A prepared-to-react approach with Mohamed Salah drives 6.1M organic views through relevance, not sponsorship.
During AFCON, adidas connected with Egyptian football fans by focusing on what matters most in the moment: culture, emotion and authentic connection. While adidas was not an official tournament sponsor, the brand leaned into its long-standing partnership with Mohamed Salah to create timely, culturally resonant content that showed up organically within the national conversation.
With a short filming window in the UK, adidas captured a series of simple, adaptable content moments with Salah, created in Egyptian dialect and designed to be released at key points throughout the tournament. Rather than traditional advertising, the approach centred on readiness, building content that could live naturally within football’s most emotional moments.
Ahead of Egypt’s matches, adidas released a playful tongue-twister video featuring Salah, quickly gaining traction with fans and setting the tone for what followed. When Salah scored during the quarterfinal, adidas released a pre-recorded message from the player moments later, seamlessly becoming part of the celebration. The content resonated as a fan moment first, shared widely, not perceived as advertising.
The result was an organic surge in engagement, driven by cultural fluency and emotional relevance. Across the tournament, the overall content generated 6.1 million organic views, 453K interactions, and 37K new followers, reinforcing adidas’ belief that meaningful connection comes from showing up authentically, speaking the language of fans and celebrating moments with them, not around them.
This approach highlights adidas’ commitment to culture-first storytelling: prioritising relevance, readiness and real connection over traditional sponsorship mechanics, and meeting fans where emotion lives most, in the moment.
