Adidas' way of advertising these days was original, but a lot of athletic companies are following in its footsteps. No pun intended.

Nike has its own campaign using the slogan, "There is no finish line". You might have seen this before in a commercial.

My opinion?

I like these ads because I can relate to the tough times that I've gone through.
And Beckham has a point.

"You will go through tough times--it's about coming through that."

So how does Athletic sportswear -> Tough times?

I first thought their campaigns were metaphorically portraying the relation between 'obstacles in life' and 'obstacles in your choice of sportswear'.

So they're saying, if you wear Adidas, impossible is nothing? You can get through anything?

Not really.
To find out what the companies are doing, we must first realize how they're making us, the consumers, think throughout the ad.

1 )When we see this video, we first relate it to ourselves. It's how the brain works.
We ask ourselves, "Have I gone through something like this before?"

2 )We answer that question and we relate it to Beckham's story. "Was mine a tougher experience?" We use comparitive analysis.

3 )Then, there's that silly thought in our heads that kind of goes like this, "Hah, I went through a way tougher time than you Beckham." Or you might think the opposite and admire Beckham for what he achieved through his tough times. That's the response/reflex to the comparitive analysis.

4 )Then we see the slogan, "Impossible is nothing". And the adidas logo fades in.

Okay, so what does the slogan mean?

It means that through the seemingly 'impossible' times that Beckham went through, it was nothing, it wasn't a big feat to overcome. Impossible is easy to beat.

Adidas is making sure that this slogan achieves the desired effect, and that effect is to make it stick in our minds, so whenever we hear the word 'impossible' or when we go through something tough in our lives, we MIGHT think Adidas. A genius campaign.