I'm a big fan of adidas, and had the pleasure of working with them in the States for a few years before moving down under (hello, adidas Australia, give me a call).  In any case, the brand is known for really aligning its overall company focus or product/category mantra across all marketing disciplines, the way it should be to really stretch and maximise the available budgets.

The latest case in point came arrived for the kick-off of the EUFA Euro 2008 championships and the company's launch of their "Dream Big" campaign.  adidas is a huge sponsor of all things soccer/football, and has on its roster some of the sports biggest names.  The two collided in Zurich when the "dream big" and the "best players on the planet" merged to create a 17-meter high huddle of 11 players from 9 different countries all sporting their adidas jerseys and, as such a nice bonus, and cheer twice a day during rush hour in their own native language. 

The fun doesn't stop there, adidas also unveiled an amazing "dream big" visual using the Czech national team goalkeeper, Petr Cech, shown with 8 spinning arms (blocking every ball that comes his way).  The arms are actually attached to a giant ferris wheel, so they circle behind Petr - AWESOME.

And that's not all folks, adidas also created 16 larger-than-life football boots showing off their new F50 Tunit 16 range, with each participating nation being featured in the display.  And, as another masterstroke of genius, the shoes traveled to their current viewing location in Vienna on the back of a car transport truck, stopping traffic along the way.  You can read the company's official news release about it all here.

Many, many companies could learn a lot from adidas - how to leverage all parts of the marketing mix by having every team and every agency work (and play nicely) together, all connected by the one single proposition/focus.  It truly is an inspiration to us all, and a great new bar for others to strive to reach and exceed.