Thursday, November 12, 2009

I want to be part of Teamgeist

It's already fairly apparent from earlier posts that I love soccer. I also openly admit I love almost all of Adidas' soccer campaigns. So, it is not exactly a shock that I instantly fell in love with the latest advergame for Adidas.


The game which also serves as a graphic novel is called: Teamgeist. (Teamgeist is the name given the ball used at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany.) Teamgeist invites players to partake in the story of German football team Die Manschafft's jersey. In the intro to the game, Die Manshafft is stripped of its identity. From that point forward, it is the player's goal to help the team recapture its three World Cup stars, thereby reclaiming Die Manshafft's identity. Here's the intro in German (you can watch it in English here):


In general, I'm not a huge gamer (sure, I liked the Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, but I never really moved past that) so I wasn't sure if I would find Teamgeist engaging or easy to navigate. It manages to be both without being so simple that someone who is a gamer would become easily bored. The graphics and videos are stunning and the story is compelling.

The site also features an interactive graphic novel with an augmented reality component. In addition, the campaign includes a blog with all the making of the videos as well as a twitter account.

This new Adidas campaign was created by North Kingdom and is in partnership with the German Football Federation.

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