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Since 2009 Adidas has released limited edition Star Wars themed shoes and apparel in a wildly successful cross-branding campaign that has utilized social media technology and viral videos featuring prominent Adidas athletes and famous musicians including David Beckham, Daft Punk, and Snoop Dogg. So far, this limited collection has been a top seller, appealing to a wide variety of different markets and demographics. With creative designs, including Boba Fett track jackets, Chewbacca fur-lined parkas, and Stormtrooper high tops, Adidas has created apparel that appeals to both Star Wars fans and serious shoe collectors.

One of the most creative and appealing parts of the Star Wars campaign has been their unique product packaging. By recognizing the growing market of consumers who buys shoes strictly as a collectors item that will never be worn, they have created packaging that is consistent with the cross-branding theme alluding to Star Wars action figure collectors while providing the protection of sealed packaging for the limited edition shoes. They have also released special packaging specifically for their limited Han Solo SL72 shoes. Alluding to the end of The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader preserves Han Solo by freezing him in carbonite, the shoes come in their own shiny carbonite packaging as if they, too, were frozen.

This unique choice of packaging takes appealing elements from their biggest target markets and combines them staying consistent to the brand. With their innovative advertising and creative designs, Adidas has created a truly unique collection that is out of this world.

Adobe and Apple are in the middle of a PR skirmish that is starting to heat up. Although his displeasure with Flash has been hinted at for some time, in April Steve Jobs finally trashed Adobe and Flash publically in an open letter. Jobs states that Flash did well during the “PC era” but we are now in the “mobile era” with low power devices and touch interfaces that don’t work with Flash. Also, and most importantly, Flash is a closed system and does not support open web standards. This is no surprise that Jobs would not support Flash because most of the portable products he sells do not support it either.

I understand why many developers try to steer away from Flash; it requires more system resources slowing down the system and is not supported by the W3C. However, it gives developers more options and is very widely used across the Internet, mostly for video and interactive content.

Adobe has responded to Jobs’s Flash bashing with an interesting strategy, to kill the opposition with kindness. In their own open letter, they started an opposing campaign based on Love of all things. They have also followed up with an ad in the Business section of the LATimes with the copy:

We love creativity

We love innovation

We love apps

We love the web

We love Flash

We love our 3 million developers

We love healthy competition

We love touch screens

We love our Open Screen Project partners

We love HTML5

We love authoring code only once

We love all devices

We love all platforms

What we don’t love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the web

Adobe has cleverly fired back at Jobs pointing out the hypocrisy of his claims. Jobs fully supports open web standards as long as they only apply to his competitors and not his own software platform. He claims that he does not support Flash because he refuses to put his products at the mercy of a third party but that is exactly what Apple demands of its iPhone app developers. He is accusing Adobe of the exact same things Apple is guilty of. This is why I feel that open web standards is not the issue at all; I believe the main reason Jobs does not support Flash is because it enables free streaming video and games online. If Apple products supported Flash on their portable devices, people would have access to media without having to spend money in the App store and iTunes store. Many of Jobs’s negative claims about Flash in his open letter are blown out of proportion or completely unfounded (see security and battery-life for example). And while is true that HTML5 is the future and will likely replace Flash in most applications, its still in its infancy and it is very unlikely it will be recommended as standard for at least another few years, until then Flash is still completely necessary. The fact is that Apple would have to compete with Flash enabled media on its devices and Jobs does not want the competition, this is not about open web standards and healthy competition, it is the opposite of that. In a perfect world, users could decide whether or not they want to use flash on their portable devices similar to how we can on computers.

While I am impressed by Adobe’s clever response and resulting campaign, I feel that this escalating feud between the companies is completely unnecessary and both sides will lose in the long run. Apple and Adobe have had a long-standing relationship that has greatly benefited both parties. At Chado, we love both brands and use Adobe software on Apple products everyday. Both companies are firmly grounded in creative industries and both can attribute their initial successes to their products being used together in this industry. In fact, the only reason I use a MacBook is because how well it supports Adobe products. Whether they like it or not, both companies are dependent upon each other to some degree; without Adobe’s superior creative products there would be very little demand for professional Mac hardware. Also, Apple would not be the brand it is today without the praise and exposure it received from creative professionals. With the growing popularity of their portable devices, Apple seems to have lost focus on where they came from and what their true strengths are. If this battle continues there will be no winner. Both companies would greatly benefit if they continued to work together as allies rather than going on the offensive as enemies.

Chado Advertising & Design just launched a new social networking forum called XCD: Cross Cultural Design where users can come together to share ideas, innovations, experiences, and work in the field of creative communication design, specifically dealing with cross cultural communication where design transcends socio-cultural boundaries for international marketing. Users sign up to enter the new web community where they can upload pictures, videos, and articles to share their work and experiences with design enthusiasts, students, and other creatives. Users can also form groups, post events, and discuss topics in the forum. There will also be short webisodes produced by Chado Advertising & Design called Black&White Discussions where enthusiasts and experts in different fields will come together to discuss current advertising and design topics, trends, and their predictions for the future of this exciting field.

Visit  X.C.D: Cross Cultural Design here to join the network, connect with others, and share your experiences and knowledge.