Dive Brief:

• Adidas Originals is launching what it says is the world's first personality-based AI-generated avatar creation platform with Ready Player Me, according to an announcement shared with Marketing Dive. Users can design an avatar through the online Ozworld experience and use it throughout all metaverse platforms, letting them explore virtual worlds with a consistent identity.
• The Ozworld experience aims to champion individual personalities instead of physical appearances, prompting users to answer a series of questions, after which the platform will create a unique digital avatar based on a user's responses and blend in the aesthetic of Adidas Originals' Ozworld shoe collection.
• Marking the first brand partnership for Ready Player Me, Adidas Originals' new digital experience extends the reach of its Ozworld shoe lineup, which expanded in March, to buzzy online platforms including the metaverse.

Dive Insight:

In the latest example of a consumer brand embracing the metaverse, Adidas Originals builds on previously introduced futuristic ethos for its Ozworld collection with a new digital experience that allows consumers a deeper interaction with the brand, offering a more memorable encounter than the one-off transaction of purchasing a product.

Adidas Originals, a subdivision of the broader athleticwear behemoth that's home to collaborations with designers, celebrities and creators, expanded its Ozworld shoe collection in March to further promote self-expression and style experimentation. The futuristic shoe lineup was designed to blend modern styles with those from the 1990s, aiming to bridge the gap between the past and future, per Adidas. In March, the brand teamed with digital creator Jon Emmony to develop an "other-worldly campaign" that evokes the collection's central themes and sci-fi aesthetic.

By generating avatars based on a questionnaire — rather than the typical process of a user manually designing their virtual look — the new experience takes a unique approach that aligns with the Ozworld shoe collection's themes of self-expression and style experimentation. After their character is generated, users can play around with animating their avatar and virtually trying on or buying sneakers. Users can also download their avatar to use as stickers across various social media platforms, potentially drumming up further buzz.

Adidas Originals' partnership with Ready Player Me marks the first brand deal for the cross-app avatar platform. Users who generate their virtual character through the Ozworld experience can use the same character across 1,900 metaverse platforms, per Adidas. While reducing friction and freeing users from having to create a separate avatar for each app or online experience, this cross-app capability may also boost visibility for Adidas across the many platforms that make up the metaverse.