How adidas Went From Loss-Making to Most Talked-About Brand | Inside the adidas Marketing Factory

How adidas Went From Loss-Making to Most Talked-About Brand | Inside the adidas Marketing Factory

In this episode of Marketing Factories, a podcast by Effie Europe and REBORRN, Dafni Prosalika (Partner at REBORRN) welcomes Roy Gardner, Vice President of Brand Activation, Europe at adidas. Roy is responsible for shaping, localising and allocating the brand's marketing investment across 19 European markets, leading a team of around 120 people across omnichannel, digital, media and publishing. We recorded two weeks after Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour marathon barrier at the 2026 London Marathon in the sub-100g adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, a moment adidas covered with hundreds of billboards across London within hours. Roy takes us inside the engine behind that "brilliance at speed." But the bigger story is the turnaround itself. In 2023, adidas was a loss-making brand. Roy walks through the playbook that rebuilt it, the decision to retire "Impossible Is Nothing" for "You Got This," and why, while most of the industry pours 60% of budgets into performance, adidas put a five-minute film at the heart of its World Cup campaign and bet on brand. He also unpacks the return to fundamentals, the relay-race model of a "global brand with a local mindset," why adidas refuses the single-agency model, how it partners with creators rather than using them, and his definition of effective marketing: being the number one sports brand in Europe. * 00:15 — What a "Horizontal" Role Actually Means: the matrix that lets adidas move across 19 markets and 120 people. * 03:19 — Why He Came Back: what pulled Roy back to adidas, and what he expected to be different. * 04:27 — Owning the Sub-2-Hour Marathon: Sabastian Sawe's sub-two run in adidas, and the billboards that hit London within hours. * 05:14 — Brilliance at Speed: the "pre-active and reactive" engine adidas has built since the 2014 World Cup. * 11:36 — "WhatsApp Has Never Been So Hot": the reaction inside the building the moment the record fell. * 12:53 — From Loss-Making to the Comeback: Bjørn Gulden's turnaround, distilled into three building blocks. * 17:55 — Why They Retired "Impossible Is Nothing": the pressure insight behind "You Got This," and the Backyard Legends film. * 24:17 — The Brand-Over-Performance Bet: why adidas centred its World Cup on a five-minute film (Byron Sharp, Binet & Field, System1). * 29:59 — The Silent Glue: how adidas built creative coherence without making everything look the same. * 32:03 — The Relay Race: global, market and country as a 400m relay, and the Tang Jacket story. * 38:43 — Why There's No Single Agency: where creative cohesion actually has to come from. * 42:13 — Partner With Creators, Not Use Them: what decides who adidas works with. * 47:14 — The Message House: the two lines on any brief that matter most to Roy. * 48:09 — If He Built It From Scratch: the one thing Roy would mandate across the function. * 52:36 — What Effective Marketing Actually Means: Roy's impromptu definition. * 53:21 — The 58-Hour Challenge: the problem Roy would put the most brilliant people in a room to crack. CONNECT WITH REBORRN: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reborrn/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reborrn.company/ Substack: https://reborrn.substack.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reborrn.company CONNECT WITH EFFIE EUROPE: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/effie-awards-europe/ Website: https://www.effie-europe.com/

Effie Special: Turning Litter Into Loyalty | Inside the McDonald's Nordics Marketing Factory

In this special episode of Marketing Factories, released to mark the opening of Effie Awards Europe 2026 entries, REBORRN partner Dafni Prosalika welcomes Staffan Ekstam, Nordic Marketing and Brand Strategy Director at Food Folk Sverige AB (McDonald's Sverige), and Petter Dixelius, Creative Director and Partner at NORD DDB STHLM. Back in December 2025, on the day following the Effie Awards Europe ceremony, we recorded in Brussels a special episode at EACA's offices (European Association of Communications Agencies), about one of the most talked about campaigns of the 2025 edition: McDonald's Nordics "Deal with the Trash". Staffan and Petter go inside one of the world's most recognised brands and the twenty-year agency partnership behind some of its most effective work. The conversation covers how global strategy actually lands in four Nordic markets, what it takes to turn a brand liability into an award-winning campaign, and why the best idea in the room sometimes has to wait five years before it's ready. - 01:44 – A Symbol That Needs No Words There are only a handful of them in the world. Dafni opens with one, and sets up exactly why this conversation matters.- 02:54 – The Idea That Had to Wait Petter on a creative idea that sat in the room for nearly five years because the world wasn't ready for it yet. - 04:12 – What Chicago Sets and What It Doesn't Staffan breaks down the real relationship between global strategy and Nordic creative freedom. There is more flexibility than most people assume with one non-negotiable exception. - 10:08 – When the Brand Becomes Part of the Solution How a well-documented problem with McDonald's in the Nordics became the foundation of a campaign that rewarded people for solving it. - 13:41 – The Difference Between an Insight and a Fan TruthDafni asks Staffan and Petter about what McDonald's global CMO Morgan Flatley calls "Fan Truths" and why a truth that only resonates with two people can still be exactly right. - 19:05 – Who Belongs in the Room From Day One The moment Staffan and Petter changed who was present at the brief. A small process shift with a significant creative consequence. - 43:43 – The Hardest Thing About Running Marketing at Scale Staffan names the capability he looks for most in his team. It sounds straightforward, but almost nobody does it well. - 45:11 – The Acronym That Stumped Him A story from Petter's first weeks working on McDonald's that captures everything about what it actually takes to understand a client's business. - 53:11 – Why McDonald's CMO Sits Closest to the CFOThe data says most CFOs don't believe marketing drives results. Staffan on why that gap looks different from inside McDonald's. - 59:53 – What Twenty Years Feels Like From the InsideStaffan and Petter on the thing that long partnerships build that no brief can ever replicate and why it shows up most when the work is hardest. CONNECT WITH REBORRN:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reborrn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reborrn.company/Substack: https://reborrn.substack.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reborrn.companyCONNECT WITH EFFIE EUROPE: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/effie-awards-europe/Website: https://www.effie-europe.com/

How Heineken Became the World’s Most Creative Brand | Inside the HEINEKEN Company Marketing Factory

In this episode of Marketing Factories, REBORRN partner Dafni Prosalika welcomes Rob van Griensven, Global Digital Director at the HEINEKEN Company, who shares insights from his 18-year journey with the HEINEKEN Company. Transitioning from his global digital leadership role for the Heineken brand to leading Marketing Transformation for the entire HEINEKEN Company, Rob discusses how the 150-year-old family-owned company maintains its status as one of the world's most creative brands. The conversation explores the "magic" formula of art, science, and courage, the integration of AI in marketing, and the brand's core mission of fostering real-life human connections in an increasingly digital world. Key Themes: * Art, Science, and Courage: the three words behind every Heineken campaign, from the Heineken Clinker at Coachella to Max Verstappen fronting their "When You Drive, Never Drink" program * Fans Have More Friends: how a research insight on fandom became the foundation for unifying F1, Champions League and music sponsorships into a single platform, and the creative twist that made it unmistakably Heineken * Social Networking Since 1873: the loneliness paradox of modern life and why a 150-year-old beer brand is building tech products that tell you to put your phone down * The LePub Model: long-term partnerships, brutal facts, and the tension between global consistency and local creative freedom * Playbooks to Playgrounds: how Heineken is turning 142-page PDFs nobody reads into AI advisory agents local marketers can actually prompt 00:00: The World's Most Creative Brand 05:20: The Formula Behind the Magic 07:38: A Logo With a Secret 09:19: The Wristband That Made Strangers Talk 12:40: The Athlete, The Beer, The Backlash Risk 14:56: Social Networking Since 1873 27:12: The Unique Agency Operating Model 31:12: Fans Have More Friends 41:34: The Brief That Writes Itself 47:15: From Playbooks to Playgrounds 01:02:42: How You Actually Get an Organisation to Change 01:10:03: The 58-Hour Challenge CONNECT WITH REBORRN: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reborrn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/reborrn] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reborrn.company/ [https://www.instagram.com/reborrn.company/] Substack: https://reborrn.substack.com [https://reborrn.substack.com] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reborrn.company [https://www.tiktok.com/@reborrn.company] CONNECT WITH EFFIE EUROPE: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/effie-awards-europe/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/effie-awards-europe/] Website: https://www.effie-europe.com/ [https://www.effie-europe.com/]

The 2-Year Process That Revived an $18 Billion Icon | Inside the Fanta Marketing Factory

Fanta is an $18 billion brand sold in over 180 countries. For the past three years, Ibrahim Khan, Fanta's Global Marketing VP, has been tearing it apart and rebuilding it from scratch. In Episode 2 of Marketing Factories, Ibrahim joins Dafni Prosalika to reveal the strategy behind the brand's biggest-ever gaming campaign, launched with Xbox and Activision Blizzard across 60+ markets, and why it took two full years to find the two words that would rediscover what Fanta stands for. Ibrahim also talks about what it takes to hold a coherent brand across 190 countries while giving local teams real autonomy, what it means to market in a world where your consumer holds the mic, and more. Key themes: * The two-year project that stripped an $18 billion brand back to two words * Why one simple global strategy still needs 190 different executions * How 70% of Fanta's investment moved away from TV * What authenticity actually costs in gaming culture, and why live experiences are part of the answer * How a network of 40-50 marketers holds a global brand together through autonomy rather than control * Why the fundamentals of great marketing haven't changed 00:00: Campaign Intro 01:18: Xbox & Activision Partnership 03:07: New Limited Flavors 04:08: Influencer & Gear Strategy 06:16: Rediscovering Core Values 08:36: Reaching Gen Z Gamers 10:47: Global vs. Local Scale 12:35: Entertainment Brand Vision 15:42: Rewards & Live Experiences 17:21: Authentic Fandom Engagement 19:34: Digital-First Marketing 23:27: Strategic Brand Shifts 25:35: Experimentation Culture 27:51: Universal Insights 30:41: Network Operating Model 34:22: WPP Partnership & Talent 40:49: Marketing Fundamentals 43:49: Technology & AI 47:51: The 58 Challenge CONNECT WITH REBORRN: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reborrn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reborrn.company/ Substack: https://reborrn.substack.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reborrn.company CONNECT WITH EFFIE EUROPE: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/effie-awards-europe/ Website: https://www.effie-europe.com/

How Sound Became Magnum's Most Valuable DBA | Inside The Magnum Ice Cream Company Marketing Factory

After decades under the Unilever umbrella, one of the world’s most iconic indulgent brands is striking out on its own. The mission? To build a marketing machine from the ground up that is lean, fast, and unapologetically intentional. In this episode, Tobias Sparnaaij (Global Marketing Lead Masterbrand and Sticks Portfolio, Magnum) and Bruno Yanagui Gomiero (Global Planning Director, Lola MullenLowe) join host Dafni Prosalika (Partner, REBORRN) to uncover what makes this serially-awarded Marketing Factory so effective. Watch to find out how a team of 13 people manages a multi-billion-dollar global flagship, the neuroscience behind "the drool factor," and the rare alchemy required to turn a lean client-agency duo into a powerhouse that wins big on the global stage. In this episode, we discuss: 🎧 The Crack as a Sonic Distinctive Brand Asset (DBA): From a post-production sound effect to a global brand system. How Magnum turned sound into a signal of quality, a media strategy, and a weapon to fight a 400% cocoa price increase.  🎧 The Brief That Rewrites Itself: Why the best briefs are not fixed on paper. How what started as a sustainability brief became a campaign against private label copycats and how continuously challenging one another is this agency-client 10-year recipe for success.  🎧 The Lean Team Paradox: 13 people running a multi-billion-dollar global brand. How speed comes from structure and focus, and what a founder mindset in global FMCG actually looks like.  🎧 Engineering Craving Before the Shelf: How Magnum builds anticipation in a category driven by impulse. Designing every asset to start the experience before the product is even in hand.  🎧 AI Needs a Role and a Reason: Where AI accelerates thinking and where it compromises craft. A clear line between using technology to serve the idea and using it to replace it.  🎧 Consistency Enables Risk: Why long-term brand assets are what make bold creativity possible. The hidden system behind campaigns that seem to break the rules.  Marketing Factories explores the world’s most effective marketing teams. Hosted by Dafni Prosalika (Partner, REBORRN). Produced by REBORRN in collaboration with Effie Europe and European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA).