27 adidas Employees on the Business Trip of a Lifetime
Business travel just got an upgrade. Join intern Rob and 26 adidas colleagues during their trip to adidas HQ and our Three Stripes Festival.
There’s no place like Herzo, the location of our global HQ in Germany. So, when we decided to throw ourselves a special 75-year birthday party, we knew we had to find a way to give members of our worldwide team the chance to bag an invite.
The competition of a lifetime
Tasked with showing us how they overcome pressure and live up to our new campaign message “You Got This”, our adidas colleagues from around the world set our intranet on fire with their competition submissions. The prize? To win a trip to our global HQ, an invite to our Three Stripes Festival, PLUS a ticket to watch Belgium play Slovakia at the UEFA EUROS 2024. The entire adidas team then voted for the winners.
"For the second time, we're thrilled to execute a global trip competition, with the simple yet ambitious goal of creating a unique experience for employees to feel the magic of the EURO and the Three Stripes Festival here in Herzo, where it all began 75 years ago…"
Once visas and flights had been booked, the stage was set (literally) for our winners to join our employee base in Herzo for our Three Stripes Festival! With eighteen different nationalities among our global winners, the group touched down in Herzo on the eve of the festival after journeying from all corners of the world. The energy in the room was electric, with each winner embodying the openness and authenticity so entrenched in our 3-Stripes culture. Undoubtedly, the next few days would be an epic experience for all.
"This trip has been the best experience of my short adidas life, not only for the professional side (with all the networking that I achieved in record time), but also on the personal level."
It’s the summer of 3-Stripes love
The Three Stripes Festival kicked off the very next day. The first stop for our winners was the 75 Moments exhibition hosted by the adidas History team. Treated to a private tour of the exhibition, which took visitors through the most significant moments of adidas history, our winners were more than a little impressed with the varied collection on display. Each product or sporting memory reflected more personal stories of nostalgia for each visitor.
In total, the festival saw more than eighteen-thousand guests in attendance, including our 27 winners, who also witnessed the adidas CUP football tournament featuring employee teams competing for a surprise of a lifetime – the chance to play against adidas legends, Jan Ullrich, Djibrill Cissé, Claudio Pizarro, Tobias Angerer, Gerd Schönfelder, Finn Jeltsch, Mel Behringer, Michi Wiesinger, Cacau, and unexpected goalie Roberto Carlos.
Then, as the sun set over Herzo, CEO Bjørn Gulden took to the stage to welcome some VIP members of our 3-Stripes family. Joined by track and field star Jackie Joyner-Kersee, former CEO Herbert Hainer, Adi Dassler's grandson Horst Bente, and DFB stars Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller, we took a trip down memory lane together. The night came to an end with performances by adidas icon (Run) DMC and British band Rudimental alongside our very own adi DJanes Ayse Yavuz und Vecihe Yavuz
To mark the occasion, we buried a time capsule full of memories from the last 75 years, to be opened in our 100th year, 2049.
We’re off to see the UEFA EURO 2024
But the trip didn’t end there for our winners. Just days later, the group gathered again outside the adidas HQ, where they found a bus waiting to take them to Frankfurt to see adidas team Belgium play Slovakia in the UEFA EURO 2024.
Energy was high from the moment our winners stepped onto the bus until the sound of the final whistle. It was awesome to see members of our 3-Stripes team come together through sport, sharing in a moment that none of us will forget.
"We experienced every minute of the 90-minute match, engaging all our senses. It was wonderful to be with the other winners."
A bittersweet end to a business trip like no other. Thank you to our global trip winners for your collaboration and creativity.
Let’s see where next year’s trip takes us.
