Adidas Originals’ Top Marketer Reveals the Keys to Cultural Cachet

Five Minutes With..  is a monthly quick sit-down with leading marketers on their brand, the trends they’re tracking, and a peek at the personality behind the title. 

In 2024, Adidas Sambas appeared on everyone from Bella Hadid to Dakota Johnson, sparking a revival of the slim silhouettes. And 2025 saw a Britpop renaissance, driven by tracksuit tops and soccer jerseys.

Both trends were ignited by Adidas Originals, the German sportswear giant’s lifestyle label, which just unveiled a major new chapter with its “Superstar” ad campaign, featuring Samuel L. Jackson, Missy Elliott, NBA superstar James Harden, and more.

“In the past, Originals has been just fashion, and we’ve really shifted the last few years to celebrate the crossover of sport, lifestyle, fashion, music, and art,” Annie Barret, Originals’ VP of marketing, told ADWEEK. 

But sport, she added, remains Originals’ foundation.

Despite her lead position at one of Adidas’ most important lines, Barrett’s career started inauspiciously 15 years ago as a customer service rep. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for conciseness and flow.

ADWEEK: How do you go from customer service rep to VP of marketing in 15 years?

ANNIE BARRET: I saw what the marketers were doing, so I went up to HR and said, ‘I want to do that,’ and the immediate feedback to me was, ‘Show us you’re the best customer service person possible, then let’s chat.’

I just thought, ‘Let’s go.’ It spurred me to work hard, be passionate, and go back and prove their point. 

You’ve got a huge responsibility coming up, because Adidas is one of the FIFA World Cup’s longest-running sponsors. What does Originals have in store?

We are the original football brand, and the culture born from it. That’s our mantra. Without saying too much, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. 

We’re literally cross-collaborating with the Adidas football team right now. 

So whether someone is a die-hard fan, or they enjoy it from the periphery, or they just enjoy the styling codes it evokes, we’ll tap into that.

How about LA28? Adidas has already released a retro sneaker to mark the Games, even though it’s two years away. It feels like the runway for major global events is getting longer.

We’ve been talking about LA28 internally for quite a while already, and our seasonal thinking is getting further ahead, but we also want to stay nimble too.

We plan far enough ahead to understand our role at these events, whether there’s a sponsorship deal, what spaces we can access and how to map that out strategically. 

Closer to the event, we want the agility to hone in on the trends or people we want to celebrate in the moment.

You just launched the second chapter of your “Superstars” campaign with Samuel L. Jackson. The first chapter launched last July. What changed creatively?

[The first ad] was about how we celebrate the legacy of [Adidas] Superstars. It is an Originals icon, created to play basketball, that has transcended. Chapter One was about how we say that in a very simple, iconic way.

[The second chapter] was about bringing more character. Let’s tell a story around Superstar and bring [Samuel L. Jackson’s] personality out even more, and introduce the next generation of icons, like Olivia Dean and Baby Keem, and soccer star Lamine Yamal, telling their stories in different, cinematic ways. 

Originals recently posted double-digit growth, and after the first Superstars campaign launch, Adidas’ lifestyle division sales increased 10%. It seems the campaign is working.

We brought a lot of new consumers into our space. Superstar is not a new shoe. But how do we connect with a younger audience, or new audiences who actually haven’t maybe worn it before? 

We beat all of our benchmarks and metrics on reach, engagement, etc. But what we were really digging into was what people were saying, and who was saying it. 

Social sentiment around that launch was so high. It had a halo effect not just on Superstar sneakers, but across our range. We saw that impact straight off the bat. 

Besides sentiment, what other metrics are most important?

The other element is organic reach and organic dialog. We know when we need to push big awareness, and we work with our markets to make sure that’s amplified. But when paid isn’t there, and people organically want to talk about us, that’s when we dig in and look at what people are saying, who is saying it, and what circles they are in. They’re the ones who can really drive that credibility. 

We measure our cultural cachet based on who wants to work with us, whether it’s our entertainment partners or fashion partners, like Hellstar [the LA streetwear brand founded by Sean Holland and Joseph Pendleton]. Those guys are super credible, super resonant, and they chose to work with us.

Speaking of culture, what aspect inspires you personally? 

Music. I travel so much, so I’m always listening. I’m knee deep in Baby Keem’s new album “Casino.” We’ve worked with him for the last few months, and I’ve literally had it on repeat.