- adidas’ new brand campaign looks to inspire the world of sport to help make athletes believe You Got This as it continues its mission to help disarm negative pressure in sport
- Headlined by a series of films, featuring Aitana Bonmatí, Aliyah Boston, Anthony Edwards, Lamine Yamal, Trinity Rodman and other athletes around the world, each focuses on the people who help make them believe You Got This
- The campaign seeks to motivate everyone to be a positive influence in sport, as adidas’ new global research uncovered that 4 in 5 athletes often experience unhelpful behaviors from the sidelines1
- The brand has created its ‘Sideline Essentials’, five positive behaviors which could help encourage up to 20 million more athletes to play sport more regularly
Today, adidas unveils the next chapter of its global brand campaign by highlighting the importance of positivity from coaches, parents, supporters and teammates in helping to make athletes believe You Got This.
Through its new global study, adidas uncovers the ‘Sideline Effect’, the impact of negative and positive behaviors from the sidelines, which found 4 in 5 amateur athletes regularly experience unhelpful behavior from coaches, parents, supporters and teammates2. In partnership with sports psychologists and figureheads, the brand highlights common behaviors that many view as helpful but can act as a source of pressure and push many young athletes to quit.
The research surveyed over 12,000 athletes across 24 countries and found the following actions were identified as having the most negative impact on young athletes’ desire to participate in sport3:
- Reminders of the score during a game – scoreboard shouting
- Giving athletes space when having a bad day – standing back
- Just concentrating on the result – focusing only on the outcome
- Excessive instruction during game play – videogame coaching
- Immediate post-match analysis – the post-game analyst
To counter this, adidas has created its ‘Sideline Essentials’, which have been developed with sports experts, validated by the findings from the research and endorsed by sporting icons including: Aitana Bonmatí, Anthony Edwards, Aliyah Boston, Jürgen Klopp, Lamine Yamal, Son Heung-min and more. The advice includes practical intel on how to switch to positive behaviors.
The ‘Sideline Essentials’ are delivered by coaching icon, Jürgen Klopp and reveal how coaches, parents, supporters and teammates on the sidelines can tackle the most common negative behaviors. They provide high-impact, positive action, which could mean the difference between millions of athletes heading out onto the field or quitting altogether.
| 🧐 WHAT ATHLETES DON’T WANT 🧐 | ✅ WHAT ATHLETES WANT ✅ |
| STANDING BACK An athlete who is currently underperforming on the field of play doesn’t need space, they need support. Physically distancing yourself from them in that moment will leave them feeling isolated and alone. | STAND BY THEIR SIDE Show confidence in their ability by staying nearby and offering encouragement to break them out of a negative mindset. Use high fives, fist-bumps. |
| VIDEOGAME COACHING Micromanaging and trying to control a player’s every move like they’re in a video game reduces their autonomy and affects their ability to think clearly. | LET PLAYERS PLAY Understand when saying less is doing more and instead offer supportive reinforcement so athletes can play with freedom. Cheering, clapping, celebrating. |
| SCOREBOARD SHOUTING | GAME PLAN GESTURES Point to head = remember the coach’s instructions |
| FOCUSSING ONLY ON THE OUTCOME | FOCUS ON THE EFFORT |
| DON’T BE THE POST-GAME ANALYST | BE THE SUPPORT ACT |
Reflecting on the importance of positivity in sport, Ballon d’Or winner, Aitana Bonmatí, said: “Football has allowed me to achieve lifelong dreams. Winning the World Cup in 2023, the Nations League in 2024, and the Champions League three times are some of my proudest moments and I know they wouldn’t have been possible without all the people that support me. It’s so important for everyone to have positive influences in their wider circle, which is why I continue to build relationships with so many aspiring, young ballers from my football camp, Campus Aitana. Having come through the ranks at academies, I believe adidas’ ‘Sideline Essentials’ would be helpful for everyone – coaches, teammates and supporters – to understand the importance of standing by players and offering the right encouragement, so they can focus on channeling their passion and determination into the game – without any added pressure.”
Behavioral scientists project that if coaches, parents, supporters and teammates adopted just one of the positive behaviors from adidas’ ‘Sideline Essentials’, it could help encourage up to 20 million more athletes to play sport more regularly.
To see the advice play out pitch-side, adidas is working with its icons to show up for grassroot athletes on sidelines across the globe, with some of the world’s best athletes set to appear on local courts, tracks and pitches in the coming weeks.
Speaking on the campaign, Florian Alt, Vice President, Global Brand Communications at adidas, said: “This latest chapter of the brand campaign aims to help motivate everyone to be a positive influence on every pitch, track and court. We set out to create a campaign to highlight how the everyday actions of those in and surrounding the game can be the difference between a young athlete showing up on the starting line or dropping out. As part of this ambition, we wanted to not only inspire coaches, parents, supporters and teammates but to also give them the tools to help athletes believe ‘You Got This’.”
As part of the brand’s wider long-standing commitment to keep next-gen athletes on every playing field of sport, it will distribute its ‘Sideline Essentials’ to longstanding partners and programmes. Recipients will include the Breaking Barriers program across Europe, the adidas Football Collective and With Women We Run, all of which are designed to support grassroots athletes and help make sport equal around the world. For further information around these initiatives please visit adidas.
References
1-3 adidas commissioned international research conducted with Focaldata surveying 12,438 16-29-year-olds of varying participation levels in sport in November 2024, across 24 markets (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA)
