The secret life of Sneakers before they go on your smelly feet
We’ve all bought sneakers (you probably are wearing some now) and the process is pretty obvious – go to the store, look at a few, try them on, buy a pair and you are off and running. But where did that sneaker come from? Did it have a life before it showed up on your feet? The clever gang at New Balance thought some people would like to know the secret world of sneakers before they jump in a box and are shipped all over the world. New Balance, trying to get some street cred in the tough sneaker market, already had one ace to play – limited edition. The company only made 480 pairs of “574 Clips” - a cool looking sneaker that definitely turns heads (or feet). So, next up the company wanted to add some drama and fun, some storytelling that got people to not just let their new kicks do the talking – they wanted something that would motivate people to share a sneaker story with friends. With each new pair of 547 clips the company included a Polaroid of the sneaker in some random place in the world, and directed people to the campaign site to see the behind-the-scenes story of their new pair of sneakers. Once at the site you scroll through 480 polaroids to find the image that matches they one you have and you are treated with a fun short video of your sneaker’s early days on earth. Clever, cute and oh so deliciously mischievous – and we love it. People enter the code that came with their Polaroid to claim their official ownership of and can share with friends and family via a variety of social sites. Yes, it takes time scrolling through the Polaroids and of course then watching the videos but each is only about 10 seconds and length and some you just can’t help but click on because the initial image just has you scratching your head a bit. A great campaign on all fronts - although aimed at a particular target market, sneakerheads, will appeal to many more and definitely gets a gold star for creativity. Now, how can we make it better? Always the challenge we pose to ourselves.. We’d love to see some geotagging element – when I claim my sneaker let me tell you where I live (and now my new 574 Clips live too) for an added bit of fun on the site. We’d love to be able to see a mash up of some of the more clever videos and let them tell a bit of a story when viewed all together. OK – we give up. We love this campaign and what it sets out to do it does, so we’ll stop hurting our brain and just send a “well done!” to the team behind the 574 clips effort.
