In 1999 and 2000, Adidas ran a memorable ad campaign. In my opinion, these are some of the greatest running shoe ads ever created. Each one touches on something private I have experienced as a runner, something that a non-runner would probably appreciate.
This series of ads apparently won recognition within the advertising community, and was successful in increasing sales.
Here are all the individual ads that I could locate. You can click on the images to view a larger version.