A Fast-Paced Game for a Limited-Edition Drop
We turned the adidas x M&M’s collaboration into a playable campaign; building a high-speed mobile game that captured attention, encouraged competition, and generated meaningful engagement far beyond a typical product launch.
Client:
adidas & M&M’s
Year:
2022
Industry:
Fashion
Services:
Brand Strategy
Content Strategy
Art Direction
UX Design
Motion Design
Brand Activation
Client:
adidas & M&M’s
Year:
2022
Industry:
Fashion
Services:
Brand Strategy
Content Strategy
Art Direction
UX Design
Motion Design
Brand Activation
Executive Summary
adidas wanted a fresh way to spotlight their limited edition adidas x M&M’s sneakers. A classic campaign wasn’t enough. The release needed energy, momentum, and a reason for people to keep coming back.
Digital Bunch Solution
The goal was to create a competitive mobile game that drives hype, encourages repeat play, and brings the adidas x M&M’s world to life through fast action and bold visuals. Our focus was on making a quick hit game that anyone could pick up, but only the most determined could master. The reward for the best players? The limited edition adidas x M&M’s shoes. This turned gameplay into a core driving force for the campaign.
The game needed to merge adidas’ athletic edge with M&M’s playful chaos. All in a few seconds of continuous gameplay.
Every limited drop fights for attention, but only the ones that create real energy become moments people chase. When every brand is shouting, the collabs that matter give people something to experience, not just something to look at.
Melting Maniacs Mirror The Energy of The Collaboration
Melting Maniacs needed a clear creative identity. We built a visual world that is fast, readable and full of energy, shaped by adidas’ sporty precision and M&M’s expressive color. Every asset was crafted for instant comprehension, clean navigation and satisfying motion. The game rewards players with evolving visuals and increasing pace, creating a sense of momentum that reflects the character of the collaboration.
Challenge
adidas needed a format that could capture attention in seconds. The experience had to be fast, simple and instantly fun, while visually reflecting M&M’s playful identity and making the limited shoes feel like a prize worth winning.
Solution
We created a multi-track running game built for quick reflexes and high scores. Players sprint, dodge obstacles, collect points, and push for a top spot on the leaderboard. As players progress, the environment shifts with new colors, new backgrounds, more speed.
Our Unique Approach: Turning A Sneaker Drop Into A Chase
We created a game that people actually played. Melting Maniacs delivered an average of 39 gameplays per user with 23% users played more than 100 times. This is a strong indicator that players kept coming back for more. The mix of competition, color, and exclusive prizes turned the release into an event rather than a simple product announcement. The game created buzz across digital channels and gave adidas and M&M’s a playful, high-energy way to connect with their audience..
How We Transform Ideas Into Seamless Experiences
We designed Melting Maniacs as a strategic extension of the adidas x M&M’s collaboration. A game that was built around the energy of a drop and a digital activation rooted in scarcity, competition, and hype. The game structure mirrored real drop behavior, giving audiences a reason to stay engaged, replay repeatedly, and emotionally connect with the limited-edition sneakers.
Paola Kadyszewska
Creative Producer
The brief seemed simple: make people excited about a sneaker. But we weren't selling shoes, we were building a reason to keep playing. adidas is precise and athletic. M&M's is chaotic and colorful. The game mechanics came from that tension. Fast, competitive, rewarding. When players averaged 39 runs each, we knew we'd found the right formula.
Do you want to make your brand go viral?
Start ProjectOur goal was to create an activation that felt exciting, competitive, and worth returning to. A game designed for digital-native audiences who expect fast rewards, clear purpose, and entertainment that matches their lifestyle.
Audience Understanding & Player Motivation Mapping
We began by identifying the core target audience: sneaker collectors, M&M’s fans, and young mobile gamers driven by competition and exclusivity. Through motivation mapping, we uncovered what keeps these users engaged — the thrill of achieving a high score, the social value of winning a limited drop, and the desire for customization. These insights shaped the mechanics of Melting Maniacs, ensuring every element of the game met real player expectations and behaviors.
Gameplay Review & Engagement Barriers
We analyzed common runner-game structures and studied user patterns across similar mobile experiences. This exposed key engagement barriers: repetitive mechanics, unclear objectives, and lack of progression. By understanding these pitfalls early, we could design a game that avoided them, with evolving backgrounds, unlockable outfits, and a clear reward structure that kept players motivated from one run to the next.
Data-Backed Strategy & Gamification Framework
We combined sneaker-drop behavior analysis, competitor research, and mobile gameplay trends to define a strategy that balanced simplicity with depth. The framework prioritized fast onboarding, high replay value, progression-based rewards, and a leaderboard structure tied directly to the limited-edition adidas x M&M’s shoes. Every decision supported both engagement and campaign performance, turning gameplay into a meaningful brand interaction.
Concept Development & Playtesting Iteration
With strategy in place, we built prototypes that mapped out the game flow, avatar customization system, scoring logic, and reward mechanics. Early playtesting revealed how users reacted to speed, lane switching, difficulty spikes, and visual cues. Iteration allowed us to fine-tune pacing, polish transitions, and refine the user interface to ensure the final experience felt intuitive, addictive, and aligned with the collaboration’s bold identity.
Melting Maniacs turned a limited edition sneaker launch into a competitive, high-energy experience. The game boosted excitement, motivated repeat play, and brought two iconic brands together through color, movement, and speed. We created a launch moment players didn’t just see, but experienced.
Looking Forward: A Playable Framework for Future Drops
Melting Maniacs proved that the right mechanics can turn a limited sneaker release into an experience people return to. The activation worked because the objective was simple: chase a score, win a shoe; and the gameplay delivered fast, addictive runs that matched the pace of digital culture. The game kept players engaged long after their first try, generating repeat play and meaningful interaction with the brand. This format now gives adidas a proven framework for future collaborations. a scalable approach that can support new drops, new characters, or new challenges without rebuilding the experience from scratch.
Our comprehensive approach allowed us to create a launch moment players didn’t just see, but experienced.
Piotr Nałęcki
Marketing Manager, Warsaw Sneaker Store
Digital Bunch brought the adidas x M&M’s collaboration to life in a way that felt fresh, energetic, and entirely on-brand. They understood our goals from the start and built a game experience that truly engaged our audience. Melting Maniacs became a standout activation in the campaign and delivered far beyond expectations.
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