STAY CURIOUS, INNOVATE, MOVE FORWARD AND RUN: ADIDAS TARGETS NEXT GENERATION. A new way of running that champions innovation, curiosity, community and a pioneering spirit, and places Gen Z at the heart of its mission, is on the horizon.
Through 4DFWD, adidas want to create a global revolution by inspiring the next generation of runners to lead it, handing over the baton by bringing them together with current trailblazers.Gen Z are aspirational individuals who are tearing down boundaries, prejudices and stereotypes in all spheres, right now. 4DFWD is intended to be a vehicle for them to create and collaborate through exercise and movement, inspiring a community that brings people together through sports, arts and music and keeps them moving forward.Under unstoppable forward motion and future of running, adidas Runners captains, coaches and partners candidly lay bare their own pioneering stories and aspirations in a series of Instagram reels, stories, posts and YouTube shorts.
Five captains will be featured in the tease and launch phase of the 4DFWD trainer from 22 August: Eugene Lim from Singapore, Fernanda Tapia from Berlin, Jessie Zappo and Martinus Evans from New York City and Ankita Gaur from Bengaluru.Ankita has started a conversation in India about women running and how to grow that community.“I gave birth 10 months ago and during my pregnancy I was running*, and that was something which was very new, very rare that Indian women and people in my community see. People tried to stop me and they cat-called me for the same, and they said: ‘hey you are trying to harm the baby’ and so many other things. But I knew – and I have done my research of course – it was something that I was doing for my mental well-being and if I am mentally fit and physically strong it is going to transfer to my baby as well, and that’s what happened.”Ankita also discusses how she is getting back to fitness and the pressure that new mothers feel to do so. Ankita talks about the compelling example of a member of her running group who was struggling to find the confidence to get back to exercise after having a baby of her own.“She called me and said: ‘I can’t run alone.’ These were her exact words. ‘I think I have forgotten everything’. And I was like ‘you show up, and we’ll take it from there’. And she came and she started running and she will be running for the Berlin Marathon very soon.”“Join a community,” Ankita says. “Join a bunch of people who keep you on your toes. It helps. Join a community which makes you feel positive, that welcomes you.”[Running] has made me brave, and courageous in so many ways. Oh my God, I didn’t want to cry! It does! You are in this running community and you are an Indian woman, not many women out there. You are a leader as well, among all these males, there are so many men out there as leaders.”A ‘pillar for the back of the pack’Eight marathons in, Martinus wants to keep changing perceptions through his local running crew.The New Yorker has been running marathons for 10 years. Pace does not concern him. He believes it is his “civic duty” to represent runners who do not fit into the mould of what a conventional athlete looks like, and to be an example to others like him.“The reason I even started running was because my doctor laughed at me when I told him I was going to run a marathon,” Martinus says. “He told me it was the most stupidest thing he ever heard in his life. That day I bought running shoes and I went running.”Martinus and his adidas running group have innovated to find ways to make sure that everyone feels supported and motivated.“We do this thing called a reverse waterfall. So we send the slowest runners out first and the next slowest group and the next, until you get to the faster group and the fastest are in the back. So as you’re running, as a slow runner, you think you’re alone. But as you go out for the run, you have other people coming from behind to cheer you on: ‘You got this, keep going.’ We all finish around the same time and it just becomes this big celebration where individuals come to you and say: ‘hey, I’ve seen you out there and to see you out there and to know that you’re doing it at your size and at your pace and you didn’t quit, that gave me more inspiration to continue to run.“I’ve taken that energy from the doctor when he laughed at me, and created my own energy to now put that into the world and I’m able to inspire the next generation of runners. So that’s where innovation and community comes into play. Because you can still be innovative and realise that, like adidas says: Impossible is Nothing. And use that energy to innovate, to create new things, to bring in more individuals, to bring in more diversity and inclusion, to make something better than what we already have.”“There can be a lot of unknown in being a pioneer but I think that’s also where a lot of the magic happens”Jessie, also from New York, speaks from the perspective of the established generation of female long distance runners who have helped blaze a trail. Jessie now wants to help the next generation influence the future of running. As well as her Instagram Reels on @adidasrunners, Jessie will also take part in an Instagram live with a Gen Z runner on 15 September where they will discuss how this can be done.As the oldest child of eight, including five brothers, Jessie always felt that access to sport for her brothers was easier and she was expected to spend more time at home. That was not something she wanted to do.“I always felt inspired to create spaces for women and girls in sport,” Jessie said. She also sees clearly how 4DFWD can inspire creativity and innovation between runners of all ages.“That mindset from being an endurance athlete coupled with being a social activist, I see the possibility for change. I think true innovation has to also come from understanding the past and involving the architects of the past. I think I can take you further.”Through her own recent experiences, Jessie feels that the young runners who are currently starting out have huge potential.“Looking around me [at the Brooklyn Marathon] and seeing the majority were beginners. I feel very hopeful and excited there’s again a new crop of 20 year-olds who are like ‘yeah running.’ I want to know what they want to do and I want to support that.”The search for soulEugene is an AR captain who cannot wait to pioneer a new running culture in Singapore. A major pillar of the 4DFWD campaign is to bring running together with art, music and food to create meaningful experiences through ‘culture crafted’ and ‘culture squad’ events.adidas supported races in 70 cities will also be transformed to be even more relevant to their communities, and on a much more local scale.
All activities will showcase artwork, musicians and the best food on offer, within streets and blocks around the world in a bid to unite and inspire.Eugene describes his aspirations for changing the face of running in Singapore, where it is seen as more of an individual past-time than a cultural experience.“…And then I realised that it was because people view it as just running. But how do we make them see that it is beyond that? We are talking about running, it is a running culture, there’s so much more that can be involved.“In Singapore it is not common for people to see how running comes together with music. Sure you run with music, but how do you see and feel that music and running comes together, running and art comes together. It’s easy enough to pull an event together…these are all just activation type spots but there’s no soul to that. How do you get that soul in there, that’s where the culture comes in. So that when you see this art piece or hear this music and you see people coming in who are cheering the running, you actually feel something. And I think that’s where the difference is and that’s something that I would love to grow in Singapore.“If it’s something that runs a lot deeper and it takes time to build and it comes from somewhere true, then that’s something that no one can replicate overnight.
”The value of community and kindnessFer is an AR captain in Berlin. Setting-out the simplicity of why and how she started running which many will identify with, Fer also describes the potential of a deep connection with a group of people with the same passion and energy. “There was one moment when I put the shoes on and I said: ‘ok let’s try this, let’s try to run.’ I did not know in that moment that it was going to start a revolution in my life. It changed my life. And that moment was just like ‘let’s see what is this, like what are people talking about?’ Actually it was because I had no money and too much energy and I couldn’t pay a gym!”Fer goes on to talk about the kind of community she wanted to help build.“Never ever forget how important it is to be honest, authentic and kind. The value of kindness is something I discovered late, in the last couple of years.”“Kindness and community, which are really connected, are key to go forward and beyond. It’s so amazing to see people discover what they can do. And they think that we gave it to them but we actually just made them discover it for themselves. It’s a super cute aspect of our job to see the twinkly eyes of someone who is just thriving, and going forward, step-by-step.
