Start gets Adidas’ Beijing offer into shape

As part of a range of interactive elements within the 3170 m2 store, designed by Shop Architects, Start and Judge Gill have created a sports platform that measures a person’s body mass index, the balance in their left and right foot, speed and ability to jump.

This information is then connected to a website, coreskills.micoach.com, which provides full information content for a user.

This tells them how they can get better at four sports including running, basketball, football and general fitness.

MiCoach Core Skills allows customers to use technologies that are normally only available in professional-level sports facilities.

Visitors can compare their results to those of their sporting heroes and get personalised training recommendations based on scientific research.

According to Start account director Laila El Bouraqadi, ‘it will be an encyclopedia of sport and personal training’.

She adds, ‘Its aim is to show that Adidas are positioning themselves as a brand whose clothes can be used by sports people taking part at every level’.

El Bouraqadi says, ‘In the future this will roll out across more Adidas stores and we are also planning to add a diet plan to the programme’.

Ten designers at Start worked on the project led by creative director Dan Potter. Also involved were retail branding consultancy Judge Gill, which is part of the Start group, alongside Start Creative, Anymedia and Breed.

Start was appointed in winter 2007 by head of global retail marketing for Adidas Chris Aubrey after taking part in a creative pitch.