adidas Smart Ball

We originally pitched this for “14 -17 year old players to learn to kick like their heros” and reveal the finer details of skill which elite level players have developed through intuition and trial and error.

Improvement in any sport movement is best achieved by providing immediate feedback after the movement is attempted by the player.  This is the foundation of the adidas Smartball. Giving kids everywhere the expert feedback from Elite Soccer coaches on any iOS or android device worked to reprogram the kicker’s muscle memory technique for faster improvement by fine tuning every kick.

The Foundry Team identified, designed and engineered the total product solution for the Football(Soccer) business inside of adidas.  Starting with the consumer insights from interviewing and observing the kid’s love for the game, we architected the desired experience to then drive the features, design and re-engineering of a Match ball construction to surpass perception, reliability and quality control for FIFA.  

The Ball’s identity was derived from the “connected world” we now live in as a story layer to be relevant to the kid, as well as the Trophy Charger metaphor to stand the Ball on when it is too dark to play outside. 

The iOS and Android apps were driven by this team through its execution with our expert network of collaborators.

(CES 2015 Best of Innovation award and 2015 Red Dot design award).