Sean Bone
Creative Lead at Snapchat
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Adidas: Fastest Follower

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#FastestFollower

After the success of the XGhosted campaign, we were tasked with launching the next boot in the adidas X range. The new X Speedflow boots were created in collaboration with some of the fastest players in the game:

Mohamed Salah, Serge Gnabry, Vivianne Miedema, Karim Benzema, Lindsey Horan, Son Heung-min, Scott McTominay, João Félix, Andreia Faria and… Leo Messi.

Using the latest textile technologies, the boots enhanced the games of those who play as fast with their mind, as they do with their feet.

We created @XSpeedflow. A custom-built Twitter account (the first of its kind) only the fastest could follow. Competitors kept an eye on a livestream that acted as a starter gun, signalling the moment @XSpeedflow was open and kicking off a European wide race between 9 million competitors to hit the 'follow' button, and win the boots.

 
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How it worked:

Note: the tech is no longer live.

Just 1 person a day would be able to follow - the fastest.

All other players were automatically sent a personalised reply after hitting ‘follow’, explaining that this time, they just weren’t fast enough. This was a unique functionality built exclusively for this campaign that had never been done before on the platform.

The winner’s name and follow time was instantly celebrated as they were made an official follower of the account, granting them secret VIP access to the content inside.

Each winner earned a personalised message from a top football player who meant something to them. This included Gigi Windaldum for our winning Liverpool fan, Achraf Hakimi for our winner in Paris and Joao Felix for the fastest from Spain. Each of them signed and sent a pair of X Speedflow boots to the winner.


The Results:

🌍 9+ MILLION COMPETITORS
The campaign generated more than 9 million live stream viewers as people eagerly awaited their chance to pounce on the follow button (that’s more than the population of Austria).

⏱ A FOLLOW REQUEST EVERY 60 SECONDS
On average, the @XSpeedflow account had someone hit the follow button every single minute the campaign was live.

🥇 A TWITTER FIRST
This was a completely bespoke hack of the Twitter platform, uniquely manipulating the API to send personalised automatic replies to people who tapped the follow button of the account.

⚽️ EVEN PRO-BALLERS PLAYED
6 fastest followers were crowned, including 2 million follower strong Arsenal & England legend Ian Wright (who clearly has not lost a yard of pace since retiring from the game).