Let the hype begin: Arsenal’s first adidas ad released

Arsenal’s new shirt manufacturer sponsorship deal takes effect at midnight Sunday night, bringing to an end the Puma years, and ushering in adidas as the club’s new apparel manufacturer. Early reviews of the new kit were pretty great, as Arsenal get back to something a little more traditional (and yet current) than some of the...interesting Puma designs of recent vintage.

Yesterday also saw the...let’s call it the inadvertent leak of adidas’ first ad promoting the partnership. I am very skeptical that anything is leaked, in the 1970’s Watergate sense of the word, in 2019 - someone, somewhere, allowed some intern to upload this video “by accident” the same way that Footy Headlines always gets “leaks” of teams’ new kits months before they’re released.

This isn’t a bad thing - it’s good for business, and it builds excitement. I just don’t for one second believe early releases like this are inadvertent, accidental, or somehow against company rules - it’s all part of the strategy.

And a big part of that strategy, as mentioned, was this “leak” of a video about Arsenal and adidas’ new venture:

To which I say, firstly: suck it, Puma. This one ad is better than literally anything Puma produced - ads, kits, socks, commemorative coasters, whatever - and it’s not even a product we can buy. It’s just showing us the product. But it’s so well done. And Idris Elba!

It’s good to have adidas back producing Arsenal stuff again, and this ad just gets me more excited for what’s to come.