adidas turns China's elderly yoga village into its 'You Got This' campaign

adidas' new global platform 'You Got This' aimed to take the pressure out of sport. In China, where a competitive culture obsessed with winning and appearance makes people self-conscious about exercising, the brief was to capture that spirit locally — simply and impactfully — while global rivals outspent adidas and local brands offered national pride.

Back 'You Got This' with documentary truth: real elderly yogis in an impoverished village, photographed over four years, instead of polished sports ads.

TBWA\China and adidas worked with photographer Zhannan Zhao, who had spent four years documenting Yugouliang, an impoverished village where over 80% of residents are over 65 and do yoga daily, producing over 100,000 photos. The campaign ran those images as posters and as postcards slipped into every adidas e-commerce order.

Real villagers doing yoga in their own clothes and homes became the face of a global sports platform, embodying the claim that sport belongs to everyone. The work won the ADFEST 2025 Print & Outdoor Craft Grande, the Spikes Asia 2025 Industry Craft Grand Prix, and an LIA 2024 Gold in Print Craft — Photography Campaign.

adidas launched its 'You Got This' platform to take the pressure out of sport, and in China the purest embodiment was a village: Yugouliang, an impoverished community where over 80% of residents are over 65 and have joyfully transformed their lives through daily yoga.

Rather than shoot sleek commercial photography, TBWA\China and adidas collaborated with Zhannan Zhao, the photographer who had already spent four years documenting the villagers in over 100,000 images. The campaign used that archive — villagers doing headstands in wheat fields, in their own clothes and homes — as posters, and printed the photographs as postcards included as giveaways with every adidas e-commerce package.

The authenticity carried the strategy: instead of telling Chinese audiences to chase perfection, adidas showed proof that sport is play, not pressure. The campaign won the ADFEST 2025 Print & Outdoor Craft Grande Lotus, the Spikes Asia 2025 Industry Craft Grand Prix, and an LIA 2024 Gold for Print Craft — Photography Campaign.

The idea matches the platform claim to a real existing story, so adidas did not have to manufacture evidence of 'sport without pressure'.

Using a photographer's four-year, 100,000-photo archive gives the campaign a depth no commissioned shoot could fake.

Postcards in e-commerce orders turn every purchase into a quiet brand reminder, making the campaign self-distributing.

Showing elderly villagers as the heroes flips the look of sports advertising, where youth and peak performance usually dominate.

The craft approach — documentary photography over commercial retouching — is exactly what the Industry Craft and Print & Outdoor Craft juries rewarded.

When a brand claim is emotional ('sport is for everyone'), the most persuasive evidence is documentary: real people photographed by someone who lived the story beats cast models every time.

Yoga Village ran through adidas China's e-commerce packaging and outdoor placements from late 2024, becoming the local anchor of the global 'You Got This' platform. In 2025 it swept the region's craft awards — the ADFEST Print & Outdoor Craft Grande and the Spikes Asia Industry Craft Grand Prix — and was cited in Chinese industry coverage as proof that authentic, locally rooted storytelling could beat big-budget sports advertising.