Adidas is using tonight's Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona to launch an international TV advertising campaign featuring former French captain Zinedine Zidane embarking on a quest to uncover the "spark" behind Barcelona star Lionel Messi's talent.
The 30-second TV campaign, created by ad agency 180 Amsterdam, will break in the UK tonight during half-time in ITV's coverage of the match in Rome.
A longer 90-second version of the TV campaign, which runs with the strapline "Every team needs the spark", will be made available on the Adidas website to tell the first stage of the story of Zidane's hunt for the origins of Messi's skills.
The TV campaign, which will be supported by press and in-store advertising from next month, is part of a wider strategy to promote Adidas' F50i football boot.
Zidane, who is seen wearing a hooded cloak that has echoes of the master/student theme seen in films such as Star Wars and martial arts movies, will feature in Adidas content over the next year on a global quest to find out what makes the world's best players tick.
"To the football audience, a big TV spot is only a moment long, but an intriguing series of films, clues, product previews and digital tools can sustain this consumer and entice them to engage with our product and brand and put us in their consideration set for purchase," said Eric Liedtke, senior vice president of brand marketing for Adidas.
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