Mad Men
It seems that commercial ads have become a sort of a competition lately… or since the beginning of advertising? Every commercial tries to inspire, to put a product in your home, your garage or on your person. ‘Just Do It’ from Nike, ‘Wazuuup’ from Budweiser or even Apple’s ‘Think Different’ which must annoy grammer nazis (lol). Do you remember Adidas’ ‘Impossible is Nothing? You must recall the ‘Kobe System’ short ads with the greatest Kobe Bryant (the hilarious Kanye West clip!!). Everybody remembers the Coca Cola ad that ended up in the finale of the popular TV show ‘Mad Men’. The maker of this short film must have felt similarly when he went to his film academy to pitch the idea for an upcoming project.
An Adidas Idea
Whoa! Try to say ‘AN ADIDAS IDEA’ very, very fast! But, back to the story… At the time, Eugen Merher was a young, hip 26-year old Moldovan student filmmaker at the Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany. He had the right idea and the necessary skills to create an amazing short video. The video was titled ‘Break Free’ A video that will inspire people to start running, preferably wearing Adidas shoes while doing so. He pitched the idea to his film academy and they loved it. They helped him make ‘Break Free’ into a reality. But her Merher wanted to shoot for the stars. He contacted the great Adidas to suggest his short film for one of their future famous commercials. By the way, Adidas is a German company, in case you didn’t know. I certainly didn’t!
Break Free
The video features an aging athlete in a retirement home rediscovering his passion when he digs up an old pair of Adidas. He spends his life bored to death in a retirement home. There are the activities, the birthday parties and the lonely nights. The worst comes when he sees a young guy jogging under his window… He digs up his old running shoes and when he puts them on, the world makes sense again. But the retirement home staff disagree, they won’t even let him go outside to run. Hitler’s long lost great-granddaughter, who seems to be the head of staff takes his Adidas away. Shame on her! But the main character’s best friend steals his shoes back and organizes his escape. The residents then start cheering him on and they block the orderlies’ way as our hero breaks free. The Adidas logo then appears at the end.
Adidas Rejects ‘Break Free’
Before I continue with the story, keep in mind that since it was uploaded on YouTube, in 2016, it gathered more than 15 million views!! 15 million views!!! How would that translate in shoe sales, only the Adidas analysts know… One of the best short films of all time, and Adidas decided it’s not their cup of tea. Yes, you read that right! Adidas rejected ‘Break Free’!! You might be as flabbergasted as I am when you think about it. Hell, even Jared Leto supported the video! But I am sure they had their reasons, this is, after all, one of the biggest sportswear company in the world.
Eugen Merher remains a great filmmaker though. You can check out his other videos (including this one) on his YouTube channel.