
Documentation and Post-Meeting Assets: Visual Merchandising
The adidas Visual Merchandising team works hard to prepare and deliver excellent in-store visual experiences at the event. We capture and package these setups and key training takeaways so they can be shared all year long.
Mainstage Presentations
We do not live stream meetings. Instead, we film and edit presentations to deliver a concise video experience focused on key takeaways. This approach gives speakers an opportunity to relax and increases the number of people who will actually watch the presentations after the event.
Awards Night Opener
This year, Outlier partnered with the Creative Noize Cartel to produce an original track that embodies the confidence and style of the adidas brand. We then produced a fun music video that was played right before the welcome speech at awards night to really get the crowd cheering for their co-workers.
Leadership Comedy Sketch
This tradition grew organically. District leaders wanted to entertain the awards night crowd and met up late night to just goof around and have some laughs.
Five years later, the leadership comedy sketch is highly anticipated and has everyone scheming behind each other’s backs to get the last laugh on the big screen! This year’s theme was acting lessons, which poked fun at some of the dubious acting skills from the year prior and gave new and old faces a chance to get in on the fun.
Spirit of the Week
We partnered with Creative Noize Cartel to create a second track that celebrates the family vibe and hardworking attitude of the retail team. This piece also featured amazing moments from social purpose night. The video was shown at the end of the awards presentation before the DJ and party began. It was amazing to hear the reactions!
Final Photo Slideshow
To close out the meeting, we create a 15 minute slideshow that loops while everyone is mingling and reflecting on the amazing week.
After the last video plays and the slideshow begins… NO. ONE. MOVES.
The DJ starts playing a violin solo on an electric violin, and the crowd watches each and every photo – cheering, clapping, and awwww-ing the way a crowd does at 4th of July fireworks. A huge compliment!
“As I was heading to hang up my camera finally, a store manager gives me a huge hug and says, “Man, you are a mad man with that machine (the camera). I have no idea how you do it, it’s amazing how you perfectly capture the week and moments we didn’t even see happening.
“I take this week to heart, and throw my whole creative self into it (and say goodbye to sleep for a week) because I want the amazing people on the adidas team to be able to see the great thing they are a part of and the special moments they may not even be aware are happening. I can’t afford to miss a thing! From the first hug to the last, I don’t want anyone questioning how hard we work at our craft.” –Ben Friedle, Outlier