This Adidas Wearable Upgrades Your In-Game FIFA Team as Your IRL Skills Improve

If you want to improve your team's performance in EA Sports' FIFA Mobile game, maybe it's time to start honing your soccer skills in real life.

This week, Adidas introduced a smart insole for IRL soccer cleats that tracks your speed, shot power, distance and passing abilities. Dubbed GMR (pronounced "gamer") and powered by Google's Jacquard technology, the wearable syncs with your FIFA Mobile team, boosting its OVR ("overall rating") as your real-world moves improve.

Adam&eveDDB London aided in GMR's development and stages an epic pitch battle between two buddies, along with star cameos, in the 90-second spot below. It's strictly "by the numbers," as it were, presented with dynamic style…

…and that "65" score is a real eye-opener:

"This has been an incredible collaboration to be part of, working with some of the best loved brands in the world to create a wearable tech product with proper impact," says agency joint CEO Matt Goff.

Florian Alt, vp of marketing at Adidas, calls GMR "a whole new way" for gamers and IRL players "to use their creativity for the betterment of sport." 

Adidas designed the insole, priced at $35, to fit any boot, and it's available in stores and online.

Wired argues that the data's exclusivity to FIFA Mobile makes for a somewhat limited offering compared with other sports-focused wearables because "if Google's algorithms could be trained to address form or technique, say, it could have real benefits more far reaching than unlocking features in a mobile game."

Scott Zalaznik, senior vp of Adidas' digital ops, tells the magazine that FIFA Mobile represents "the perfect starting point" for the gamification of performance data. "There aren't limitations to Adidas GMR; instead we've channeled the data into what we think will be the most intuitive and seamless experience for users that they will come back to again and again," he says.

In a separate and troubling development, Paulo Dybala, who features prominently in the promo film, has apparently become the second Juventus star stricken by coronavirus, according to press reports. This sad trend is sure to accelerate across the marketing spectrum, with more high-profile endorsers testing positive as the global health crisis worsens.