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Well, hit the post-production, in any case. The new Adidas ad from 180 has responded to the challenge of producing a truly international campaign in a typically Dutch manner. Holland's agencies have recently reacted to major international briefs the way its footballers react to semi-final penalty shootouts - and the result can be just as deflating.

Here, true to form, are zooming, swerving camera movements, floating white writing, no dialogue and a thumping soundtrack, such as Wieden & Kennedy's Vodafone or Siemens work with trainers and a sports star crowbarred in.

I don't think this makes it a terrible ad. The idea gets the product benefit over capably enough - though the concept of a breeze wandering around tugging at sports heroes like an overexcited autograph hunter is a bit silly. It does a job - but that's about as good as it can get for a campaign that has sacrificed the cheeky intimacy of 180's previous "Adidas makes you a better person

work in favour of a concept that can run across different territories without the need for serious adaptation. The result is inevitably more bland and more generic.

There are obvious comparisons to be drawn with Irish International's global Guinness ad of a month ago. Again, one of the industry's most respected campaigns emerged from its global makeover shorn of the confidence, swagger and originality that had made it such a joy in the first place. It must be hoped that the agencies designing global launches for the third-generation mobile operators over the coming months can resist this temptation more effectively. Otherwise, ad breaks will soon start to resemble one long pop promo.

Yet it's not just the global formula that makes this ad so underwhelming. Adidas has decided that its move into fashion necessitates dropping as many sporting references as possible from its ads. This robs the campaign of any opportunity to stamp the brand's character on to the executions.

Adidas' character, like that of its rival Nike, depends on the value it puts on sports. Having originally turned down the crucial Michael Jordan endorsement, Adidas had to come up with an alternative to Nike's Nietsche-like view of sporting superhumans to whose prowess we could all aspire.

Its warmer approach to the love of the game involved moving sports stars into everyday situations to stress the simple, universal pleasure of kicking a football or swinging a tennis racquet.

Ads such as Leagas Delaney's nightclub tennis match or the Amsterdam city centre kickaround were already fusing sport with other aspects of life - so it's a bit of a mystery why Adidas felt it needed such a stepchange to signal its credentials as a lifestyle brand. After all, Nike never put a great amount of effort into declaring its fashion credentials - it simply relied on the street credibility of basketball in America to lead the crossover. The popularity of sport can take its clothing into the mainstream, yet when that association with sport is diluted in the advertising, the distinct brand identity suffers. It doesn't help that the Adidas stars such as Beckham and Kournikova are so ubiquitous. As a result their cameos don't make this an Adidas ad any more than they make it one for Berlie bras or Police sunglasses.