By Christine Champagne

While most sleepwalkers amble aimlessly around their homes, tripping over furniture and stepping on the family pet, the sleepwalker featured in a new adidas spot titled “Hello Tomorrow” (:90) literally creates a wild new world with every step he takes in his Adidas_1 shoes.

Created by TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco, and directed by Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), with visual effects produced by Sea Level, Venice, Calif., “Hello Tomorrow” opens on a man awakening late at night to find himself in a dark bedroom furnished with only a bed and nightstand. Adidas_1 shoes roll out of the blackness and onto his feet, lacing themselves up.

Clad in his shoes and pajamas, the guy gets up, leaps through a just-created bedroom door and lands in a world that unfolds as he runs along. His solitary journey takes him from city streets to forests and even finds him encountering a bear before finally making his way back to bed. The adidas tagline “Impossible is Nothing” is seen at the end of the commercial as the shoes tumble into blackness.

 

SHOE BUSINESS

The spot demonstrates–in a visually remarkable fashion–how the adidas_1 shoe works. Billed as “the world’s first intelligent running shoe,” the adidas_1 is equipped with an in-sole computer that is capable of making five million calculations per second and then adjusting heel cushioning in response to changes in running surface.

While the adidas_1 is a high-tech product with engineering that rivals that of any electronic gadget on the market, Chuck McBride, TBWA creative director/North America, didn’t want to force viewers to wade through tech mumbo jumbo in any spot that would be made to promote the shoe. Rather, he aimed to tap into the imagination of viewers; thus he formulated the idea of a sleepwalking adventure of sorts.

McBride’s concept was certainly imaginative–not to mention ambitious–and could have failed miserably if it weren’t executed properly. Therefore it was key to get the right director to tackle the assignment. McBride was thrilled that Jonze, whom he has worked with often, proved willing and eager to take the job.

Jonze, who could not be reached for an interview, enhanced “Hello Tomorrow” in numerous ways, according to McBride. For example, Jonze came up with the idea of having the adidas_1 shoes roll up to the guy as he sat at the edge of his bed. “That was a great touch,” McBride praised, noting that he was open to any and all ideas that Jonze threw at him.

In turn, Jonze was also interested in hearing McBride’s thoughts, McBride reported. “He’s very into his craft, but he’s not very political,” McBride remarked. “There is space for you to be in there, too.”

Meanwhile, Jonze worked closely with Sea Level visual effects supervisor Ben Gibbs, another frequent collaborator, getting him involved early on in the process. “It is amazing to see how these two work together,” TBWA executive producer Jennifer Golub remarked. “They were truly interested in creating something new.”

 

IN THE BLACK

What is particularly interesting about “Hello Tomorrow” is how so much of the spot finds the man running in blackness, with the environment bleeding into the scene in bits and pieces. “Image makers are sometimes more caught up in creating information, whereas it is oftentimes more about what you do not show,” Gibbs commented. “I think black space is underutilized in the TV medium. It’s about creating an image that leads the imagination to expand upon it.”

Like Jonze, TBWA and the client were willing to take a walk on the dark side–so to speak. Gibbs credited McBride, Golub and TBWA creative director/art director Joe Kayser with imposing “very few restrictions on the process.”

Coming up with music to complement the incredible visual imagery featured in the spot was a challenge. McBride said that the commercial called for a track with vocals and “simple instrumentation so that the idea of scope and loneliness came through in the music, too. I was adamant that we didn’t do ad music. I said, ‘Make a great song, and then let’s lay it up against the picture, and if that makes it better, it’s our song. If it doesn’t, let’s make another song.’ “

With that in mind, Sam Spiegel (Jonze’s brother) of Squeak E. Clean, Los Angeles, composed a dreamy track performed by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

    Haines Hall of Spot Welders, Venice, Calif., cut “Hello Tomorrow” into :90, :60 and :30 versions. “Some people have told me that they like the sixty-second better, which is interesting because they are all ad people,” McBride mused, “and I go, ‘That’s because it’s the time frame you’re used to.’ I’m a big champion of the ninety-second. The client [in this case] was game to create something unique, and how often do you have a story that could become a little film? This certainly had that kind of gravity to it.”

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