Adidas has launched a new music promotion to tie Major League Soccer teams to local artists who will create anthems for the respective squads.
Adidas, EVB and Rock River Music have selected 13 hometown bands in MLS cities from a range of genres, including rock, pop, hip-hop and Latin, to compose and record theme songs for each team.
The promotion, called “MLS Represent,” is intended to prod fans to pick their favorite MLS team by the song, offering them a chance to customize music videos of the groups by mixing them with MLS clips online at Adidas.com/MLS.
“Listening to music online ranks as the favorite pastime among America’s youth and MLS Represent targets this audience in an effort to spread enthusiasm around the league beyond the traditional soccer fan base,” said Antonio Zea, head of marketing for Adidas America, in a statement.
The promotion follows a previous MLS Mash-Ups campaign Adidas introduced running up to the 2006 MLS Cup. That campaign featured “mashed-up” video collages of highlights from MLS playoff games combined with footage of local bands.
The Adidas music campaign seeks to play off the world-wide tradition of anthems sung by fans as a constant accompaniment to many club team matches and international matches.