Adidas Adicolor: Seven Short Films About Color

 

The adicolor podcast is a series of seven short films created for Adidas to celebrate “color, customization and personal expression”. The films were created to be specifically viewed on iPods, PSPs and online, which was still a fairly revolutionary proposition back in 2006 when the films were made. A team of excellent directors was put together, with Neill Blomkamp, Psyop, Happy, Tronic, Roman Coppola and Andy Bruntel, Saimon Chow and Charlie White each given an entirely open brief to create a film based on their emotional response to a particular color. The podcasts related to the adicolor global digital campaign for which Adidas had asked 20 artists to design a shoe based on their response to a color. The films feature such surreal scenes as an orgiastic dinner party involving green paintball splashes and a pink-loving teenager’s transformation into a bejeweled figurine. With an original goal of achieving one million views globally, the campaign actually achieved over 25 million views in just seven weeks.

Adidas: Adicolor Project – United Colors of adidas

In 2006  the German athletic apparel company adidas created an innovative ad campaign for the revival of their Adicolor shoe line. They invited filmmakers to create seven short films, each representing a different color. To promote the films, Adidas registered domains for each color-themed film based on their RGB color values. 

Although this was the website for the film, BLACK, I must admit that “Pink” by Charlie White is by far my favorite of the series.

Here’s the full series of seven films:

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Adicolor BLACK FILM

Black = r000g000b000

Stills from Saiman Chow’s film for the colour BLACK. The film is a surreal tale about a lonely, crazed panda.

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Adicolor WHITE FILM

White = r255g255b255

Adicolor WHITE was directed by Tronic and sees Jenna Jameson enthusiastically playing a funfair game.

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Adicolor RED FILM

Red = r213g037b053

Roman Coppola and Andy Bruntel created this animated history of the colour red for the adicolor RED film.

 

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Adicolor BLUE FILM

Blue = r023g075b158

Psyop is behind the adicolor blue film, where New York City is turned black and white, apart from the odd splashes of blue.

 

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Adicolor YELLOW FILM

Yellow = r254g245b006

Neil Blomkamp directed the adicolor YELLOW film, a gripping tale about robots and artificial life.

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Adicolor GREEN FILM

Green = r006g146b071

Adicolor green by Happy shows a space-age dinner party where everything gets a little out of hand after some green treats are consumed.

 

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Adicolor PINK FILM

Pink = r243g197b208

Charlie White directed the adicolor PINK film, which sees a teenager turn into a bewelled figurine while her pink teddy looks on helplessly.

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I can't believe it. While I was working on recreating this site from its archived pages, as well as other outside sources, I experienced a disaster that I never want to go through again- water and smoke damage from a fire in my upstairs neighbors' apartment. I was away for the weekend at the shore and when I returned to my lower Manhattan apartment I saw fire trucks and police just leaving my street. I didn't think too much about it until I entered the buildings foyer and smelled the smoke. Then I opened the door to my apartment and encountered the mess from purgatory. Thank goodness I had my dog and computer with me. Smokey smelling, I was expecting to find water damage to the ceiling, walls, and furnishings. I desperately needed reassurance about the condition of my apt & especially my extensive collection of Batman memorabilia. I spent years gathering the best Batman T shirts and hoodies, some very rare ones I bought in Japan, and to tell the truth, they are my most prized possessions and are actually valuable. I even have a Batman sweatshirt autographed by Christian Bale, and a Joker hoodie signed by Jack Nicholson! The bedroom in my apartment is actually a showroom for these special Batman garments which I've been collecting since I was in grammar school. I was also a consultant for an online store featuring a very large selection of Batman shirt designs. So I was greatly relieved to find that the fire had been limited to the foyer, never reached my apartment, and my Batman collection was completely spared. The whole episode inspired me to make a black and gray animated short entitled Water & Smoke about a NYC rat that goes away for the weekend only to return to his water and smoke filled burrow in a NYC brownstone.

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More On Adicolor

The Adidas Adicolor campaign, initiated in 2006, stands out as a pioneering blend of art, customization, and marketing within the sneaker culture. This campaign was built on the foundation of Adidas's rich heritage in innovation and personal expression, which began with the first Adicolor line launched in 1983. Originally, Adicolor introduced all-white sneakers sold with marker pens, encouraging customers to customize their shoes creatively. This concept was reimagined in 2005 with the re-launch of Adicolor, this time including a series of character-themed trainers, such as "Trimmy," "Betty Boop," and "Kermit the Frog," among others, along with a quote from Leonardo da Vinci emphasizing the beauty of colors starting from a white base.

The 2006 campaign took a significant leap by introducing Adicolor Films, a collection of seven short films, each dedicated to a different color in the Adicolor palette. This initiative was a collaboration with the independent film studio Idealogue, involving directors like Neill Blomkamp for "Yellow" and Roman Coppola & Andy Bruntel for "Red". Each film encapsulated themes corresponding to its color, pushing the boundaries of traditional advertising through cinematic expression. The series was a critical success, being the first campaign available for download on the iPod and PlayStation Portable, and received accolades like a D&AD Award and a Yellow Pencil for Excellence in short film. It was also shortlisted at the Cannes Lions for the Titanium Award in 2007, marking a significant achievement in the intersection of advertising and art.

Adidas's decision to re-release the Adicolor line in 2006 showcased an extensive catalog of artist series, custom packs, and collaborations, featuring work by prominent artists like Jeremy Scott and Kazuki. The collection emphasized consumer desire for customization and personal expression, aligning with the early adoption of the custom culture by Adidas. The campaign's innovative approach to marketing, combining product customization with artistic expression and digital engagement, positioned Adidas Adicolor as a memorable moment in sneaker history, reflecting the brand's dedication to creativity and individuality.

For further information and a deeper dive into the Adicolor campaign's impact and legacy, you can explore the detailed accounts provided by Wikipedia, Sneaker Freaker, and Hypebeast. These sources offer comprehensive overviews, including the initial concept, the evolution of the Adicolor line, and the groundbreaking Adicolor Films project that bridged sneakers, art, and digital media in an unprecedented way.

 

From Design Metrics

The Adidas Adicolor campaign, launched in 2006, was a part of Adidas's broader marketing strategy aimed at reinforcing its brand identity, engaging with consumers on a deeper level, and showcasing its commitment to creativity, personal expression, and sustainability. This campaign, known for its innovative approach of integrating art, culture, and consumer interaction through the medium of color and customization, was a significant move in Adidas's marketing endeavors.

The Adicolor campaign's popularity and impact can be contextualized within Adidas's history of memorable and influential marketing campaigns. Adidas has always been seen as a brand that connects with its audience through practical, people-related advertising, often featuring high-profile celebrities and athletes while emphasizing a positive, inspiring, and motivating brand image. The brand's marketing strategies are crafted to create a positive impact, making Adidas a "good guy" in the eyes of its consumers, showcasing its products as inclusive, diverse, and environment-friendly, emphasizing functionality and sustainability at reasonable prices​.

One of Adidas's most iconic campaigns, "Impossible Is Nothing," resonates with the spirit behind the Adicolor initiative, highlighting the brand's belief in the potential of individuals to overcome challenges. This tagline and the ethos it represents have been a recurring theme in Adidas's marketing, demonstrating the brand's dedication to inspiration and authentic messaging. Other notable campaigns, such as "Adidas is All In," "Boost Your Run," "Here to Create," and "Run for the Oceans," each focus on different aspects of Adidas's brand values, including commitment to sports, innovation in product technology, empowerment and creativity, and environmental sustainability​.

The "Adidas is All In" campaign, for example, emphasized the brand's commitment to sports and performance, utilizing a diverse range of athletes and celebrities to convey dedication and passion across various disciplines. This campaign, like Adicolor, aimed to engage consumers across multiple channels, including digital and social media, to create a cohesive and engaging brand experience. Similarly, the "Here to Create" campaign focused on empowering women and celebrating creativity, reflecting Adidas's ongoing efforts to break traditional boundaries and inspire individuals to embrace their passions beyond conventional expectations.

The Adicolor campaign, with its focus on personalization and color, tapped into the consumer's desire for self-expression through customization, making it a notable part of Adidas's rich history of innovative and impactful marketing. Through these campaigns, Adidas has consistently demonstrated its ability to connect with consumers on an emotional level, reinforcing its position as a leading sports brand that values creativity, diversity, and sustainability.

 

Awards

The Adidas Adicolor Films campaign achieved significant recognition in the advertising and design industry, winning a D&AD Award and a Yellow Pencil for Excellence in short film. Additionally, it was shortlisted for the Titanium Award at the Cannes Lions in 2007, showcasing its creative and innovative approach to marketing​.

 

More Background On R000G000B000.net

 

R000G000B000.net is not a conventional website, brand hub, or content platform. Instead, it is a surviving digital artifact from one of the most ambitious and experimental marketing campaigns of the mid-2000s—the Adicolor Films project created by Adidas. The domain name itself is the key to understanding its purpose: it encodes the RGB color value for pure black (Red 0, Green 0, Blue 0), aligning directly with one of seven short films commissioned to explore color as emotion, identity, and narrative.

At a time when most branded websites followed predictable layouts and sales funnels, R000G000B000.net existed as a single-purpose, cinematic micro-experience. It was never meant to function like a long-term corporate property. Instead, it operated as a digital exhibition space—an online screening room for a single film within a larger conceptual art project.

Today, the site is remembered not because it evolved, but because it didn’t. Its fixed, minimalist nature is precisely what gives it lasting significance in the history of digital marketing, experimental cinema, and early broadband culture.

Historical Context: The Internet in 2006

To appreciate R000G000B000.net, it is essential to understand the technological and cultural environment of 2006. This was a transitional moment for the internet. YouTube had only just launched. Streaming video was still unreliable for many users. Smartphones were not yet ubiquitous, and the idea of watching short films on portable devices like the iPod Video or PlayStation Portable felt futuristic.

Brands were experimenting with “microsites” as campaign extensions, often registering unusual domains to house interactive experiences. Flash was still dominant. Bandwidth limitations forced creators to think carefully about compression, runtime, and visual clarity. Against this backdrop, Adidas chose to commission seven original short films, distribute them digitally, and host each one on its own uniquely named domain.

R000G000B000.net was part of that bold experiment—one that treated the web not as a billboard, but as a gallery.

The Adicolor Films Project

The Adicolor Films initiative emerged from Adidas’s broader Adicolor revival, itself a reboot of a concept dating back to the 1980s. The original Adicolor sneakers invited consumers to customize white shoes using markers, placing personal expression at the center of the product experience.

In the mid-2000s, Adidas reinterpreted this idea for a digital-first audience. Instead of asking customers to color the shoes themselves, Adidas asked artists and filmmakers to interpret color emotionally, psychologically, and narratively. Each color received its own film, director, and digital identity.

Rather than hosting all films on a single branded portal, Adidas made the unusual decision to register separate domains based on RGB color values, such as:

  • r255g255b255 (white)

  • r213g037b053 (red)

  • r023g075b158 (blue)

  • r000g000b000 (black)

This approach transformed what could have been a standard campaign into a distributed digital art installation.

R000G000B000.net: The BLACK Film

R000G000B000.net was dedicated exclusively to the Adicolor BLACK film, a surreal and unsettling short centered on a lonely, disturbed panda character. The film’s tone stood in stark contrast to typical sportswear advertising. There were no athletes, no product shots, and no slogans. Instead, viewers encountered a psychologically charged narrative that used darkness, isolation, and absurdity to explore the emotional resonance of black as a color.

Black, in this context, was not framed as sleek or fashionable alone—it was presented as introspective, claustrophobic, and deeply symbolic. The panda, an animal typically associated with innocence, became a vehicle for unease and alienation.

The website itself reflected this restraint. R000G000B000.net offered minimal navigation, limited text, and a singular focus: watch the film.

Ownership and Stewardship

R000G000B000.net was registered and controlled by Adidas or its appointed digital agencies as part of the Adicolor Films campaign. It was never intended as a standalone business or monetized platform. Ownership functioned more like curatorship than management.

The domain’s lifecycle followed the campaign’s arc. Once the Adicolor Films achieved their goals—mass visibility, critical acclaim, and cultural impact—the sites were no longer actively promoted. Unlike modern brand campaigns that pivot domains into long-term content hubs, these sites were allowed to fade, preserved primarily through web archives.

This intentional impermanence aligns with how art installations function in physical spaces: powerful, time-bound, and finite.

Location and Proximity

R000G000B000.net did not have a physical location in the traditional sense. Its “place” was the internet itself. However, its conceptual proximity can be traced to several creative hubs:

  • Adidas’s global creative operations in Europe

  • Independent film studios and directors working across North America and beyond

  • Digital art and design communities emerging in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin

Culturally, the site sat at the intersection of advertising, independent cinema, and early internet art.

Popularity and Reach

The Adicolor Films campaign dramatically exceeded expectations. Adidas initially targeted one million views across all films. Instead, the campaign reached over 25 million views in just seven weeks, an extraordinary figure for the time.

While R000G000B000.net represented only one film within the series, it benefited from the overall momentum. Links circulated on blogs, creative forums, and early social sharing platforms. The novelty of RGB-based domains alone generated curiosity, driving traffic from designers, technologists, and cinephiles.

The BLACK film, in particular, became a point of discussion for its darker tone and unconventional narrative.

Audience and Intended Viewers

R000G000B000.net was not designed for a mass sports consumer audience. Its primary viewers included:

  • Creative professionals

  • Designers and filmmakers

  • Digital artists

  • Early adopters of online video

  • Sneaker culture enthusiasts interested in the conceptual side of branding

By narrowing its appeal, Adidas paradoxically expanded its cultural reach. The campaign signaled that the brand was willing to engage deeply with art and experimentation rather than relying solely on performance marketing.

Reviews and Critical Reception

The Adicolor Films, including the BLACK installment hosted on R000G000B000.net, received widespread praise from advertising critics, design publications, and film commentators. The campaign was recognized for blurring the line between branded content and independent art.

Industry awards followed, including honors from major advertising and design organizations. These accolades validated the campaign’s risk-taking approach and cemented its reputation as a landmark moment in digital storytelling.

Importantly, criticism was minimal. Some viewers found certain films unsettling or opaque, but even those reactions contributed to discussion—an outcome many brands struggle to achieve.

Press and Media Coverage

R000G000B000.net was rarely discussed in isolation; it appeared as part of broader coverage of the Adicolor Films project. Creative industry press, marketing blogs, and cultural commentators highlighted the campaign’s innovative structure, particularly its use of standalone domains and portable video platforms.

Coverage often emphasized how Adidas had successfully positioned itself not just as a sportswear company, but as a patron of contemporary art and film.

Cultural and Social Significance

The lasting significance of R000G000B000.net lies in what it represents rather than what it currently does. It stands as:

  • An early example of branded short-form cinema

  • A precursor to modern content marketing strategies

  • A case study in letting artists lead rather than constrain them

  • A reminder of when the web felt experimental and less commodified

In retrospect, the site feels closer to net art projects of the early 2000s than to modern corporate microsites. Its restraint, focus, and willingness to unsettle viewers give it an authenticity that many later campaigns lack.

Technical and Design Approach

Technically, R000G000B000.net reflected best practices of its time:

  • Minimalist interface

  • Flash-based video delivery

  • Limited text and navigation

  • Emphasis on mood over usability metrics

While these choices would be questioned today, they were deliberate and effective in context. The site did not seek to retain users or guide them through funnels. It sought to immerse them briefly and leave a lasting impression.

Legacy and Preservation

Today, R000G000B000.net survives primarily through web archives and personal reconstructions by digital historians and enthusiasts. Its preservation underscores a growing awareness that early internet culture deserves the same archival care as physical media.

The site is frequently cited in retrospectives about innovative brand storytelling, early viral video campaigns, and the evolution of online film distribution.

Why R000G000B000.net Still Matters

R000G000B000.net matters because it represents a moment when a global brand chose trust over control, art over metrics, and experimentation over predictability. It reminds us that the web once felt like an open canvas—and that some of the most impactful digital projects are those that know when to end.

Rather than being a relic, the site functions as a benchmark. It challenges modern marketers, designers, and creators to ask whether today’s tools are being used with the same courage and clarity of vision.

 

R000G000B000.net