NINJA X ADIDAS: TIME IN - Andy Burdin — Creative Direction + Design

NINJA x ADIDAS:
TIME IN

Following a long history of partnering with cultural icons across sports, music and beyond, adidas Originals & gaming/streaming icon Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins announced a world-first footwear & apparel partnership in 2019 that celebrated gamers in a way that had never been done before.

The campaign & launch of the TIME IN NITE JOGGER were the direct result of a concentrated effort between Loaded, adidas Originals, and 3AM/Wildcard. I had the distinct pleasure of operating as creative lead, designing the TIME IN branding & directing efforts across digital, social & interactive...a truly once-in-a-lifetime project.

BRAND MARK

"Time In" became the main campaign lockup, synonymous with the sheer thousands of hours it takes to become a master of any craft.

I designed this bold main logomark that was used throughout the campaign and all apparel/footwear.

TEASER

To tease at the upcoming release, we dropped a short spot hinting at the future while Tyler voiced over his journey, thoughts and what's to come.

INFLUENCER SEEDING KITS

Custom influencer seeding kits with limited edition friends & family apparel and campaign-branded time "punch card" were created and sent to select folks across gaming, sports and entertainment (all photos courtesy @rickwlms). Thanks to our production partners at Premiere Press in Portland for their phenomenal work on these kits.

CAMPAIGN KEY VISUALS

Deploying our partners at 3AM/Wildcard, Tim Tadder Photography, and Wolfe & Crow we concepted & shot Ninja and composited him into a surreal maelstrom of computer keys as homage to his mastery of these elements.

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT

To keep our partners grounded, I pushed a core concept of "mastery within a storm", implying that Tyler was a master of his elements when playing chaotic games and streaming. WASD + Shift + Control keys from a keyboard are some of the most heavily used keys for gamers, so I pushed our creative partners to focus on building a maelstrom with Tyler at the center.

BEHIND THE SCENES

We partnered with legendary photographer Tim Tadder and CGI studio Wolf & Crow to bring our main visuals to life.

WE LAUNCHED AND SOLD OUT
IN 40 MINUTES.

We launched in January 2020 and sold out entirely within 40 minutes. The success of this campaign led to further campaigns not only for Tyler, but snowballed into larger brand partnerships around the gaming hemisphere - further solidifying gaming as mainstream culture.

Huge props to the entire team for the success of this launch - including footwear design titan Rick Williams, photographer Tim Tadder, the Loaded creative/strategy/partnerships teams, 3AM/Wildcard, adidas Originals and more.